Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border
181–190 of 224 posts
Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a bullshit excuse because "protecting the children" are items #1 and #2 on the list of "flimsy justifications for surveillance overreach", right next to "preventing terrorism" at #3. I'm serious. Any time you hear those terms and the discussion is not about speed limits in a school zone, red flags should be going up in your mind. It's not about how many people they catch - even if they had a 100% success rate at…
I was simply pointing out the reason for the searches. As it stands, the law currently lets them do these searches, and I was explaining the reasoning behind these searches (which should be pretty obvious to anyone who has watched those TV shows). As for why they want to search for pedophiles at airports: the reason is presumably because there is a serious problem of child sex tourism in certain countries (Thailand f…
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
-- Franklin, Benjamin
By the way, the real cap'n crunch would be ashamed of the attitude you have expressed, as I'm sure you know.
Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
Canada is in America, I knew that this would come, could not resist the bait ;-) Arguably the last part applies less to Canada.
What part of the world are you from? Here in Canada, if you were to say "Canada is in America", it would sound as strange as saying "Spain is in France". To Canadians, America only ever refers to The United States of America.
I know Central Americans and Canadians who prefer I call USA "the states" since they live in America.
Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
Iceland and the Netherlands have pretty decent records on this sort of thing.
The Nordic countries in general are pretty good. The Netherlands is good as you point out. No place is perfect, but these are ok.
I suspect Julian Assange has a different opinion about Sweden, one of the usually-referenced "Nordic countries".
(I guess that sill gives your statement an 80% correct rating, making qualifier "in general" allow it to still be valid...)
Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
The fact of the matter is they don't. What they want to do is go fishing through your papers and they cynically use this catch all excuse when challenged. In Canada it isn't legal to arbitrarily search people even at the border. Reasonable cause is necessary: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-52.6/page-64.html#... There is both plenty of incentive and no consequences for conducting unlawful searches.
>The fact of the matter is they don't Do you have any references for that? From what I can see on programmes like Border Security, they do catch a lot of people this way, and they do always have reasonable grounds for the search. Also, how does that law allow random searches at airports (which are presumably legal)? Is there another law which permits those?
Shows like that are pure PR. Border guards aren't going to break the rules while they're on camera. And even if they did, the shows producers aren't likely to include it.
Random searches are not legal in Canada. Border guards take advantage of the fact that nobody wants to look guilty by refusing to be searched. They exploit the public's ignorance of the law and use intimidation.
Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
The continent is North America. If you want North and South America, Americas is fine, but must be plural. You're being simultaneously pedantic and wrong.
Alright, lets do this. Wiki says you are pedantic and wrong while I am only pedantic. > The Americas, or America , also known as the New World, are the combined continental landmasses of North America and South America … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas I love how strong you all feel about this. Just relax. I am from Deutschland, but most people on the world call it either by a too general term Germania - and no…
Wikipedia is a great resource in general, but it fails in places. For example, none of the 3 sources cited for that usage of America agree with that. One points out that America (singular) can mean any of N America, S America, or the USA (but not both N and S America). The second doesn't refer to America singular at all, instead clarifying usage of "American". The third gives us some historical context - America was used to mean N + S America, but only prior to the 18th century.
I will admit that if you are from the 17th century, your confusion is reasonable, but I question how you found HN.
More importantly, at least 95% of the English-speaking world disagrees with you, and that's the real test of language and definitions.
I'm curious - in what way is Germany not an appropriate name? My understanding is that it's a translation of Deutschland, and considered an exact synonym. I'll admit that hundreds of years ago Germany or Germania meant something different from modern-day Deutschland, but I fail to see how that's relevant.
Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
By 'not durable', do you mean 'the concept stretches as far back as we have written records'? Yes, 'nations' meaning 'something that gives you a passport' haven't been around long, but 'nations' meaning 'geopolitical entities' is as old as record-keeping itself. And what do you mean by 'rule of law'? Do the decisions of tribal elders count? That doesn't suggest consistency, which is the spirit of the term.
City-states are not comparable to modern nations in their scope, budget, police powers, military powers, surveillance powers, etc. A return to smaller political units that don't have the resources to mount, for example, pervasive surveillance and large-scale incarceration might make us freer than we are now. In other words, maybe national politics needs to be refactored into smaller units to be more tractable and mai…
"A return to"? You make it sound like the empires of old simply couldn't be oppressive, simply because they didn't have hi-tech surveillance.
Not to mention that industrial-scale slavery existed in quite a few places well before the modern era. "Returning to" the ways of the past is very much not guaranteed to reduce our oppression.
Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border
#188We should frame this story with what the actual end result of 'unlocking your phone' is when discussing it. The government routinely claims that it is no different than asking a traveler to open a physical briefcase. It is very different. If you're treating the phone as a 'good' as indicated in the quotes on this story, you can inspect my phone as a good. You can look at the phone. You can xray it. You can open up th…
Right. No one needs to import data via physical presence, so customs simply doesn't need to inspect the data on devices. If someone wanted to bring contraband in, they simply can download it over the Internet, no customs searches needed. This is vastly different than physical goods inside boxes or briefcases, which all physically pass through the border in an inspectable manner.
I predict they will claim to be hunting for child pornography and similar contraband. Despite the argument being silly, as pointed out by yourself.
Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is why I don't carry a smart phone. I carry a shit, call and SMS only phone.
Even with the worst phone you can buy from most carriers, these would still apply: "your entire address book, your chat history, all your personal photos"
Just factory reset your phone before going through, and restore it after you've completed your TSA adventure. Though, do NOT brag about your tactic to them or they will likely try to force you to restore it on the spot.
Re: Canadian Charged for Not Unlocking Smartphone at Canadian Border
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
>The fact of the matter is they don't Do you have any references for that? From what I can see on programmes like Border Security, they do catch a lot of people this way, and they do always have reasonable grounds for the search. Also, how does that law allow random searches at airports (which are presumably legal)? Is there another law which permits those?
Shows like that are pure PR. Border guards aren't going to break the rules while they're on camera. And even if they did, the shows producers aren't likely to include it. Random searches are not legal in Canada. Border guards take advantage of the fact that nobody wants to look guilty by refusing to be searched. They exploit the public's ignorance of the law and use intimidation.
Actually, it is legal in Canada for border officers to inspect any goods being carried across the border -- not even suspicion of illegal activity is needed. See section 99(1)a of the customs act.
I don't think this would allow them to search your phone. However that may be permitted if they have reasonable suspicion.