Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by on Wednesday February 15 2017, @05:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-the-government's-data-already dept.

CNN and a a lot of other outlets are reporting that JPL engineer Sidd Bikkannavar, an American-born citizen, was detained at the border when returning from racing solar powered cars overseas.

The border guards demanded he turn over his government-issued NASA phone and its PIN and held him in their detention area.

Bikkannavar also was interviewed by The Verge:

"It was not that they were concerned with me bringing something dangerous in, because they didn't even touch the bags. They had no way of knowing I could have had something in there," he says. "You can say, 'Okay well maybe it's about making sure I'm not a dangerous person,' but they have all the information to verify that."

Bikkannavar says he's still unsure why he was singled out for the electronic search. He says he understands that his name is foreign — its roots go back to southern India. He didn't think it would be a trigger for extra scrutiny, he says. "Sometimes I get stopped and searched, but never anything like this. Maybe you could say it was one huge coincidence that this thing happens right at the travel ban."

Land of the free? Home of the brave?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Wednesday February 15 2017, @06:49AM

    by bradley13 (3053) on Wednesday February 15 2017, @06:49AM (#467271) Homepage Journal

    Which part of "no" could he not pronounce

    The guy is an American citizen. He has an absolute right of re-entry. They might annoy him for a few hours, but they cannot deny him entry into the country. This was the moment to make a stand.

    Turning over the password to his phone to a bunch of untrustworthy dweebs was dumb. In the best case, they flipped through the phone hoping for porn. In the worst case, they have installed some kind of malware on it.

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Flamebait=1, Insightful=3, Total=4
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Wednesday February 15 2017, @08:34AM

    by GungnirSniper (1671) on Wednesday February 15 2017, @08:34AM (#467291) Journal

    Before we can speak up for others we must first speak up for ourselves.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Pslytely Psycho on Wednesday February 15 2017, @09:24AM

    by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Wednesday February 15 2017, @09:24AM (#467303)

    They can, however, make his life hell. And I'm sure they can hold him for extended periods. The police can hold you for up to 24 hours before they have to charge you with a crime or release you. They can apply to hold you for up to 36 or 96 hours if you're suspected of a serious crime, eg murder. You can be held without charge for up to 14 days If you're arrested under the Terrorism Act. After all you must be subversive if you don't bend over and ask them to ram it deeper.
    If they hold you with no outside communication, what can you do about it? After all you wouldn't of gotten beaten and tasered if you had just not resisted and co-operated with a reasonable (to them) demand to rifle through you personal files you damned terrorist. To this type of thinking you have nothing to fear unless your hiding something. If you say no, you're guilty of hiding something and need to be 'dealt with.'

    Is it right? No. But with our new authoritarian leaning, anything can be justified. Anything at all.
    Also, they denied legal, vetted permanent residents entry, only a small step to deny a citizen. Especially one so subversive he won't let us look at his phone.
    Got to keep out those 'bad hombres' at all costs. Even the ruination of our ideals.

    --
    Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
    • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Wednesday February 15 2017, @12:23PM

      by Nerdfest (80) on Wednesday February 15 2017, @12:23PM (#467348)

      If it were me I would have refused. He was in the right here and the border officer was abusing his authority. Sitting in a little room for 24 hours would be worth it, although nothing would likely to be done to the officer responsible unfortunately.

      This is why you don't want your police state to get too powerful. These asshats now think they have the full government in agreement with them that they should have unlimited power.

      • (Score: 4, Informative) by FakeBeldin on Wednesday February 15 2017, @01:23PM

        by FakeBeldin (3360) on Wednesday February 15 2017, @01:23PM (#467365) Journal

        If it were me I would have refused.

        Then they take your phone, computer, other devices and send it all off to a lab somewhere for further examination.

        He was in the right here and the border officer was abusing his authority.

        The law is currently on their side - the unlock your phone for us thing is something they offer to be nice, instead of confiscating your equipment for indefinite periods.(Getting your stuff back is hard, and will cost you at the very least shipping).

        Sitting in a little room for 24 hours would be worth it

        Worth what?
        You're in a holding cell while they verify your credentials and send away any devices you have. After 24 hours, you're allowed out again - sans devices. Those devices are now going to a place which is paid to siphon off all the data it can from them.
        Oh, and your worthy sitting in a room will probably lead to your inclusion on lists which will make passing future customs checks in the USA likely ... unpleasant.

