Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/01/26/us-border-agents-are-requiring.html
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I am still skeptical of how anyone can “demand” one’s social media information when there is no evidence that one has any in the first place. Insisting that one prove a negative can be awfully embarrassing, and waste a lot of time.
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Could be a lot worse than that.
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So guilty until you prove yourself innocent, got it. Thanks Obam… I mean, Thanks Rump!
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If they refuse to do so, do they expel them back to their home country of the USA?
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OK, so much for understatement.
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You know that part of those documents describing the powers and limits on government powers called the Constitution and Bill of Rights where it says it only applies to citizens within the borders of the U.S.?
Me neither.
The government does not have the power or authority to just decide where the laws governing the rights of the people end and unless we push back, this will get worse. We already have illegal CIA prisons on foreign soil which are used to completely sidestep the laws of the U.S. but nowhere in our Constitution or Bill of Rights does is say the limitations placed on government power don’t apply outside the U.S.
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Contact your representatives. Let them know you actually care about this issue (and it will affect your vote in the future).
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Couldn’t we all convert to Islam and, upon returning to the Daddyland, share our myspace page?
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So Facebook is going to get a ton of new people with only bots as friends and no posts?
I have a Twitter that I got five years ago that has never been used, does anyone want that?
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It seems obvious, but we don’t do it. We complain or make humorous comments on blog posts that will never be seen by the people that can do something about this.
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I agree. However the border extends 100 miles into the US and the patrols frequently ignore the Constitution. Read this from the ACLU. It’s alarming. https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights-governments-100-mile-border-zone-map
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That’s exactly the sort of thing I’m referring to. The government, without bothering to ammend the constitution, has decided that there are places, times, and people to which the limits placed upon governmental power do not apply.
@Mojo_Yugen
It was a joke Mojo. Posted for the laugh and nothing more.
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What they really want is access to the phone or laptop on the pretext of getting the social media account info. If a Facebook or Twitter app is there, it’s a bonus, but the other info they can mine from an unlocked phone (contacts, location data, e-mail, texts, browser histories) is even more useful.
The key thing to remember is that the border is a civil rights grey zone. If the government gives the green light, ICE agents can demand that you unlock your phone for them if you want to enter the country, Fourth Amendment and prohibition of religious tests be damned.
I cross in and out of the U.S. border a lot, and since the election I’ve started looking at backing up my phone into an encrypted repository and wiping it to a bare-bones generic-looking config before I re-enter the country. It’s a pain in the arse, it’s not going to stop whatever NSA monitoring is going on about the services I use, but it seems like something I’ll have to do (it helps that I can honestly say that the only social network I’m on is LinkedIn – they’re welcome to look at that account).
For a relatively privileged person like myself, changes made at the border are my tripwires for serious deterioration of liberal-democratic institutions. This is happening way too quickly for comfort
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We have nothing to fear. The US is decades ahead of the Muslim world in Sock-Puppet technology.
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The idea that it is the agents or agencies that are in danger here is … interesting.
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I know. And that was my point. We (and I do mean we) make too many jokes about things like this. We should be getting angry, and frightened, about these things.
BTW, contact link for Customs and Boarder Protection: https://help.cbp.gov/app/ask
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Anger and fear often fuel jokes.
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