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

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

#211

Post by srean »

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…

Can confirm.

Heathrow terminal 4 staff is one of the rudest I have encountered. They have not been rude to me personally but every time I have been through that terminal I have seen staff being rude and racist to travellers. I have seen folks being physically pushed around to form queues, to make them hurry. This is not a one time experience. Dont recall if they were British Airways staff or airport staff.

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

#212

Post by seanmcdirmid »

LeftTurnSignal wrote: post #209
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've gotten searched every single time I've went to Canada. The last time they searched my car, stripped searched me, threw all my stuff on the ground, and after finding nothing told me to "pick up my garbage." The bright side is, I was only held for 5 hours that time, but I did have a gun pointed at me. The first time was 9 hours, so maybe next time it will only be 3 hours. Some people are just pathetic humans who g…

Going to Canada or coming back from Canada?

I’ve never experienced that either way across the Vancouver area border crossings.

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

#213

Post by philpem »

kitd wrote: post #157
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".…

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.

It's not a direct quote. One because I can't remember the exact words verbatim (this was last year) and two because the ones I could remember, I translated to American for the benefit of the HN audience :)

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

#214

Post by xfitm3 »

zachberger wrote: post #60
bruceb wrote: post #22

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…

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.…

Isn’t the attitude intentionally intimidating, and a core part of the screening process? If someone is nervous and intimidated they may show cues that earn them additional screening.

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

#215

Post by philpem »

Tor3 wrote: post #186
philpem wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Why is your phone completely blank? What are you trying to hide? Give me your Facebook login or you're going nowhere. Okay thanks, but you're still going nowhere... and your flight just left. That'll be $2000 for a new ticket."

But a smartphone is not blank. What does 'blank' mean really? It's choke full of apps, whether you want them or not, from the factory. If you just use it to call with (as I do), then the only activity is a shortish call log.

I'd expect a response along the lines of this if I presented a factory-erased phone to CBP...

"Everyone has a Facebook sir, even my grandma and my boss. And I'm pressing buttons on your cellphone and it's asking me to set things up, so it's obvious you wiped it and have something to hide. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either you start being honest with me, or you're not catching that flight, or any flight. Ever."

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

#216

Post by LeftTurnSignal »

seattle_spring wrote: post #197
bonestamp2 wrote: post #62

Earlier 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 go to Canada twice a year and get treated like absolute garbage by their border agents every time. Absolutely no problems coming back to the US.

That's been my experience every single time I've went through the Canadian border too.

First time they held me for 9 hours before forcing us to go back. They rejected my friend because of an "expunged" disorderly he got when he was 13.

Ok fine, it's their country.

Next time I was held for 5 hours, strip searched, had my car searched (they did a garbage job of it), threw all my stuff on the ground even after knowing there's a $2000+ piece of hardware, then once they were done they told me to "pick up your garbage."

I've also had a gun pulled on me that time, but I could tell that the second CBP that was there saw no reason for any of searches, gun, or anything and he talked her down.

Still not sure why the hell she wouldn't tell me why she wanted to search everything. She said I couldn't leave until she was 100% certain. Certain of what? she wouldn't say.

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

#217

Post by LeftTurnSignal »

bpchaps wrote: post #39
bruceb wrote: post #22

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…

Anecdote: About a year ago, I went through TSA and asked to opt out of the body scans in place of a pat down. Another agent on the side watched the whole thing and made kissing faces my way the whole time while making gay jokes. It was extremely belittling. Fuck TSA.

I rejected the body scan and so they did a pat down. I definitely felt my nuts gettin touched a bit. So I ripped ass as loudly as I could once his head was around my waist.

The search went from touching every point for "weapons" to immediately letting me through. Didn't even finish the pat down. So if you want to get through quicker, eat some taco bell I guess.

Maybe they thought I shit myself, but whatever, some of those bastards are scum. Not all, but enough of them are.

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

#218

Post by grkvlt »

Shivetya wrote: post #167
danboarder wrote: post #6

Suggestion: 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.

I would prefer a phone where I can have more than one partition. For all intents and purposes the presentation looks the same but unless I am in the more secure partition I may not see everything that is on my phone. This would need some work on the app side, like being able to push anything I want from nonsecure to secure partition with a swipe or similar gesture. once pushed to another partition the only way to ret…

you want a bell-lapadula [0] style security labeling model on the phone, i think. it would only allow allow write-up (copy data from insecure to secure side) and read-down (view data on insecure side from secure) mechanisms.

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%E2%80%93LaPadula_model

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

#219

Post by grkvlt »

jki275 wrote: post #168
URSpider94 wrote: post #86

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.

yep, i've been pulled aside on the jetway while boarding a british airways flight to the usa, to have my carry-on searched. this was in heathrow, so not sure who the particular security agent worked for. none of my phones or electronics were turned on or checked, though...

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

#220

Post by jki275 »

grkvlt wrote: post #219
jki275 wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

yep, i've been pulled aside on the jetway while boarding a british airways flight to the usa, to have my carry-on searched. this was in heathrow, so not sure who the particular security agent worked for. none of my phones or electronics were turned on or checked, though...

Definitely inbound to the USA, that happens all the time with additional screening to meet US requirements. Talking about outbound though.
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