191–200 of 248 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The 100 miles have nothing to do with international treaty, but only American courts' interpretation of the fourth amendment.
Isn't that based on the treaty? Sorry if I'm mistaken.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Formal checkpoints, yes. A cluster of agents standing in the jetway and pulling people aside as they board the plane - not uncommon.
In the US? I've traveled internationally almost continually for the last six years or so and have never seen that or any outbound customs checking.
It also only covered the people standing in line... so I sat there, waited for my boarding group to go, and followed behind them.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then you can deny you have one, and they won't be able to prove anything. Or you can have two, and then give them the one with a porn collection or something. Or you can have three, in case they suspect you of having two. Or you just have none, and they detain you indefinitely because you can't prove otherwise… though if you fear that, you probably shouldn't cross the border ever again. I was wondering what they'd do…
And what if you do have a Facebook account, but don't know its password because it's only on a password manager application on your home computer? Or what if you need two-factor authentication to login, but left the device with the second factor at home?
This 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…
There are almost no technical solutions. A freshly wiped phone or any clever encryption gimmick can raise suspicion and make things worse. AFAIK companies are the exception, unsurprisingly. Some companies require laptop and phone wiping before travel, and if you can prove you are following company policy it might be OK.
Don't carry any passwords with you so you can not login any service or device even if you wanted to. Leave them at home. A good reason to wipe your stuff prior your journey would be to minimise trouble if your equipment got stolen or lost (a plausible threat when travelling).
I would tend to think there's nothing you can do to prevent them getting suspicious if they choose to do so. It's a bit unfair because it's a situation where you can't count on anything even if you have nothing to hide but that's, to my knowledge, just how it is.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> let them nose through your happy snaps for a minute on the way through. Just so you know, that's not how it has worked since 2013. Now they take your phone to the back room and image your phone. Then they upload that image to a service that searches your data. Then, and there is recent evidence of this, they don't always destroy the local copy of your data in the field office which would allow agents to browse your…
I hate this idea. To the best of my knowledge there's no evidence of anything illegal on my phone or any of my social media accounts. But still, I would absolutely loathe the idea of handing over an image of my phone in perpetuity. Might as well give you a scan of the contents of my brain. Not much evidence of law-breaking there either, but I'd rather hold onto it, thank you!
The 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…
This shit is totally illegal inside of the country. Some legal and mental gymnastics allow them to throw due process out of the window at the border. It’s inhuman.
CBP has sexually assaulted my travel companions simply for traveling with me; when I travel with people now we go through US customs separately to avoid any women in the party being finger-raped by America’s Finest. (I am singled out for harassment for consistently exercising my 5th amendment rights at all US border entries for 3-4 years in the early 2000s.)
Land of the free.
The 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…
> 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…
This 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…
Yes: don't have a phone. If they press you, it broke last night and you didn't have time to fix or replace it before traveling internationally.
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…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wow. I thought the experience I had with Gatwick was a one-off... :( These days I aim for London City or Leeds-Bradford if I can, Heathrow is my second choice, and I'll actively avoid Gatwick and Manchester unless there's no other alternative. I keep meaning to try Glasgow or Edinburgh for departures... I've flown into Edinburgh due to a KLM screw-up but never departed from there.
Oh, interesting! Would you be willing to share your gatwick story? I had no idea it was usually like this.
Basically, constantly rushed by the security staff, and another passenger tried to make off with my phone (the guy next to me stopped him by asking "Hey, are you with this guy (me)? I think that's his...").