What is Digg?Sponsored by Nokia
Finally a Smartphone That Lives Up To Its Hype view!
nokiausa.com - Amazing-looking Nokia N900 has PC-like performance, cinematic interface... and a heck of a lot more.
325 Comments
- GRTWHT, on 10/10/2007, -14/+176Excellent article: points out how poorly 'suspect' people are treated while simply following the rules as well as pointing out the question of why journalists are considered more of a threat than non-journalists?
My guess: because they might write articles like this one. - g30ff, on 10/10/2007, -13/+155There are a few places in the US I'd like to go back and visit again and with the low US dollar I could probably afford to do so, but crap like this is what keeps me from going. Even when it isn't as invasive as the treatment this received by this reporter, who needs to be treated like a criminal? Where I live I can't even be fingerprinted by the police unless charges have been filed so I'm uninclined to let myself be fingerprinted by some small-minded customs inspector with delusions of adequacy. Anywhere else I go I'm treated like a guest. Back in the 1980s when one member of my family visited the USSR even he didn't have to deal with that kind of garbage. Surely the US imagines itself less of a police state than the USSR.
The sad thing is that too many Americans don't see this as infringing upon their freedoms since it is just happening to foreigners. But these sorts of policies are cutting you off from the rest of the world, even isolating you from your neighbours, friends and allies, and that's not healthy for any 'free' country. It isn't just their (foreigners) freedoms that are being eroded, it is yours. It is your freedom to have friends and relatives from another country come to visit you. It is your freedom to go for a beer with that foreign exchange student and learn a little about another culture without ever leaving yours. It is your freedom to have business enterprise that depends on toursim from abroad. - Waskonator, on 10/10/2007, -5/+106FTA - "Our enemies are now more important to us than our friends ..." That is a beautifully written, relative statement. It makes me think about how people, like our leaders, live THEIR lives, and also how some people think about this world, and this life. What a waste.
- MrClownn, on 10/10/2007, -2/+92"When writer Elena Lappin flew to LA, she dreamed of a sunkissed, laid-back city."
This was obviously her fist visit to LA. - txmorgan, on 10/10/2007, -8/+67The lesson learned is to just lie to border officials.
- dp1140a, on 10/10/2007, -10/+68My country has been destroyed by Bush and his moronic cronies. I am ashamed to call myself an American anymore. And I say this as a citizen and a veteran of ten years and two wars. The objective of terrorism is to get your enemy to change their policies or way of life in response to your actions. The moment we as Americans eroded the civil liberties upon which the basis of our nationality are based, we lost and our enemies won. We have not changed our foreign policy except to become more arrogant and intolerant of the rest of the world. Instead we have destroyed ourselves and our own country. We have done the work of Bin Laden and Al Qaeda for them. America has become a joke within the rest of the world. A shell of our former self. We claim to be the world leader in democracy and freedom? Invading countries who do not tow our party line, killing people, holding your own self interest above the rest of the world, and consuming a majority of the planets resources do not equate to being a leader in democracy and freedom. I travel the world frequently and more and more I get a sense of just how isolated and afraid we Americans have become. It is sad; it is pathetic, and it is destroying my country. Thomas Jefferson said (he said a lot of wise things) that form time to time the tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of tyrants and patriots. I think the time draws closer that the tree shall be refreshed.
- Ghstfce, on 10/10/2007, -13/+61Even though this article is 3 years old, I heard the "toilet flushing" sound in my head thinking about our country. Anyone else??
- RogerStrong, on 10/10/2007, -6/+45BS.
Merely visiting the country as a journalist was legal every other time she visited. She had no reason to suspect that the laws had changed. Hiding this little fact in the small print of some form covering drug smugglers and criminals does not constitute any from of fair notice. (Or are YOU going to tell us that you read the terms of use information on every program you install, let alone when installing updates and patches?)
Just about everyone I know has said that they won't visit the U.S. any more. Before 9/11 we assumed that - along with having to obey the law - we had the protection of the law, and some basic rights. This and many other stories have shown us that we were wrong.
While the U.S. may not be a tin-pot dictatorship (yet), it effectively is one for visitors. - kylenalepa, on 10/10/2007, -8/+44Ugh, this is disgusting. I would say I'm surprised, but really? I'm not. America is turning into a piece of *****. I only hope that the next administration has the balls to turn things around.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -4/+40She was ignorant of a 50-year-old law that hadn't been enforced for almost as long. There's a difference between willfully violating a law and violating a law that few know about.
