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Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

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Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#101

Post by rev »

GreaterFool wrote: post #78
qume wrote: post #68

Just to balance the narrative here a bit, I have traveled into and out of the US many times per year for around 15 years with no problems on an ESTA. I only recently switched to a visa. After a long flight having to deal with the delay and hassle of immigration seems much worse than it is. I really hate it, and the comments here suggest others do too, but if you look at what we have to deal with objectively it's not…

> cURL has been used extensively for bad purposes What?! Sources please.

"I once saw him kill three men in a bar with a pencil, with... a... f#@king... pencil." © John Wick

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#102

Post by croon »

humanrebar wrote: post #72
timr wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A small percentage of Americans wants to do this. Most Americans are indifferent (as in most countries), but the reactionary party has won the day, and a total lunatic is in the White House. Sadly. But this too shall pass. Not that I disagree with your conclusion: I hope conference organizers (and other groups) do start focusing abroad. The only thing that the GOP reliably responds to is the interests of money. Start…

I wouldn't call new and capricious changes to immigration policy as right wing or reactionary. It's populist and probably xenophobic but it doesn't really fit on the American ideological spectrum like that. Trump isn't representative of the bulk of the GOP, in other words. When he's gone, you won't see this sort of thing re-emerge. As weird as it sounds to some, Trump won mostly because he was not Clinton, not becaus…

> Trump won mostly because he was not Clinton, not because there's some ideology being advocated here (modulo Supreme Court justices).

1) That doesn't explain him beating out ~12 other seasoned GOPers in the primaries.

2) His platform.

3) Clinton was portrayed as toxic by attacks, not because she was. "But her emails" was something GOPers and DNCers had done for decades before and Trump staff continues to do today. It's not right, but it's not isolated and there are much worse things going on. It's not an excuse, but it was a distraction.

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#103

Post by contingencies »

m-j-fox wrote: post #89
GreaterFool wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> cURL has been used extensively for bad purposes What?! Sources please.

I mean, I've personally used it to access APIs from shell scripts that would have been far more maintainable in a proper Python script.

That's three counts of conspiracy to degrade system maintainability, manufacturing tooling with intent to degrade system maintainability, possession of tooling to degrade system maintainability, one count of international travel with intent to degrade system maintainability, two counts of manufacture of false documents[0][1] in support of a conspiracy. Bail denied. And... that's life.

[0] Exhibit A: man curl

[1] CURL website

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#104

Post by raverbashing »

purpleidea wrote: post #96
y0ghur7_xxx wrote: post #40

This may be unpopular on an US-centric site like HN, but the US looks more and more like they want to isolate themselves from the rest of the world: very strict immigration policy, travelers molested by TSA on airports, ... These conferences where people around the world meet should start to be hosted somewhere else. Not in the USA anymore. Somewhere in a country that welcomes people instead of treating all of them l…

Montreal and the rest of Canada would love to have you as well!

I like the specificity of this comment ;)

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#105

Post by ubernostrum »

davidbanham wrote: post #37
akie wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, my experience is that US border checks are very aggressive (like, passive aggression and suspicion is the default attitude). I've seen worse, but my last entrance into the US (in 2012) featured barking sniffer dogs and open distrust – and I'm a white middle class European traveling from a European country. Don't get this much in other places.

The US border is awful for travellers. I'm Australian, so a very friendly nation, and it sucks every time. Much worse than borders in Europe or Asia. I refuse to travel to the states these days whether for work or pleasure. The fact that it seems to be getting worse rather than better is very worrying.

I have Global Entry so I don't interact with US customs officers aside from waving a receipt at them on my way out of the immigration hall. So I don't have experience of them. But my personal worst stories of border crossings all involve either Canada or Germany, for what it's worth. Canada's CBSA in particular seem to revel in it, yelling at you for asking a question, yelling at you for doing what they told you to do, and just plain yelling at you.

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#106

Post by skynode »

qume wrote: post #68

Just to balance the narrative here a bit, I have traveled into and out of the US many times per year for around 15 years with no problems on an ESTA. I only recently switched to a visa. After a long flight having to deal with the delay and hassle of immigration seems much worse than it is. I really hate it, and the comments here suggest others do too, but if you look at what we have to deal with objectively it's not…

> Regarding Daniel - like others here I'm sure it's because cURL has been used extensively for bad purposes he was kicked off the ESTA program. Yes it sucks that they didn't let him know in advance, and they didn't have the smarts to figure that he had nothing to do with the bad actors.

