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A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

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Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#291
post #141

When I was a child (in central Europe), USA was seen as a heaven where everyone would like to live - and I did too. Nowadays I'm very happy I live in a "poor", speaking by numbers, but much more free republic in the middle of the old continent.

The same here. The reputation of USA changed really a lot since the end of communism and the nineties. We really appreciated their involvement in dismantling the Iron Curtain. We were also fascinated by some western goods :-). Nowadays, people see USA as one of the superpowers in the world who influence or intervene in other countries for their own benefit. If I had to choose, I'd still prefer to live in USA over Chi…

It's worse that the US policy makers intervene other countries mainly not because of their own benefit but because of they believe they are promoting the best values in the world. It's more deceptive and often supported by naive American public. Politicians pursuing pure self interest are more detectable. Hitler won't be in power again. But those who with strong ideology will be elected by American people. Similar situation also happened in Europa. NATO bombed Libya because French supported to overthrown a regime. Now waves of refugees come to Europa because of chaos and war.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#292
post #10

Their point about how other countries will take the US's stance as a cue is somewhat scary. If you try and cross any border it will be relinquishing access to all accounts. I'm assuming email also comes along with 'social media', since communication is by its definition social. So how do you protect yourself? I think just going with "Don't have any social media" isn't a good answer because the relationship that child…

>So how do you protect yourself? Here, now, today? Set all your accounts up with auto-generated passwords, and store the whole lot in a password vault[1]. Don't bring the password vault file with you when you cross the border. Arrange to acquire it after you have entered the country[2]. Now you can honestly say you don't know any of your passwords. If enough people do this, then this law will be pointless. Also, for…

  Also, for the love of god stop bringing your smartphone with you when you travel. 
Is there a risk of bringing a smartphone with no past context on it (e.g. a previously-unused refurb or new phone)? Even one that has been factory reset would give basic prying eyes nothing to find, barring the use of forensic tools.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#294
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you bother to read the article? He was detained coming into the country. Just call a spade a spade. Trump wrote a shitty, racist executive order and people from all walks of life who happen to have one thing in common, a Muslim sounding name, are caught up in it.

How is "Sidd Bikkannavar" even remotely "Muslim sounding"? It's a Hindu name. He probably shortened it from "Siddarth" Bikkannavar to Sidd Bikkannavar like most Hindus in foreign countries do. Bikkannavar is a place in Karnataka, India. Maybe that is his parent's place of origin.

One furriner is very much like another. I've had to explain to people worried about a Sikh temple that Sikhism is its own religion. Lots of people are neither well aware of nor interested in the rest of the world, they only like what they already know.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#295

Here's the Customs and Border Patrol policy in question [0] (see page 31). The EFF has a nice write-up on this topic [1]. It sounds like there's a "border search exemption" that bypasses the Fourth Amendment. The rationale was to ensure duties were paid and screen for "bad guys," drugs, weapons, diseased fruit, etc. [0] https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/privacy... [1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/…

This comment [0] claims that under the Jay Treaty [1] you're essentially given a free pass at "the border". But according to Wikipedia and this article [2], at best this only applies to the Canadian border. If this claims are true, I'm surprised that the EFF & ACLU aren't educating everyone about this exemption. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11742399 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Treaty#American_In…

If your a Canadian citizen with %50+ native blood you can apply for a green card / citizenship at the border because of the jay treaty. That's a very small amount of people although. Canada is a lot more stringent about jay treaty rights in this case although than the US. It's actually harder!

I really doubt though all of these guy's details are correct, since it would mean all native born Canadians could just apply for US citizenship on the border, and I would think there would be some CBC article about it by now.

Also if you do stuff like 'put your house under a trust' or any other corporation, then you lose things like the 250k cap gains exemption on a house you directly own and live in when you sell it.

So definitely a YMMV. This feels like all of the 'you don't actually have to pay income tax' crap if you do this magical bureaucracy incantation you see on the internet.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#296

So, if it was NASAs phone, why not call their legal department before turning over the phone? I carry a work phone and would definitely seek legal counsel before turning it over to anyone.

And if they won't let you?

I'm a US citizen and as such I have the right to legal counsel.

Edit: yes that's I guess only technically during prosecution. But I still wouldn't turn over anything until I did.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Within Europe (ps: as a European citizen) you can go anywhere with a personal identification card (no passport) and there are no border controls (when walking or driving). There isn't even a border, just a sign: welcome to $country (ps: and maybe local driving instructions). Say what you will about the EU, but this has been a great achievement. I can go through airport security between two EU countries and security w…

Wasn't this how the world worked up until a century ago? Anyone could walk or sail into any country, anywhere in the world, without a passport. Apparently the World Wars changed that.

Passports have been around for over 1500 years [1].

There was a brief blip in the 19th century, as railways started to cross Europe and passport checks seemed pointless [2], but that aside, passports seem to have been more common than not.

Given how much was controlled by monarchy-issued licenses and charters, I doubt it was that easy to rock up and enter a foreign country without any papers, but I'd certainly be interested to learn more.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport#History

[2] http://www.wanderlust.co.uk/magazine/articles/destinations/a...

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Within Europe (ps: as a European citizen) you can go anywhere with a personal identification card (no passport) and there are no border controls (when walking or driving). There isn't even a border, just a sign: welcome to $country (ps: and maybe local driving instructions). Say what you will about the EU, but this has been a great achievement. I can go through airport security between two EU countries and security w…

Not to detract from your point but you're referring to the Schengen Zone specifically. There are EU countries opted out (UK) and non-EU countries participating (e.g. Switzerland, Norway and Iceland).

> There are EU countries opted out (UK)

Not to nitpick, but the UK opted out of the EU entirely, not just the Schengen Zone.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The law and order type will always find something to increase their powers. You're just trying to fix their current attack vector, which means they'll just use a different scare tomorrow. To have lasting improvements the security apparatus needs to be scaled down.

I think you are talking about two different groups. As in: will three letter agency type people have the incentive and the desire to expand their capabilities, independent of xenophobia and racism? Yes, absolutely. Do xenophobia and racism play a significant part on why large swats of the population are going along with this? Also, yes. A U.S. where most Americans don't fear foreigners from any part of the world is o…

But this is also ignoring that there are very real reasons this is happening. Within the last couple of years we had the Bataclan, Nice, Orlando, etc, all directly from Islamic terror.

Does that mean Muslims should be discriminated against? Obviously not. However, this is a very blunt way of people trying to protect themselves (even if it's not effective or overreaching).

To wave that off as "racism" isn't really fair.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#300
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Within Europe (ps: as a European citizen) you can go anywhere with a personal identification card (no passport) and there are no border controls (when walking or driving). There isn't even a border, just a sign: welcome to $country (ps: and maybe local driving instructions). Say what you will about the EU, but this has been a great achievement. I can go through airport security between two EU countries and security w…

Within the states of US you can do the same ;) EU essentially wants to be United States of Europe. Though I'm not sure all EU states yet ready to surrender as much national sovereignty as US states did. And what anything of this has to do with homophobia?

Your first sentence is not entirely true: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights-governments-100-mile-b...
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