- acu8509, on 10/10/2007, -9/+45So exactly how many times have you read every EULA for the software you install? You are aware that you can be arrested and charged for inappropriately/ illegally using software. I guarantee that if ICE was to knock down your door with a warrant for your PC, you would be shocked why they were there and how they could possibly do this to you for downloading a few movies. Only in her case this is a much bigger shock than anything you will ever have to go through. The point is that these laws are hidden and designed to be broken by foreign travelers in order to gain information. I hope you realize when a law is made is is your obligation to fight it and change it if it is unjust and unfair. I really hope your attitude does not reflect the entire country.
- alesis1, on 10/10/2007, -5/+39The bad thing is with enough of this kind of crap going on here, how long before we get the same treatment outside of this country? In Brazil my sister (VP at IBM) was made to stand in line for hours at their customs. They told her it was in direct response to how Brazilians are treated at our customs. I experienced similar tit for tat going to Mexico weekly for 3 months in 2003. The folks running HS don't seem to understand it's a two way street; if we treat every foreigner as a potential terrorist what does that make us?
- toddwdraper, on 10/10/2007, -3/+36The United States of America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
RIP - catalysis, on 10/10/2007, -4/+37"she dreamed of a sunkissed, laid-back city."
She really needs a better travel agent. - geekmansworld, on 10/10/2007, -13/+45America, you are one sick puppy.
- djSyndrome, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2926 hours in jail = cruel and unusual punishment. Even if she did break 'the law', there is no reason they couldn't have sent her right back home on the next plane to London and had her figure it out there.
Then again, this country detains nine-year-old children whose names pop up on the 'Terrorist Watch List', so I guess this is par for the course. - skoops, on 10/10/2007, -3/+29so? I bet if this happened last week it'd have ended even worse
- astrocreep, on 10/10/2007, -11/+37Obviously she made the mistake of being a European. Los Angeles only allows latinos to enter the country hassle free. Three quartes of the city doesn't speak, read or write english.
- nwoantibody, on 10/10/2007, -8/+33I hope you Americans realize that when you treat foreigners badly, no foreigner will stand up when your government starts doing that to yourself. The world will remain silent and complacent at your own children receiving this type of treatment.
Protect the border policies allow this type of ridiculous police state events to occur. While clearly, the plan is to destroy the borders with Mexico and Canada. It's sad you guys are being played. You guys are falling straight head first into the Brave New World. - didgital, on 10/10/2007, -4/+25This country is built upon many things, good, bad and grey, that have resulted in where we are today.
Largely, the Republican's platform of fear mongering, power brokering, and unfettered capitalism has ushered in a security-state or police-state, where our major freedom is to shop (Remember what Bush said in a major speech shortly after 9/11? "Keep shopping").
Democrats are somewhat coming from the right place, but are still largely spineless in combating the Republican's for fear of being called weak on terrorism, despite our crumbling personal rights.
Then you have a sizable chunk of the populous (not a majority, but enough that a little fudging at the polls makes it look so), who believe the U.S. is perfectly justifiable in sacrificing personal liberty for the sake of security. Regardless, most Americans still feel like they have sacrificed very little so far since 9/11, even though many of these problems are quietly lurking behind some future corner. Put all this together, and you have exactly what this article is about. - AlienShe, on 10/10/2007, -2/+22Wednesday August 8, 2007:
"EU threatens tit-for-tat visa limits on Americans after US tightens law
· Homeland security law raises fears for privacy
· Passengers must detail travel plans and meetings"
etc etc
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2143761,00.html
*****. - lemac, on 10/10/2007, -5/+24What I don't understand is that they have a million laws for issuing visas (the humiliate and degrade people at the embassies) and for screening people at the airports...then there is the US-Mexico border...you can simply jump a 2 inch high wall and walk over and then proudly walk around as an illegal alien and no one can touch you -- and you can also demand all sorts of rights and privileges.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -4/+23Not wishing to tar ordinary Americans with the same brush used for their fascist overlords, but... ***** visiting America. I'll spend my money in a more welcoming country.
- Al89, on 10/10/2007, -12/+30Guess what, we know it was written in 2004. The point is that it has got worse. The world hates you America.
- ninti, on 10/10/2007, -1/+19"you guys think the US sucks to travel to? go somewhere else and give it a shot and see how much you get phkd with. Mexico? Switzerland? Italy? Turkey? China?"
