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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?
(Score: 2) by aclarke on Wednesday February 15 2017, @12:02PM
As a Canadian, this point has always grated me about American politics and laws. It's somehow worse if it happens to an American, but OK if it happens to someone else. We, as humans, should be concerned about "human" rights, not the rights of our own particular little group of people.
I work for an American company, and occasionally have to travel across the border for work. I haven't had to do it under the new administration, but it's gotten to be such a pain already that having to travel to the US is a serious negative consideration for me when choosing my next job. I could go on and on about what I've dealt with from US Border Patrol, from taking my passport and leaving me sitting there for hours, to accusing me of coming into the US to "steal our jobs", to putting me in secondary for driving the wrong type of car, apparently. There comes a point though when one just decides that one doesn't have to to deal with this, and decides to do something else.
I suppose there's a group of people who would consider that a "win" for the US, as it's one more job for an American to compete for. But travelling across the border is becoming so distasteful that I don't even want to travel through the country on a family vacation. It's a shame as I lived there for a long time and have a lot of friends there.
I'm sure this post has put me on some sort of new list, but there it is.
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Wednesday February 15 2017, @12:11PM
um, perhaps you've heard of a teeny, tiny, eensy, weensy, trifling concept called 'american exceptionalism' ? ? ?
BY DEFINITION, Amerika is ALL that is good and great, all the rest of you are shit on a shingle...
end of discussion
(yes, OF COURSE that is pathological psychopathy, but we have the big guns, so nobody does shit about it, do they ? ? ?)
'what, we're so innocent...'
THAT alone is what makes the deep state hate t-rump...
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Wednesday February 15 2017, @12:45PM
I've already canceled a vacation there (Florida) since the ridiculous "travel ban", and will not be doing planned motorcycle trips in the US this summer either. There are lots of places to explore in Canada, so that'll be the top of my list rather than Vermont, New York, etc.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday February 15 2017, @05:50PM
Yes, by all means, please stay away from our country. We don't want you here.
I'm not being snarky. Approximately half our population voted for this Administration, and the other half voted for people who would do much of the same (all of this stuff was already happening under "progressive" Obama, remember; Trump's only been in office for about 3 weeks now).
Coming here and spending your hard-earned money here only feeds the beast. There's many other places to visit that will treat you properly instead of like a criminal. You can stay in Canada (I assume that's where you live by your writing), as it's a quite large (geographically) nation, with lots to see and do, from coast to coast. You can also fly to many places in Europe. Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, etc. all seem like wonderful places to visit for a vacation. They're probably a little pricier than the US, but that's OK. If you're into motorcycle trips, I'll bet driving around Great Britain (but avoiding the London area) would be fun, especially the quaint parts of Scotland and Wales. But you can also drive straight across Canada, as your famous drummer Neil Peart did a while ago (and wrote a book about).
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Wednesday February 15 2017, @07:47PM
Thanks, that's the idea (great idea about motorcycling around the UK ... it's hard to rent motorcycles here, but there may be different). I think with the previous government, people were oblivious (and mainly, still are). Having a fascist as as leader will hopefully be a wake-up call for a few people. Probably not enough, but a few.
If the NSA sucking up all those phone calls manages to implicate current members of your government if nefarious activities, it may have the opposite effect ... but again, may bring attention to it.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday February 15 2017, @08:59PM
Why would the NSA use their data to get current members of government in trouble, unless they're members of the opposition (to whoever is running the executive branch)? That would be biting the hand that feeds them.