Tag Archives: Security Theater

Global Entry Passengers Swept Up In Trump’s Travel Ban

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“American citizens certified for Global Entry often learned of the issue only when they sought to travel, according to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which says it received ‘dozens’ of complaints and is seeking agency records about the revocations through the Freedom of Information Act.  The CBP did not respond to questions about how many people had been purged and restored to the ‘trusted traveler’ programs.  Several of the people who complained about being removed from the programs were U.S. citizens originally from countries not included in the bans: India, Lebanon, and Pakistan.”

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-21/trump-s-travel-ban-is-frozen-but-the-fallout-isn-t

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Feds searching passenger cell phones at San Francisco airport

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“U.S. Customs & Border Protection is becoming more adamant about examining the cell phones of some arriving travelers – including U.S. citizens – and now the American Civil Liberties Union is challenging that practice.  The ACLU has taken up the case of a U.S. artist named Aaron Gach, who returned to the U.S. at San Francisco International from an exhibition in Europe, and was pulled aside by CBP officers and ordered to unlock his iPhone for a search of its contents. Gach resisted, but finally gave in when he was told that if he didn’t, CBP would keep his phone for an indefinite period.”

Read more: http://blog.sfgate.com/cmcginnis/2017/05/10/feds-searching-passenger-cell-phones-at-sfo/

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Trump’s Electronics Ban Is Ineffective, Says International Air Transport Association Chief

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“Speaking to the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations, Alexandre de Juniac, director general and chief executive of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), questioned the efficacy of the ban, which prohibits electronics larger than a cellphone on direct flights to the United States from 10 airports in the Middle East and North Africa.  The regulations, prompted by reports that militant groups want to smuggle explosive devices in electronic gadgets, require that electronics larger than a cellphone, including laptops and tablets, must be stowed with checked baggage on U.S.-bound passenger flights.”

Read more: http://fortune.com/2017/03/28/trump-electronics-ban-iata-criticism/

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Trump plans laptop, electronics ban on all flights from Europe

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“The rule is reportedly prompted by the difficulty of distinguishing plastic explosives from other components in electronic devices using an X-ray machine. But this explanation is baffling: a plastic explosive is every bit as dangerous in the hold of an airplane as it is in the cabin. What’s more, placing a plastic-explosive charge in a hardsided case densely packed with lithium-battery-equipped devices seems an especially dangerous measure.   Travelers to and from affected airports will now face the risk of having their laptops and tablets stolen, having their confidential data leaked, and having their devices broken.”

Read more: https://boingboing.net/2017/05/11/something-must-be-done-there-i.html

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Is the TSA checking domestic airline passengers for warrants?

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“Travel is not an inherently suspicious activity. It’s the exercise of a Constitutional and human right, and cannot in itself be the basis for warrant checks.”

Read more: https://papersplease.org/wp/2017/04/27/is-the-tsa-checking-domestic-airline-passengers-for-warrants/

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That Other Threat: Electronics Thefts From Checked Luggage

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“In 2014, the Transportation Safety Administration said more than 500 baggage screeners had been fired since it was established in 2001, according to the Wall Street Journal. A CNN analysis found more than 30,000 property loss claims were filed by passengers with the TSA between 2010–14, most claiming valuables were taken from checked baggage. Under an international treaty known as the Montreal Convention (to which the US is a signatory), an airline’s liability for loss or damage to a passenger’s luggage is limited to the equivalent of about $1,360.”

Read more: https://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/people-are-worried-new-rules-mean-laptops-will-be-stolen

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New Bill Would Outlaw Warrantless Border Phone Searches Of U.S. Citizens

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“Four privacy-minded lawmakers have introduced legislation requiring law enforcement officials to obtain a warrant before searching phones belonging to US citizens, and prohibiting them from barring entry to Americans who decline to share their passwords at the border.  ‘Americans’ Constitutional rights shouldn’t disappear at the border,’ Senator Ron Wyden said in statement to BuzzFeed News.”

Read more: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hamzashaban/new-bill-would-outlaw-warrantless-phone-searches-at-the

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American Citizens: U.S. Border Agents Can Search Your Cellphone

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“Data provided by the Department of Homeland Security shows that searches of cellphones by border agents has exploded, growing fivefold in just one year, from fewer than 5,000 in 2015 to nearly 25,000 in 2016.  According to DHS officials, 2017 will be a blockbuster year. Five-thousand devices were searched in February alone, more than in all of 2015.  ‘That’s shocking,’ said Mary Ellen Callahan, former chief privacy officer at the Department of Homeland Security. She wrote the rules and restrictions on how CBP should conduct electronic searches back in 2009. ‘That [increase] was clearly a conscious strategy, that’s not happenstance.'”

Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/traveling-while-brown-u-s-border-agents-can-search-your-n732746

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The Trump Laptop Ban and What It Means for Air Travel

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“Middle East airports and passengers are grappling with new U.S. and British rules barring laptops and other electronic gadgets in carry-on luggage. Both governments prohibited large electronic devices in the cabins of flights headed to their countries. In announcing the rules, officials cited security reasons but didn’t supply many specifics.”

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-03-21/the-laptop-ban-and-what-it-means-for-air-travel-quicktake-q-a

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U.S. Airport Pat-Downs Are About to Get More Invasive

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“The new physical touching—for those selected to have a pat-down—will be be what the federal agency officially describes as a more ‘comprehensive’ physical screening, according to a TSA spokesman. The change is partly a result of the agency’s study of a 2015 report that criticized aspects of TSA screening procedures. That audit drew headlines because airport officers had failed to detect handguns and other weapons. An additional change prompted by the report was the TSA’s decision to end its ‘managed inclusion’ program, by which some everyday travelers were allowed to use PreCheck lanes to speed things up at peak times.”

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-03/u-s-airport-pat-downs-are-about-to-get-more-invasive

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