I decided a long time ago that I will never travel to the US because I'm not white and cares about my privacy.
Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
71–80 of 248 posts
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Plenty of other countries have customs/border agents that quiz you without attacking or belittling you. I agree. I am Canadian, but I went to school in the US. After school I returned to Canada. A couple years later I had a US work visa to train Americans on a particular technology that my company specialized in, and I was maybe the foremost expert in (outside of the manufacturer). I wasn't taking anyone's job, I w…
I’ve been to Canada numerous times and the agents on your side are so nice. Also never really had a problem with us agents other than they all seem over worked and under paid. At least that’s what their attitude comes off like to me. I do remember one case where a Canadian agent asked what my profession was and at the time I said “web developer” but they heard weapon developer. Pretty funny and awkward. And Gesh, I k…
> it’s so worth getting
Agreed, I can't imagine not having it these days.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
s/discouraged/prohibited/ if I'm not mistaken.
Only when they are outside a device. So checking in a laptop with a battery is fine, checking in only the battery is not. However last time I checked (few years ago) there was also a wattage limitation to that, batteries below 99watt/hour could be checked in. A phone battery is about 10watt/hour, laptop 100-200wh.
Laptop batteries are generally 40-99. Almost no laptop has a battery over 100, specifically because of these rules.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#74The problem with Customs and Border Protection is the attitude. They do have a challenging job. 99%+ of travelers are legit and doing nothing nefarious. They have to pick out the ones who are not legit/up to no good. I have no problem with them asking questions of myself or other travelers, even a lot of questions. The problem is the attitude and abusive nature of their conduct. I have had this experience a couple ti…
I agree. I went through the TSA checkpoint at the United Premier Access this last Tuesday. They have the new automated bin return system. Some of the people who travel less frequently were leaving the bins behind instead of putting them in the machine to be returned to the front. The TSA agent shouted at them repeatedly, "do any of you read English? Can't you read the damn sign?" While he pointed at the instructions.…
Unfortunately this kind of behavior probably stems from their upbringing, not saying it's right, if you feel insulted report it: https://www.tsa.gov/contact-center/form/complaints
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#75So did anybody call a lawyer like he asked? Reminds me of the movie Trading Places where Eddie Murphy asked for a lawyer and all of the aristocrats coughed and turned away My rehearsed line is “you in the I’ll split the settlement with you if you record this and call a lawyer!” Gotta disrupt the bystander syndrome by calling out a particular person And provide the financial incentive
Interesting approach. How often has it worked?
Pretty well since the private and public persons annoying me typically go back into their hiding hole with my uncommon way of talking
Ive never made it to the nightly news with a video of me shouting that line
Or on a talk show about the lawsuit for that recorder to get their share of a settlement
So not sure why to tell you
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#76"Do as we say or you'll miss your flight" probably get 99.99% compliance. Most people have plans and "have nothing to hide," or so they think.
Question: Why do they ask all these question about kids, schools, wife etc? Identity is established, the passport is legit because they can check it, WTH do they want?
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#77Those "unlock your phone at the border" stories have become so famous that anybody who's "up to no good" would be traveling with a decoy phone at this point.
Right? This is nothing but harassment.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry who would be laughed out of the room and for what? It wasnt clear to me from what you wrote Also I found it interesting that Germans perceive the US as overly litigious but I found an article that said Germany has more lawsuits (per capita? In absolute totals?), funny how perception takes a long time to catch up to various forms of reality
German law allows predatory lawyers to file lawsuits on behalf of another party without their involvement. That level of BS thankfully doesn't happen in the US.
Abmahnung is not a proper lawsuit, it's a mostly legal way to get parties to agree in case of a legal dispute without having to actually involve a court. You can ask to be reimbursed for incurred costs for up to 1000€. The current government is working no reducing the abuse of this legal mechanism.
Sending one of these requires you also to clearly show how the recipient infringed on your rights or a law that affects you or your business in a negative way and lay out the costs you want reimbursed for sending the letter (up to 1000€). If you're wrong about it you'll have to pay all and any attorney fees of the other party.
If someone refuses to pay or sign the Abmahnung you have to go to court, in which case you'll need agreement from the party you're representing.
To file an actual lawsuit you still need to be wronged or damaged by the actions of another party, you can't just sue in the name of someone else without them agreeing to it. This is also limited to civil law, criminal law is handled by the state prosecutor via the police, not you yourself.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#79Suggestion: for international travel, when possible stow your powered off phone in checked baggage, and bring a non-important factory-reset phone or tablet for entertainment or to connect to the cloud if needed for work etc. If needed keep your work files in a hidden folder on an SD card in your camera... lots of annoying but increasingly necessary workarounds to deal with the growth of authoritarian states.
Just make sure you phone's battery is dead. Then you won't be able to unlock it anyway.
They would plug it in for you.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#80This is certainly not the first article of its kind, and the legality of such action seems to be upheld in court (at least the use of search without a warrant at the border). So, the selfish question then is: How do I protect myself from such unwarranted searches? Is there a way I can present my phone such that it drops into a mode that contains no data? Do I need to back my phone up before traveling, wipe it for the…
>>It feels crazy to ask this question, as an American citizen, but HN, what do you do to protect your data at the American border?
In reality you can't without (potentially) causing yourself massive problems. Missing flights, detained for longer because you are hiding something because of wiped drives, encryption etc. etc. Oh, and they might add your name to lists that make your life miserable every-time you fly. So, unless a court rules in our favor, we're screwed.