I’m a Journalist but I Didn’t Fully Realize the Terrible Power of U.S. Border Officials Until They Violated My Rights and Privacy

submitted by Optimus85 from theintercept.com

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[–]IamRedBeard 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

You are right. And they should start stopping us from state to state, too and checking our papers.

I know! Maybe we should be required to Log in with our birth names and socials Every Time we access the internet!

I like that Idea! And Breathalyzers in every car Too! Also they should be able to track us for insurance purposes too!

And to prevent Theft you should have to log into the Grocery store when you go in!

And my favorite comes from China! That social credit score? I bet that would give you a freaking Fascist HARD ON!

The world you live in where this is okay is a fucking Nightmare. And before you try saying this is some straw-man bullshit: We have seen in the past where if you give them an Inch they take Miles.

Wasn't there a shitty Democrat that said something along those lines about a month or two ago? That if he got an inch he would take a mile? on the Second amendment? My yellow dog liberal ass would have him tossed out of his office too! Crazy prick.

So my point is right here: "He should have NEVER been taken aside in the first place to have his shitty childish attitude at ALL"

I just rolled my eyes so hard at you my head hurts.

[–]Optimus85[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

It's funny how some people think that it's fine being abused and treated like shit by other humans who were given a position of authority in the name of "national security". Governments and corporations are slowly and steadily stripping privates citizens of their rights and privacy. And being complacent most definitely will not further our cause.

[–]Scoobiedoo 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

I am very much against governments abuse of power however, nothing I read in that journalist's account was on the level of severe abuse. He was disrespectful and uncooperative to the customs agents and he even tried to escape several times while being detained:

"I wasn’t allowed to leave the Homeland Security zone, either. I know because I tried to sort of wander out a couple of times and got yelled at."

You give up rights when crossing international borders. I believe there should be more rights for people who cross borders but the journalist was detained for several hours since he had pictures of war zones on his phone and he was doing stories on Mexican cartels which he didn't disclose until they discovered it in his files later in the interview which coupled with his bad attitude made him very suspicious to customs agents. He created most of these problems for himself. Keep in mind, this is his version of the events and just what he admits to. He was not jailed, he was not hit, he didn't have guns pointed at him, he had nothing stolen or confiscated. All in all, really not that big a deal.

[–]Optimus85[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I agree with you on the journalist being a bit of a pretentious twat and antagonizing the border guards. However, my main beef is with the overreach of authority and having one's personal and intimate information being accessed by a government agency. So he had pictures of horrific events; he's a journalist. Moreover, why and how was he deemed a threat? He's American, speaks perfect English and obviously had proper identification. Border agents most certainly had access to his criminal record, if any. He should've been cleared in a matter of minutes.

[–]Scoobiedoo 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Thing is, anyone can be a smuggler/drug mule, a covert agent of a cartel or a wack-job who converts to a member of Isis. Once you lie or don't disclose relevant information to customs officials you are in for a bad time. I have had my share of run-ins with overzealous customs agents and it isn't fun. They can keep you detained for hours, go through anything you bring into the country, do body-cavity searches and go over any public or government information they have on you. There should be more laws in place to protect people's rights and private papers but if you know this an issue you can just keep information you want private, yet accessible, in the cloud and don't take anything you don't feel comfortable government agents reviewing on your person when traveling outside of the country. This guy got off lightly compared to what they can do legally. Most customs agents are just doing their job but some get off on the power trip. There should be recourse for those who abuse their power but given the circumstances of this particular example I think customs was not that far out of line given the journalist's behavior.