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Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport

arstechnica.com

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Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport

#151

Post by NullPrefix »

ATsch wrote: post #146
kmlx wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Helsinki: "why am i being checked?" smiles looking stupid "no really, why am i being checked" "i don't know, i just work here" "so you just follow orders blindly? can someone explain what's going on" no one could explain anything because Helsinki airport is a piece of..., same as Gatwick or Luton. regarding TSA, since I don't have facebook, snapchat, instagram it's always scary talking to them.

> since I don't have facebook, snapchat, instagram it's always scary talking to them. why?

Stasi thinks he's hiding his real accounts

Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport

#152

Post by Markoff »

ATsch wrote: post #146
kmlx wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Helsinki: "why am i being checked?" smiles looking stupid "no really, why am i being checked" "i don't know, i just work here" "so you just follow orders blindly? can someone explain what's going on" no one could explain anything because Helsinki airport is a piece of..., same as Gatwick or Luton. regarding TSA, since I don't have facebook, snapchat, instagram it's always scary talking to them.

> since I don't have facebook, snapchat, instagram it's always scary talking to them. why?

because they assume everyone has at least some account and if you say you don't have any, they will think you don't want to provide it

Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport

#153

Post by pvaldes »

ATsch wrote: post #146
kmlx wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Helsinki: "why am i being checked?" smiles looking stupid "no really, why am i being checked" "i don't know, i just work here" "so you just follow orders blindly? can someone explain what's going on" no one could explain anything because Helsinki airport is a piece of..., same as Gatwick or Luton. regarding TSA, since I don't have facebook, snapchat, instagram it's always scary talking to them.

> since I don't have facebook, snapchat, instagram it's always scary talking to them. why?

There could be a problem also with legit accounts with the same name as you or, even worse, fake accounts created with your name for some reason (from bots to exgirlfriend revenge to I'll reserve this name "just-in-case"). You don't know that those accounts exist, but they can take a quick look and think that you are a lier. They do not have the time or the desire to verify that. I remember a twitter "pvaldes" account created minutes after declinate to upload a photo of my face to a popular freelancer platform. The account showed a naked guy seen from behind showing his bottom in a pool, a location similar to mine, and not much more. Maybe is still opened, I really don't care.

So, probably a better answer would be "I had seen accounts in facefook/twitter/whatever with my name but aren't mine. As you can see, are mostly inactive or is clear that I'm not the same person shown in those party photos".

A solution is not forcing yourself to pass by this cattle-treatment if the country is so unfriendly to foreigners.

Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport

#155

Post by seanmcdirmid »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #129
rypskar wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Norway we can click on smiley faces after security to say how the experience was, going from good to bad, there was an article in the news the other day about how they used the results from this survey for setting bonuses for the agents working in the different airports

I am American, living in Norway. I got searched while coming home from Amsterdam. Its OK, I understand, it is Amsterdam, after all, and they want to make sure I'm not smuggling stuff. And I pack very lightly, which doesn't help matters at all. I've never been treated so well while being searched. The guy was kind and polite and smiled a little. I also learned that in his opinion, Americans were usually pretty easy to…

I used to get searched all the time in Seattle because I was coming in from Beijing and must have looked suspicious or something. Anyways, I was never treated poorly in the red line by immigrations and customs. Just one point of anecdata, Seattle is a sleepy place and the airline staff is usually a bit nicer.

I’ve never had to go through an extended customs search in another country, however.

Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport

#157

Post by kitd »

philpem wrote: post #103
zachberger wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

I had this at Gatwick last year... "Hey idiot, get your goddamn bags off the (expletive) belt! Hurry the hell up!" At which point another passenger decided to take advantage of the confusion and tried to steal my phone... "God (expletive) damn you! Are you trying to make my (expletive) life hard?! Just take your bags and go, you're holding up my line!" Approached the airport, "we do not comment on security matters".…

I assume your quotes aren't verbatim, because those are some very un-British colloquialisms. Having said that, I know that TSA agents have worked at Heathrow and Gatwick before. Maybe he/she was one of those.

Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport

#158

Post by owenversteeg »

test1235 wrote: post #150
philpem wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had this at Gatwick last year... "Hey idiot, get your goddamn bags off the (expletive) belt! Hurry the hell up!" At which point another passenger decided to take advantage of the confusion and tried to steal my phone... "God (expletive) damn you! Are you trying to make my (expletive) life hard?! Just take your bags and go, you're holding up my line!" Approached the airport, "we do not comment on security matters".…

just to clarify ... a member of gatwick airport security staff said that you? >"Hey idiot, get your goddamn bags off the (expletive) belt! Hurry the hell up!" >"God (expletive) damn you! Are you trying to make my (expletive) life hard?! Just take your bags and go, you're holding up my line!" That all sounds so un-british I can't imagine this playing out. Which part of security were you in? I've flown through heathrow…

Really? I've gone through a good number of British airports and I've seen similar scenes play out (typically not directed at me, though.)

British security/police seem to take their power a bit too far very often, in my experience. They have absolutely no problem with a little shouting. Of the first-world immigration officials I've had to interact with I'd rank them perhaps second worst, for general cluelessness and authoritarian behavior.

The typical British "don't say or do anything, just tut" behavior does apply often: Public displays of racism? Civil liberties being taken away? A simple tut will do. But if you're British immigration, then shouting incorrect or confusing instructions is just part of the job.

The number of times I've seen this is too high, and that's not even including the number of patronizing and wrong instructions I've gotten, either. For example, getting shouted at that I should have presented my American passport when I presented my Dutch passport (...what?)

Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport

#159

Post by ashelmire »

Pawka wrote: post #25
eganist wrote: post #2

Was this incident recorded by any passers-by? It may sound as if I'm asking out of doubt, but rather, I'm asking to see if my hunch that CBP is equally as reckless and uncaring in front of a camera as e.g. other law enforcement agencies.

It is not allowed to use phone/camera at the Customs area.

Has that been determined by the courts?
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