International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees • Hacker News Board

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#51

Post by acjohnson55 » Wed, May 03, 2017, 10:03 AM UTC

imron wrote: post #30

kidmenot wrote: post #19

This only reinforces my intention to postpone my first visit to the US until after this presidency and its associated madness have ended. EDIT: at least until after this presidency.

Don't expect it to get any better once Trump leaves office. This madness didn't begin with him and it won't end with him either.

^ Yep.

Don't get me wrong, Trump is an utter catastrophe. But this was coming either way.

The writing was on the wall after Apple vs the FBI showdown in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting.

The intelligence apparatus will not tolerate lack of access.

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#52

Post by mirimir » Wed, May 03, 2017, 10:05 AM UTC

tremon wrote: post #5

Besides the obvious "don't cross the border with work data", I found this recommendation much more interesting: [ask] for someone to remove you from the Basecamp team for 1Password so you no longer have access to Basecamp logins and passwords. Maybe we should temporarily suspend our employee's accounts too when they travel to the US.

Is it indeed the norm now to not cross borders with work data? That seems prudent, but I'm rather out of touch with enterprise reality. Regarding accounts, I'd only heard about social media, not work-related stuff. That would be blatant espionage, no?

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#53

Post by ItendToDisagree » Wed, May 03, 2017, 10:06 AM UTC

microtonal wrote: post #45

8draco8 wrote: post #10

I live in Europe. From my perspective going to US looks like going to some kind totalitarian country. First I have to got visa which is not automatically approved because I'm Polish not British. Then I have to go trough a lot of, mostly pointless, security checks, checking social accounts, interrogations, scans and manual personal revisions. On any stage of that I can be handcuffed and sent back to Europe for almost…

We had serious plans to go on holiday to the US this year. I have been in the US at least a dozen of times, and absolutely love the desert states, Oregon, and Washington. Entering the US was already a large hassle, but with Trump's travel bans, rumors of phone, laptop, and social media checks, we have decided to postpone our travel plans until the political/security climate improves. Semi-related: we were in the mark…

The majority of US citizens did not vote for Trump. Just thought I'd point out that most people DO NOT want this president.

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#54

Post by celticninja » Wed, May 03, 2017, 10:07 AM UTC

So what happens when they ask for my Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat logins and I do not have accounts with these companies? If a simple "I don't have social media accounts" is acceptable then I'm not sure why they even ask for passwords. Proving a negative is very hard.

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#55

Post by StavrosK » Wed, May 03, 2017, 10:09 AM UTC

SCdF wrote: post #20

Just don't travel there. I'm sure I'd be fine: I've been fine a dozen times before. That was before they decided that it was OK to demand passwords and so on. Maybe now it would be worse. Or maybe my skin colour lets me off the hook. Regardless, I'd rather just not waste jet fuel on flying to a place that treats anyone this way. Your phone/tablet/laptop is, for better or worse, a gateway to your entire life. It conta…

People who have recently travelled to the US, what's the probability that you will be asked to unlock your stuff and have random employees search through it? Is it something that happens a lot?

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#56

Post by belorn » Wed, May 03, 2017, 10:09 AM UTC

microtonal wrote: post #45

8draco8 wrote: post #10

I live in Europe. From my perspective going to US looks like going to some kind totalitarian country. First I have to got visa which is not automatically approved because I'm Polish not British. Then I have to go trough a lot of, mostly pointless, security checks, checking social accounts, interrogations, scans and manual personal revisions. On any stage of that I can be handcuffed and sent back to Europe for almost…

We had serious plans to go on holiday to the US this year. I have been in the US at least a dozen of times, and absolutely love the desert states, Oregon, and Washington. Entering the US was already a large hassle, but with Trump's travel bans, rumors of phone, laptop, and social media checks, we have decided to postpone our travel plans until the political/security climate improves. Semi-related: we were in the mark…

I had hoped a bit that the security checks would actually go down during the Trump administration since he has property in the tourism sector. Maybe it will take until the last few years when political points weights less than personal wealth.

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#57

Post by LeifCarrotson » Wed, May 03, 2017, 10:10 AM UTC

cm2187 wrote: post #41

SCdF wrote: post #20

Just don't travel there. I'm sure I'd be fine: I've been fine a dozen times before. That was before they decided that it was OK to demand passwords and so on. Maybe now it would be worse. Or maybe my skin colour lets me off the hook. Regardless, I'd rather just not waste jet fuel on flying to a place that treats anyone this way. Your phone/tablet/laptop is, for better or worse, a gateway to your entire life. It conta…

For me it's less the risk of being search than the massive queues in US airports that turn me off. Feels like queuing for food in Moscow in the Soviet area, just to take a plane.

The Soviet era.

But yes, I just traveled from Shanghai back to my home in the US. The queues in China were much, much shorter than those in the American airports. PVG posted a "25 minutes or less" target for all travellers to get through security and immigration. And they hit it, even at peak travel times with huge volumes of people. At American airports if you arrive less than an hour before boarding they might not allow you in until you rebook on a later flight.

You could see it in the architecture of their systems: The American facilities have huge snaking queues designed for as much capacity as possible, which lead to obvious bottlenecks. And when you arrive at the front of the line, a gruff immigration officer in tactical gear doesn't look at the line except to say "No line jumping!" while they're taking 10 minutes on one individual. In China, there's just not enough distance in the line to allow a long delay to form, there's no single point bottlenecks to slow down the system, and helpful people direct you to the shortest lines.

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#58

Post by mugsie » Wed, May 03, 2017, 10:12 AM UTC

jdietrich wrote: post #50

8draco8 wrote: post #10

I live in Europe. From my perspective going to US looks like going to some kind totalitarian country. First I have to got visa which is not automatically approved because I'm Polish not British. Then I have to go trough a lot of, mostly pointless, security checks, checking social accounts, interrogations, scans and manual personal revisions. On any stage of that I can be handcuffed and sent back to Europe for almost…

If you have to travel to the US, fly via Shannon Airport in Ireland. A special arrangement with the Irish government allows you to pass through US immigration and customs controls while you're still on Irish soil. When you arrive in the US, you're treated as a domestic passenger. You don't avoid the intrusive interrogations, but they're a lot more polite about it because they can't detain you. If you're refused entry…

Dublin airport also has the same arrangement - it makes travelling much easier.

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#59

Post by te_chris » Wed, May 03, 2017, 10:14 AM UTC

Yizahi wrote: post #48

collyw wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK seems to be trying its hardest to catch up.

On the visa price front they already beat everyone else. 115$ for half year visa? Or 450$ for two years visa? Great.

Walk in the park. I just got a Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visa. Total cost for mine and my partners (including flights home to NZ because, apparently, the world would end if people on working holiday visas were allowed to transition in-country)? £~5.5k

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#60

Post by belorn » Wed, May 03, 2017, 10:14 AM UTC

tremon wrote: post #5

Besides the obvious "don't cross the border with work data", I found this recommendation much more interesting: [ask] for someone to remove you from the Basecamp team for 1Password so you no longer have access to Basecamp logins and passwords. Maybe we should temporarily suspend our employee's accounts too when they travel to the US.

Alternative is to use other tokens than passwords for authentication. There is hardware tokens (which should not be taken abroad), or the system can be designed to only permit authentication from on-site.

If you need to build in flexibility to work remote, add a one-time password system that has to be manually provide by a on-site staff. That way the decision to be compelled to provide authentication will rest on people not being interrogated in an airport.