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US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

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Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

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I'm not sure I missed something, the title says "Americans" but I couldn't find an elaboration on exactly _who_ is subject to these searches. The ACLU [0] seems to contend that, at least, US citizens are not subject to these measures. [0]: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/what-do-when-encounter...

From reading the directive it appears as though they don’t have an exemption for Americans: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/PIA-CBP... Of course the official response is what you would expect: “CBP officials declined, however, to answer questions about how many Americans’ phone records are in the database, how many searches have been run or how long the practice has gone on, saying it has made no…

It's tiring that "national security" is thrown around to justify stonewalling. Does anyone audit the "national security" excuse? An Ombudsman?

Where does policing end and national security begin?

Oh well, I'll buy a thin-blue-line flag for my lawn and sleep easy, trust the good-guys.

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#13
post #2

I'm not sure I missed something, the title says "Americans" but I couldn't find an elaboration on exactly _who_ is subject to these searches. The ACLU [0] seems to contend that, at least, US citizens are not subject to these measures. [0]: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/what-do-when-encounter...

The ACLU is wrong. The border does it all the time. Here is the one that sticks out in my mind as the most popular case:

https://gizmodo.com/border-agent-demands-nasa-scientist-unlo...

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#14
post #8
post #2

I'm not sure I missed something, the title says "Americans" but I couldn't find an elaboration on exactly _who_ is subject to these searches. The ACLU [0] seems to contend that, at least, US citizens are not subject to these measures. [0]: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/what-do-when-encounter...

I mean, that's great and all, but IIRC this Supreme Court has been instituting a policy of Absolute Immunity related to immigration issues via Egbert v. Boule. If one has absolute immunity, the law simply isn't a concern for federal border security.

If I remember correctly, it's not complete immunity, but they require a compensation mechanism approved by congress for any issue that doesn't have prior history of being compensated explicitly similar to the situation at hand. It's like 99% immunity.

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#15

The way US treats the migrants is human rights violation at the border. Now add this to the pile of atrocities committed by the border patrol and ICE. It's high time we should consider open border.

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No, for some time it’s been clear this is a safe space for, “just following orders” and future camp guards.

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#16
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Earlier quoted context omitted.

From reading the directive it appears as though they don’t have an exemption for Americans: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/PIA-CBP... Of course the official response is what you would expect: “CBP officials declined, however, to answer questions about how many Americans’ phone records are in the database, how many searches have been run or how long the practice has gone on, saying it has made no…

> national security implications There’s nothing more American than spying on your own people and blaming it on terrorists.

A government that doesn't keep good enough control if it's people will soon be overthrown.

When you give the people more freedom to protest, organise, mass communicate easily etc, you also have to add equal amounts of monitoring and restrictions to make sure that next movement to overthrow the government can't pick up speed without you catching it.

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#17

The way US treats the migrants is human rights violation at the border. Now add this to the pile of atrocities committed by the border patrol and ICE. It's high time we should consider open border.

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They do indeed have established processes. And the US violates the shit out of them and illegally detains people against international law. You really think the UN established processes involve caging people without checking their credentials or asylum claims? Do you think international law is big on freeing up border guards to violate civil liberties of both citizens and immigrants? No. After the Holocaust, where many countries turned away fleeing Jews, who would then end up getting gassed, the US made sure the UN implemented international law that would make seeking asylum more human rights friendly.

Then we started violating those processes and cracking down on immigration, which actually increased illegal overstays because people stopped going home after their short term visa jobs because they knew they couldn't come back next year to pick strawberries if they left. This isn't wokeism, it's just history.

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#18

The way US treats the migrants is human rights violation at the border. Now add this to the pile of atrocities committed by the border patrol and ICE. It's high time we should consider open border.

Quoted post unavailable.

Wow, it's almost like "human rights" are a cultural/political/ideological construct and not a legalistic one, and people might have varying differing opinions of what those rights are. And that there might be room in a democratic society for discussion of this, what is most just and sensible, and how we might accommodate a changing world situation.

But no... the legal categories of border rights are immutable and constant. Citizenship is a fixed construct. Migrants fleeing starvation and war and climate crisis are criminals. And all these borders set and conquered by force 200-300 years ago are inviolable.

Migrant go home.

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#20

The way US treats the migrants is human rights violation at the border. Now add this to the pile of atrocities committed by the border patrol and ICE. It's high time we should consider open border.

I'd like to see a country experiment with an open-but-chargable border.

Ie. You pay a substantial fee for permission to cross the border. Once the fee is paid, it's unlimited border crossings for life. For example the fee could be $5000 + 5% of your total wealth.

The fee reduces immigration and limits it to the rich, who you probably wanted to allow in anyway. And it costs about what people traffickers currently charge, but the government gets to keep the revenue.

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