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Massive New Surveillance Program Uncovered by Wall Street Journal

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Re: Massive New Surveillance Program Uncovered by Wall Street Journal

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was turned back because he lied (unknowingly) when the asked him if he'd been arrested.

I have to wonder if they actually expect people to be honest about that. You paid a lot for that plane ticket, and these people can turn you away for what amounts to any arbitrary reason. Would you really want to tell them about how "undesirable" you are?

Apparently they do, if you are turned away for not being honest.

Re: Massive New Surveillance Program Uncovered by Wall Street Journal

#112
post #75
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's analagous to saying it's a problem that Health screenings are often targeted at high-risk groups when the vast majority of those groups won't get the disease in any case.

.....and, where the cost of false positives is sufficiently high and the rate of false positives is sufficiently high, that is a very relevant consideration that is in fact made by the medical community. That is just a basic of modern medicine. The world is not black and white. These are things that must be weighed and considered rationally with real data, not emotionally with fabricated absolutes. You don't get to d…

I'm sorry but you have gone off on a tangent there. We weren't arguing about the effectiveness of the policy just the rationale behind it, I believe. I don't have any stats on that, do you?

Re: Massive New Surveillance Program Uncovered by Wall Street Journal

#113
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It works so well for us because nobody, and I literally mean no other state in the world speaks THE LANGUAGE. When you grow up here you get used to being around all kinds that you previously never fully visualized as actual, walking-talking flesh-and-blood people. There's the Russian-speaking section to which I belong, the local Palestinians, the Ethiopian section, quite a lot of the Moroccan people, as well as many…

Interesting, do Arabs pretend to be Jews to pass the security?

Arab Jews certainly don't.

Re: Massive New Surveillance Program Uncovered by Wall Street Journal

#115
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sucks that this is how it works, but that is what the survey is for. They already know all the answers, they just want to see how you respond. For eg. they already know the date, your flight number, your passport number, your history - it is all about getting you in a situation where you answer questions and can be analyzed. The Isrealis are really good at it. They realized that security through innspecting every…

They already know all the answers That's nonsense. Ever commit "moral turpitude"? You'd need to be a historian of the law to know what they're on about, and the peons behind the desks certainly don't know all the answers. They also didn't know how to interpret my H-1B after my division was purchased by another company, even at the supervisor level, though I had a thick binder from the company lawyers to explain it al…

They're not asking what thoughtcrimes/sins you've committed, they're asking you directly if you've ever been arrested, which they ~do~ know the circumstances of.

Re: Massive New Surveillance Program Uncovered by Wall Street Journal

#116
Why I'm worried about a surveillance state? Because the people in charge will have their records protected while everyone else gets the surveillance.

Our president committed crimes his justice department jails people for (illegal drugs). Drug testing is a perfect example of the surveillance state. The people who don't get tested? The testers. The legislators. The people in charge. I know there are technical problems with that analogy - but you get the point.

Re: Massive New Surveillance Program Uncovered by Wall Street Journal

#117
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They already know all the answers That's nonsense. Ever commit "moral turpitude"? You'd need to be a historian of the law to know what they're on about, and the peons behind the desks certainly don't know all the answers. They also didn't know how to interpret my H-1B after my division was purchased by another company, even at the supervisor level, though I had a thick binder from the company lawyers to explain it al…

I'm talking about customs and immigration clearance, not visa applications. All flights into the USA are now pre-screened with airlines forwarding all passenger info prior to departure. They literally know all the answers and have no real need for the cards you fill out. edit: I don't have the link with me atm, but there was a Wired (I believe) story about the center that is responsible for collecting all the data in…

I've entered the US 15 times in the past 5 years; I've been through the transition from filling out forms in the arrivals hall, to getting landing cards with your boarding pass, to ESTA pre-authorization. I've gone through with visas and without, I've gone through the US embassy process etc.; I've even sometimes gone through CBP before I left Europe, in Shannon.

They still ask stupid questions, whether it's on a website or on paper.

Re: Massive New Surveillance Program Uncovered by Wall Street Journal

#118
post #32
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been happening in the other direction for a number of years now. My brother was turned back when he flew to Miami with his family to take his children to Disney World. It turned out that because he had been arrested aged 19 and failed to declare it that the border people felt that he had answered fraudulantly when challenged on "Have you ever been arrested?". My brother answered no because whilst he was arrested…

It sucks that this is how it works, but that is what the survey is for. They already know all the answers, they just want to see how you respond. For eg. they already know the date, your flight number, your passport number, your history - it is all about getting you in a situation where you answer questions and can be analyzed. The Isrealis are really good at it. They realized that security through innspecting every…

> There was sometime in how your brother answered that steered them towards not allowing him in.

Are you a mind reader?

If not how do you know that?

All I see is an overzealous border guard refusing a family to enter a country to spend their money on a holiday.

Lose-Lose.

And dumb to boot.

Re: Massive New Surveillance Program Uncovered by Wall Street Journal

#119
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a record then isn't it understandable that you might attract more attention than someone with a blameless past? It seems logical to me anyway. Obviously not to the extent that you'd be held but keeping an eye on you is fair enough imo.

Eventually, having a blameless past will be cause for suspicion, if it's not already. Because at some point, not having a record is is sufficiently different from everyone to not be "normal".

Good point. That reminds me of hearing how traffic cops decide to pull someone over to check for drink driving. One of their criteria was any car that appeared to be sticking too rigidly to the speed limit

Re: Massive New Surveillance Program Uncovered by Wall Street Journal

#120
post #72
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Domestic terrorists may very likely have exhibited juvenile anti-social behavior. How likely is the reverse? That is, how likely is it that someone who exhibits juvenile anti-social behavior will eventually be a domestic terrorist? My money is on "it is very unlikely", and that is a problem.

That's analagous to saying it's a problem that Health screenings are often targeted at high-risk groups when the vast majority of those groups won't get the disease in any case.

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