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

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221–230 of 248 posts

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

#221
post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, my Chinese colleagues on the same (direct) flights were never searched, just me.

Random searches should be the norm. Same for tax evasion, for example.

No. Just like every fucking where they should have a very good reason to search you, and they should receive a giant fine for searching for no reason.

Fuck this authoritan border shit.

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

#222
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you me? Had a really similar experience until I said that “this is the cheapest rub job I’ve ever gotten” and winked at him. He didn’t appreciate that. Tbh I seem to be making it my life’s work to be a little shit at airport security. I will _never_ use the millimetre scanner which seems to be a huge point of contentenion. And, while not TSA, the Gatwick airport security were trying very hard to convince me that…

> I will _never_ use the millimetre scanner Genuinely curious, is there a reason for this, or are you just fucking with the security?

Not OP but I don't trust their data security and privacy practices and don't like the fact that it's based on gendered patterns (I get my hair ruffled through because I put it up and I'm a man, I can't imagine the horror pre-op trans people go through).

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

#223
post #143
post #98

The "unlock your phone" part is obviously a problem, and the focus of HN's attention. What gets me is an Officer can say to your face "You are not under arrest" but then handcuff you, take you someplace against your will, and detain you there without access to a lawyer. How can that possibly be the conduct of Officers in a free country? I could even understand if the Officer just plainly said "we can not let you boar…

> handcuffs and detention even though you are not under arrest is insanity No, it's kidnapping. Let the courts deal with it.

It’s called being detained. Means the officer has reason to suspect you of something but doesn’t have probable cause. You can see it on cop shows all the time when they arrive to a heated situation. Sometimes they handcuff everyone.

How long was this guy detained?

Props to him for filing a lawsuit I would’ve just caved to pressure and complained heavily.

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

#224
post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random searches should be the norm. Same for tax evasion, for example.

No. Just like every fucking where they should have a very good reason to search you, and they should receive a giant fine for searching for no reason. Fuck this authoritan border shit.

Why not? If it is completely random, it is actually fair, and it'd filter out the people who seem suspicious but who are not. If there has to be a very good reason in order to search (probable cause) then people who understand the pattern can avoid it. If there is a completely random chance you get the special treatment, people will always have to be careful; not just when they're being suspicious.

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

#225
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I travel frequently and those machines at lax always throw me off. And they expect you to stand right up next to someone else while you empty your pockets. Literally feels like I’m cattle.

> Literally feels like I’m cattle. That might actually be the intent - make people feel uncomfortable so they get more uncomfortable if they're up to no good.

I think it has more to do with lax not having space for huge security lines (see terminal 3, what a freaking joke that is).

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

#226
post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Just like every fucking where they should have a very good reason to search you, and they should receive a giant fine for searching for no reason. Fuck this authoritan border shit.

Why not? If it is completely random, it is actually fair, and it'd filter out the people who seem suspicious but who are not. If there has to be a very good reason in order to search (probable cause) then people who understand the pattern can avoid it. If there is a completely random chance you get the special treatment, people will always have to be careful; not just when they're being suspicious.

Because you should not have less right on the borders than elsewhere.

I know the courts don't recognize it; I will be dammed before I let laws determine justice.

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

#227
post #71

I decided a long time ago that I will never travel to the US because I'm not white and cares about my privacy.

That's an absurd decision. The US has tens of millions of annual visitors, and given that the majority of the Earth isn't white, it's likely that a majority of the visitors aren't.

While the stories that hit the press are negative (and hence newsworthy), millions travel in and out without incident.

If you look at this statistically, you have a one in a million chance of having your phone searched at the border

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

#228
post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? If it is completely random, it is actually fair, and it'd filter out the people who seem suspicious but who are not. If there has to be a very good reason in order to search (probable cause) then people who understand the pattern can avoid it. If there is a completely random chance you get the special treatment, people will always have to be careful; not just when they're being suspicious.

Because you should not have less right on the borders than elsewhere. I know the courts don't recognize it; I will be dammed before I let laws determine justice.

Except you're between borders. You do have the very same rights airports as borders as well. Customs can check every person who decides to pass the border. That they don't is their choice; not yours. Don't like it? Don't leave your country.

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

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Going to Canada. I can't remember the exact locations, but the two that gave me the most headaches were the one in northern Minnesota and the one in Montana. The one in North Dakota did look through all my stuff, opened bags, but let me be on my way in an hour or so. That was my best experience so far.

Every time I went from Canada to America, they looked in my trunk, moved some stuff around back there, and said I could leave.

I still haven't been given any reasons why that happens to me, but my name must be somewhere important.

I just learned to get used to video chatting instead of seeing relatives up there. Much less of a headache.

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

#230
To me this kind of story should be on the front page of the NYT, not the fact that Netflix found out what my Candy Crush score was via my FB messages.

Being physically detained by law enforcement and having your Constitutional rights denied seems way worse than FB data leaks, at least to me.

And maybe I'm wrong but I can't help but wonder if race is a factor, that this and other stories like it would be bigger news if white U.S. citizens were the ones being subjected to this treatment.

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