        These asshats now think they have the full government in agreement with them

        If with "these asshats" you mean customs officers, then yes. The government fully agrees with them - and these rules are nothing new, it's been this way for a while (e.g. from http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/smartphone-laptop-searches-know-rights/ [makeuseof.com]):

        according to a 2008 ruling made in a federal court, customs agents at U.S. airports can inspect the contents of passengers’ laptop computers. They don’t even need any evidence to do so. The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco declared a computer to be no different to a suitcase, car or any other property subject to search at an international border.
        The above ruling also applies to tablet computers and smartphones. If it switches on and you can store things on it, it’s fair game.

        Remark that no president was harmed in that quote, this was a federal court deciding this.

        Further reading: http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/supreme-court-phone-warrant-us-border/ [dailydot.com].

        • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday February 15 2017, @02:35PM

          by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday February 15 2017, @02:35PM (#467390) Journal

          Your post is important because everyone needs to wake up and understand this dystopian nightmare is where we already are. The NSA spies on you in your home via your computers and phones every moment of every day. The government puts up license plate scanners and cameras with facial recognition in more and more places you have to traverse every day. Big data mines your information and profiles you every day. Social networks map out your friends, what your favorite soda is, etc, every day. The federal government assassinates American citizens by drone, today. I have seen the TSA VIPR [wikipedia.org] thugs waving machine guns in the NYC subway. I have seen American citizens penned into "free speech zones."

          This is not a misty, 50 years into a future populated by an Arnold Schwarzenegger character, but today. The only difference is people are still coasting along in a bubble of nostalgia for the way things used to be, and which they fervently wish was still true but know in their hearts it's already slipped away. It's going to get worse. It won't stop until people make it stop.

          --
          Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Wednesday February 15 2017, @02:59PM

          by Nerdfest (80) on Wednesday February 15 2017, @02:59PM (#467399)

          This was a US citizen with a NASA issued phone. There was no cause for him to be detained or searched. CPB claims they do not discriminate based on gender, race, or religion. Bullshit. Your government, at least in words does not agree with the asshats. They are discriminating based on these things, and directly against US citizens. If you want to do it to visitors fine, but this was against a US citizen. Your country is quite broken.

          • (Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Thursday February 16 2017, @04:01AM

            by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 16 2017, @04:01AM (#467707) Journal

            Customs has more authority granted by congress than any other agency within the US. Customs has supreme authority anywhere near the borders. And, that is why so many of us have objected to the expansion of the border region to include almost all of the populated US. If you live within 150 miles of the border, coastline, or an airport, Customs has authority. They need explain nothing to you. Anything short of torture or murder is acceptable, and it's easy enough for them to cover up a murder. "Shot in the back while trying to escape" works for regular cops - it works just fine for Customs.

            If you're going to express your indignation to a customs officer, proceed with caution. You can easily disappear.

        • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Wednesday February 15 2017, @08:50PM

          by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Wednesday February 15 2017, @08:50PM (#467589) Journal

          The part in which he no longer wanted to waste his time and energy being detained indefinitely by a backwards ass agency that lacks any common sense. He did the right thing. Just let them have the device, get free and then call and report the incident. It was not a question of there being 'top secret' info in the device, merely that is a was a NASA owned device. At the point when the rock of stupidity meets the hard place lacking common sense why punish your self ? Just follow procedure, surrender the device and report to your bosses the device was taken from you by other federal authorities and then go home. Let the executive pinheads and the folks employed for that kind of thing do their jobs...

          --
          For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @06:02PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @06:02PM (#467495)

      Stop getting legal advice from movies. The police can't hold you without cause, 24 hrs. or otherwise.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Wednesday February 15 2017, @02:05PM

    by Arik (4543) on Wednesday February 15 2017, @02:05PM (#467381) Journal
    Yeah, that was my reaction. He was tested and he failed.

    If I was his boss he'd be out of work. Not only did he give the phone over to unauthorized parties, he then failed to report the incident to the relevant officials at NASA, and it only came to light because he whined on facebook.

    That's absolutely inexcusable.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @06:07PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @06:07PM (#467498)

      Yeah, you're an Internet tough guy. You'd do wonders and sh*t blunders.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @07:17PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @07:17PM (#467547)

        you don't know that. just like i don't know if you're really a pig.