Very strange paragraph right there. I could easily generalize this to Windows powershell is increasingly being used in cyber offensives by non-state actors, let us eject Microsoft from the United States

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#107

Post by humanrebar »

nickserv wrote: post #79
humanrebar wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This may be unpopular on an US-centric site like HN, but the US looks more and more like they want to isolate themselves from the rest of the world: very strict immigration policy, travelers molested by TSA on airports, ... Almost all Americans think this sort of thing is nonsense. But the average American has little standing to hold the American bureaucracy accountable for its nonsense. Americans, especially outsi…

> Almost all Americans think this sort of thing is nonsense. But the average American has little standing to hold the American bureaucracy accountable for its nonsense. Sorry but they don't get off that easy when almost half of them voted Trump into office. > Americans, especially outside overcrowded urban areas, are courteous, helpful, hospitable people that are very tolerant of other people and ideas. I've found qu…

Half didn't vote for Trump. Look again at the turnout rates. Also keep in mind that most "Trump voters" voted against Clinton more than they voted for Trump. I think that is kind of silly but that's the thought process of the Trump voters I talk to.

I can't comment about your personal experiences in small town America other than to say that my experience is very different and that referring to areas epithetically (1) undermines your point. America is a very broad and diverse place, though, so there are idiots and bigots in places. But I would just like to point out that kind and welcoming people are easy to find. They don't make headlines. And good impressions don't last as long as bad ones, I guess.

(1) Boonies or boondocks implies a judgemental attitude that people are backwards or unsophisticated. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boondocks

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#108

Post by dredmorbius »

nickserv wrote: post #79
humanrebar wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This may be unpopular on an US-centric site like HN, but the US looks more and more like they want to isolate themselves from the rest of the world: very strict immigration policy, travelers molested by TSA on airports, ... Almost all Americans think this sort of thing is nonsense. But the average American has little standing to hold the American bureaucracy accountable for its nonsense. Americans, especially outsi…

> Almost all Americans think this sort of thing is nonsense. But the average American has little standing to hold the American bureaucracy accountable for its nonsense. Sorry but they don't get off that easy when almost half of them voted Trump into office. > Americans, especially outside overcrowded urban areas, are courteous, helpful, hospitable people that are very tolerant of other people and ideas. I've found qu…

In the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, roughly 63 million votes, of a population of 325 million, were cast for #45.

That is 19% of the total population. Reliable sources inform me that this may in fact be significantly less than half of all Americans.

The notion of the nutcase fringe in politics has been around for a while -- there's about 20% of the vote you've got to be very aware of. Where other voters are insufficiently motivated, or actively discouraged by various means (voter suppression efforts, media, uninspiring candidates), the fringe can win.

That said, there's a range of types throughout the country, and a worrying fraction are worrying. Or worse.

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#109

Post by qume »

GreaterFool wrote: post #78
qume wrote: post #68

Just to balance the narrative here a bit, I have traveled into and out of the US many times per year for around 15 years with no problems on an ESTA. I only recently switched to a visa. After a long flight having to deal with the delay and hassle of immigration seems much worse than it is. I really hate it, and the comments here suggest others do too, but if you look at what we have to deal with objectively it's not…

> cURL has been used extensively for bad purposes What?! Sources please.

If an attackers rouge process lands itself on a target, using something trusted like cURL is better than opening a socket directly, no? Less likely to attract attention?

Same goes for wget, links, etc.

Sorry no sources, it won't take you long to verify this yourself using google. I'm sure there are competent infosec guys and gals here who can provide a better explanation.

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#110

Post by skynode »

theboywho wrote: post #100

People suggesting to move conferences to other countries like France or Germany are wrong: you can't guarantee that your country is not going to turn into a US-like isolationist in the future. The US wasn't and your country is also only 1-government away from being one. What we probably need is a new form of portable conferences where the location doesn't matter and/or is flexible and/or regime-proof. We should stop…

Completely agree with this. Based on historical cycles, we're probably heading into even more protectionist times ahead.
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