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Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border

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Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border

#101

Post by tomek_zemla »

wil421 wrote: post #83
DanBC wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like David Miranda? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/18/glenn-greenwald...

Now that was a political maneuver. The article about the guy in Canada didn't say what the reason was for searching him. >"Officers are trained in examination, investigative and questioning techniques. To divulge our approach may render our techniques ineffective. Officers are trained to look for indicators of deception and use a risk management approach in determining which goods may warrant a closer look" This stat…

Right... Maybe the guy has dark skin?

Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border

#102

Post by allendoerfer »

bhayden wrote: post #67
allendoerfer wrote: post #56

As a European I have to say, that I associate these sort of things with totalitarian regimes and it is just unimaginable for me why the American society tolerates this while fighting for democracy elsewhere.

It's not that we tolerate it, it's that our voting populace is largely single issue voters and don't really care about whether the next president wants to remove the Patriot Act. They care about social issues like reproductive rights. Added to mostly binary voting (two party system) means you only have two real choices that are polar opposites on the hot button social issues.

I think in the end it comes down to the way the parties are funded. With state financed parties and regulations to cut costs of campaigns, smaller parties would have better chances to gain traction. The problem is that nobody currently in charge has the slightest interest to do as he would cut of his own monopoly to the financing. Maybe you could start by sneaking in some clever cost-cutting tricks for the campaigns.

Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border

#103

Post by kazinator »

jackweirdy wrote: post #71
grecy wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, you can do that, and many business people now do exactly that when flying in/out of the US knowing that any data they carry across the US border is fair game.

China too - a friend’s dad works in chip manufacture & flies regularly from the UK to China - he leaves his personal phone at home and gets issued a new phone by his company every time he goes, which is wiped when he returns.

And now consider the bitter irony of your "China too".

Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border

#104

Post by chc »

loceng wrote: post #34
chc wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like a pretty wild guess.

I can only assume you don't know what the NSA has been up to?

I don't doubt some people in the government have the capability to read people's text messages, but what you're suggesting is way past that.

In the scenario you seem to be proposing, some random border agents are not only privy to top-secret NSA projects, but also have access to the data collected by said top-secret projects, and not only that, but they know everybody who's going to drive across the border on a given day, and not only that, but they pre-screen all of those people's data to see who's planning to marry for a green card so that they can manually screen the people's devices and then pretend it was random search.

Basically, these people are not the NSA, so assuming that they have the capabilities of the NSA seems a bit far-fetched.

Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border

#105

Post by finnh »

spiritplumber wrote: post #80
ignostic wrote: post #17

Customs officials forcing you to unlock your phone is not just an invasion of privacy - it's a pointless invasion of privacy. Customs agents don't even know where to start in finding data that a user wants hidden. Even if allowed access to personal devices, data is slippery enough that it could be stored in almost anything. Here's yet another example of taking away rights in a way that does nothing to deter actual cr…

I had this experience. My laptop wasn't locked, but I was asked to let someone look through it. That took about 20 minutes, which caused me to miss my coincidence. Since I now had time to waste, I asked to see the customs lady's supervisor, and then berated the person who inspected my laptop for not having any idea how to do this sort of search properly. So, I ended up sitting both the customs lady and her supervisor…

uh, thanks? I'd prefer they remain ignorant

Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border

#107

Post by happyscrappy »

allendoerfer wrote: post #91
happyscrappy wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If smugness had value Europe would be a superpower and not a toothless windbag.

I would argue that articles like these indicate, that the people of Europe indeed have more power as citizens than people of other countries. I do not see how Europe would benefit from being a superpower again.

It would be pointless anyway because Europe is too important to US power to be trusted with their own defense.

Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border

#108

Post by task_queue »

allendoerfer wrote: post #81
task_queue wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's different when we do it.

Yeah, with torture etc., because of course we are only doing it to the bad guys to save lives and so on. But this affects your own people even those people, that have enough money to fly out of your massive country and not some messy and suspective underclass.

Again, it's different when we do it. Especially when we think we have nothing to hide.

We heard cries about how bad things were on the other side of the Iron Curtain, while we led a witch-hunt on our own people.

When the commies spied on themselves people for The Greater Good, it was evil; but when we spy on ourselves for Freedom and Advertising, it is different.

Honestly, if you have enough money to not be part of some messy and suspective underclass, why would you give a shit? If you actually cared, you have enough money to subvert a dragnet or the consequences that might arise from it.

You can live in the Manhattan/SF superclass bubble or any other bubble around the world. You'll be spied on just as much here as anywhere. At home, you probably know someone in intelligence who can give you some good insider info, though.

Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border

#109

Post by wil421 »

Silhouette wrote: post #100
wil421 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now that was a political maneuver. The article about the guy in Canada didn't say what the reason was for searching him. >"Officers are trained in examination, investigative and questioning techniques. To divulge our approach may render our techniques ineffective. Officers are trained to look for indicators of deception and use a risk management approach in determining which goods may warrant a closer look" This stat…

That description seems awfully close to saying an officer can selectively interfere with someone's life just because the officer didn't like the look of him. I think we all know how that one turns out.

It just a way for them to justify searching anyone. He looked suspicious so the officer searched him. I'm certain they could say it about anyone.

Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border

#110

Post by spiritplumber »

rjbwork wrote: post #97
spiritplumber wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had this experience. My laptop wasn't locked, but I was asked to let someone look through it. That took about 20 minutes, which caused me to miss my coincidence. Since I now had time to waste, I asked to see the customs lady's supervisor, and then berated the person who inspected my laptop for not having any idea how to do this sort of search properly. So, I ended up sitting both the customs lady and her supervisor…

Hilarious! Did you ever receive payment for services rendered?

No. I am fairly sure that it all went in one ear and out the other...

(I do this stuff a little too often, maybe twice a year. This probably makes me an asshole, but it gets the testosterone out in a nonviolent manner, so it's the lesser of two evils ,really).

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