Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

dailyxtra.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 398 posts

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#31

Post by kakarot »

andrewflnr wrote: post #20
coin wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> wipe your devices But then you risk: > They said, ‘Next time you come through, don’t have a cleared phone,’

Quite. Once you have such an E2E encrypted cloud, the next step is to simply not bring your device over the border, but rather buy/rent one in the country you arrived in and load your stuff on that one. The only problem is finding hardware you can sort of trust.

When you start considering renting a device to evade surveillance, you've come full circle. Are you going to pry that thing open for bugs? Not if your deposit depends on it

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#32

Post by b6 »

kazinator wrote: post #15
confounded wrote: post #6

There needs to be some reasonable way to get your digital life into an E2E encrypted cloud, wipe your devices, fly into the police state you call home, and get setup again when you land. You can promise at the border that your head doesn't contain anything either. I get very worried about traveling with an object as alien and shiny as a Yubikey. I don't know how I'd explain it to an aneurism in a Kevlar vest without…

> You can promise at the border that your head doesn't contain anything either. That would look like a clumsy "I'm just like you" attempt at building personal rapport.

It's funny, but I don't think it does much good to think of somebody as dumb. If you or I were actually them, we would be doing the same job. Everyone is getting swept up and used by processes that are too big for them to see.

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#33

Post by sneak »

I get detained and harassed at every single border crossing into the US, and I am a citizen—simply for having on several occasions many years ago asserted my 5th amendment rights at the border.

Non-US people traveling with me have been denied entry after being sent to secondary for refusing to unlock their devices (the only reason they were sent to secondary and the unlock demand made was because they were traveling with me, a known fifth-amendment-user).

US CBP are total scumbags. I've had lower level CBP insult the country in which I live, unbidden, in response to my plain, unadorned factual responses to questioning about where I live and what I do there, in what appeared to be self-reassurance about the USA's number one status. Both me and a female partner have had our genitals groped as punitive response to our refusals to unlock our phones.

The sooner we can drive this issue to a head and get all these pigs out on the street looking for new jobs, the better.

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#34

Post by KKKKkkkk1 »

The Bill of Rights says that the government is not allowed to conduct unreasonable search and seizure. This applies to all people, not just to US citizens. Unfortunately, when you are a noncitizen at at a port of entry, the Bill of Rights is effectively a dead letter.

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#35

Post by refurb »

lacampbell wrote: post #19

I'd love to visit the United States, but this is just creepy. I don't even give my family passwords. Not worth visiting on my own dime if I'll just be turned back for refusing to comply.

I'd avoid traveling to Canada as well.[1][2]

[1]https://www.cnet.com/news/man-charged-for-refusing-to-give-u... [2]http://www.macleans.ca/culture/crossing-the-line/

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#36

Post by tn13 »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #27

In the US right now visiting, am Canadian. Was a pain, was held up over an hour at the border (via land). Apparently they don't believe there's any reason for a Canadian to visit the US as a tourist, we only want to work illegally (they're partially right, only came to visit family, our national parks are nicer). Also, based on my family members' experiences of working in the US, it's easier to work illegally than to…

US has denied my 70 year old parents visa to visit me because they think they intend to work or stay in USA when my own visa expires in few months!

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#37

Post by mistermann »

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #34

The Bill of Rights says that the government is not allowed to conduct unreasonable search and seizure. This applies to all people, not just to US citizens. Unfortunately, when you are a noncitizen at at a port of entry, the Bill of Rights is effectively a dead letter.

That goes for citizens within miles of the border as well does it not?

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#38

Post by fulafel »

Argh, you couldn't invent this kafkaesque stuff:

"When he went through secondary inspection at Vancouver airport, US Customs officers didn’t even need to ask for his passwords — they were saved in their own system."

"They said, ‘Next time you come through, don’t have a cleared phone,’ and that was it. I wasn’t let through. "

--

I know that US/Canada privacy laws might not give people protection in this situations, but what about universal human rights? UN Declaration of Human Rights and other binding international agreements recognize the right to privacy.

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#40

Post by [deleted] »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #27

In the US right now visiting, am Canadian. Was a pain, was held up over an hour at the border (via land). Apparently they don't believe there's any reason for a Canadian to visit the US as a tourist, we only want to work illegally (they're partially right, only came to visit family, our national parks are nicer). Also, based on my family members' experiences of working in the US, it's easier to work illegally than to…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN