I think it’s a much bigger invasion of privacy today with electronic data than it was back then when a few physical items you carry raised suspicion. With the vast amount of data on your phone and other electronic devices, TSA agents can’t possibly visually check them without downloading the data to their server to be checked by their special software. I bet the data download wouldn’t exclude your personal messages, contacts, photos, etc. And don’t count on these data will be erased afterwards. Also, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Do we want foreign governments to have these data too when we travel to their countries?
Analogous? Harvard has retracted admissions offers to certain prospective students based not on their own social media posts, but on posts of their friends?
Of course we haven’t heard the other side of the story. I’m basing my comments above simply by taking the story at face value.
I’m reminded of an experience my son had - he won a spot in an American Legion boys camp for a week of classes on citizenship and democracy. The first thing that the first speaker said was “You will be judged by the company you keep.” Apparently that’s the case with this student.
Doesn’t sound like we will ever really hear what was found on this student’s devices so everything is speculation. I’d like to believe that Immigration wouldn’t deny entry unless they found posts supporting or promoting terrorism/violence. I’m just not quite as trusting theses days in our current political climate.
If it bothers people that much, don’t take the cell phone. Millions of us traveled abroad successfully without them back in the dark ages. I wouldn’t expect privacy in anything taken across borders, at either end.
The word “on the street” is that border agents went way too far here. Clearly, certain messages, contacts, posts etc are not acceptable. Not for our country, states, neighborhood, schools ourselves either. Having the noblest of views will draw vile and radical responses There is a major concern here that this denial crosses a line that we have honored.
I think at this point, scrubbing all info is in order when traveling
There is no need to extend 4th amendment privacy rights to non-citizens who have not yet even entered the country. No country on earth extends these sorts of protections in such circumstances.
I would support a law change that allows CBP to share publicly any information that they obtain from denied entrants, but obviously this would create numerous tricky issues regarding sources and methods. It’s a thorny area, that’s for sure.
Who said anything about politically passive? There is a broad range between having friends with no political interests and having friends on the terror watch list. I would like to think adults recognize that.
Not sure why this surprises us. We’re aware of changes in border policies in the past decades. Many of us have been scanned, wanded, and wiped, just getting into our own airports.
The larger issue isn’t privacy of our communications, but what’s included in those. Seems he’s dinged for his association with critics (to use the simplest term.) It’s possible those friends’ ideas reached farther, into sedition.
We don’t know. I can only hope that, if this really is minor, his entry is cleared.
“The CBP official started “screaming” at the student? OK…”
I find it totally plausible based on how I’ve seen people, including US Citizens, treated by both TSA and CBP in this country.
“I can only hope that, if this really is minor, his entry is cleared.”
And if it is not, perhaps some happy camper out there might get off Harvard’s wait list.
I don’t know if screaming is the correct word but harshly questioning is pretty standard.
You’d be surprised how many people just hit accept on end user agreements without even looking at it when they download an app. Some EUAs literally say they will take your user data and use it how they see fit and we just hit accept blindly authorizing them to do whatever they want with our data.
I remember one time long ago when we were driving from Canada to the US. We saw one lane with a much shorter queue and got in it. But it moved more slowly than the other queues, and it looked like everyone’s car trunk was getting searched. When we got to the booth, the border officer seemed to go out of his way to be obnoxious, annoying, and holding everyone in high suspicion. No wonder the queue moved more slowly than all of the others. Perhaps it was shorter because all of those who crossed the border there regularly knew which booth the obnoxious border officer was usually in and avoided the lane leading there.
So it is certainly believable that the student in question ran into a border officer on a power trip or some such. Of course, there has not been any new information about this specific case since the Harvard Crimson story (which seems to be the reference that articles in all other media have been pointing to so far), so we cannot be sure of whether that is true.
One year, we were at passport control re-entering the US from Mexico. Back then, a birth certificate was acceptable ID. Granted, DH’s birth certificate was a poor microfiche copy, but that’s all we could get. WOW, the border officer really reamed him out - “I wouldn’t rely on a birth certificate like this if I were leaving the country!” He went on and on. Sigh. Recently, I applied online to get him a better birth certificate and he got a modern one! No more microfiche!
I did think it was interesting that my son, who is usually VERY critical of the US on just about every front, had little sympathy for this student.
A reminder about this story from two years ago. If this older woman from Australia can be treated so poorly, than yes, yelling by CBP isn’t unfathomable.
Agree, that CBP often intimidates detained travelers and yelling is one of the tactics. (Another is speaking very fast and using a lot of idioms to unnerve EFL speakers.) As to cell phone inspection – often it’s used to check if the traveler intends to stay here illegally. A friend of a friend was detained, then put on a flight back home, when CBP discovered the traveler had a girlfriend in the US and had discussed working for her relative and clearly making longer-term plans for a stay beyond his visa.
Businesses and organizations have been aware of electronic device searches at international borders for a while.
https://it.wisc.edu/news/know-bringing-tech-devices-us-customs/
https://www.globalsupport.harvard.edu/news-advice/international-travel-and-electronic-device-searches
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10070-business-travel-customs-data-security.html
Interesting stats in this article about visa cancellations upon entry. If my math is right, about 0.0073% of passengers screened by CBP have their electronic devices searched.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/27/border-deny-entry-united-states-social-media/