Nope, I've been to all but one of those countries, and many others besides, and traveling to the U.S. sucks way more than any of them.
I'll give you a more mundane example. If I am traveling from Canada to Italy, but transferring to another plane in France, I fill out zero forms, they transfer my bags for me automatically and put me through an expedited customs line...no mess and no fuss and I am through in half an hour. If I am traveling to Canada to Australia, but transferring in Los Angeles, I have to fill out tons of forms, get my bags on the carousel, go through the full customs procedure, including possibly being hand searched (and possible detained and/or deported for no good reason), exit the terminal and go to the main airline check-in counter, and then go through the full NTSA security all over again...maybe 1.5 to 2.5 hours. And that is just normal procedure. I would rather go through any other country in the world than have to go through the U.S. at this point. - sinnuendo, on 10/10/2007, -2/+20Recently, there also have been cases where people with the proper visa and documentation were denied entry in the US. It really depends on the immigration officer you get. Shame.
- regeya, on 10/10/2007, -2/+20I work with a guy who thinks we should all be HAPPY that we get treated this way, and if we're not, we're ungrateful ***** for forgetting the people who died on 9/11.
Yet he's totally against gun control.
And he's against smoking bans.
And, in fact, he's against any government intervention in our lives. Unless someone claims it's a Republican-backed anti-terrorism initiative. Then it's OK. - pgoetz, on 10/10/2007, -3/+20Um, you're an idiot. I've been to 3 of the 5 places you mention and had NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER. And thanks for comparing the US to third world countries -- it seems to be the goal of right wing neocon asswipes like yourself to reduce the US to the status of a third world country in every way possible.
- PixelVision, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16I've been to the US 7 times and I always have a thought in the back of my mind that they'll not believe me or they'll think I meant something else. That's the kind of atmosphere there is just a little down the hall from where the US Citizens are, mostly not knowing about the conditions us foreigners face. The last time I went a girl who I sat near on the plane who was on her first trip to The States misunderstood the directions of an immigration officer who was directing her to which line to stand in, she thought he was telling her to approach one of the desks. As she got close, the officer who was at the desk started yelling to get back behind the line and she did and apologised, the officer shouted "I don't care, do as I say!". This is the first thing people see when coming to America. Frustrated, angry officers who are taught to assume the worst first. It's an embarrassment for the people I know there as they want their country to be welcoming and friendly by default whist being capable of subtly detecting people who need to be detected.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -7/+22... yeah and things have propably only went from bad to worse since then.
- fuzzmeister, on 10/10/2007, -2/+17More the point of the article is the ridiculousness of journalists having to have special visas, and being treated this way if they don't.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+16Thanks for pointing out how long our country has been ***** up for.
- Suzilla, on 10/10/2007, -1/+15This is using a sledge--hammer to swat a fly.
- narc, on 10/10/2007, -2/+16"The irony is that it is only 'countries like Iran' (for example, Cuba, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe) that have a visa requirement for journalists." Enough said.
- adosoftinc, on 10/10/2007, -3/+16It's interesting how and why journalists would be treated like this. What's there to hide? Why does the United States as a democratic country require this special passport for journalists. And the more important question, why are they the only democratic country to require such a thing?
- nakani, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12woooooooooooow the replies to this post scare me
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13An American could get into Mexico with his ***** hanging out.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -3/+15Oh but there is. The author of this article claims she had been to the US on business purposes many times before and had never been notified before that she had violated the law (remember that it's been on the books for 50+ years, just not enforced for all those 50). Basically the journalist has been presented with a false belief about the law (it doesn't exist) so therefore can't have the knowledge and intent to break the law, both parts of which are pretty necessary to prove someone guilty of a crime.
- prammy, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14From the article: "new guidelines now give the "Port Directors leeway when it comes to allowing journalists to enter the US who are clearly no threat to our security"
From what I have heard and from experiences from family and friends, I learned that the way you are treated depends on your port of entry. Long before 9/11, LAX was still a horrible airport to fly through. The only other airport where I've heard is worse, is Newark International. Even JFK is much better. And from what I understand Seattle, Minneapolis, Oakland etc are much much better.
But this still does not excuse the fact that this woman was treated poorly. - RogerStrong, on 10/10/2007, -2/+13No, she wasn't Russian - she was only was born there. (Hint: If an American military family has a kid while based in Japan, the kid is American, not Japanese.)
- sensoukami, on 10/10/2007, -3/+14what a moronic statement. What? you think the whole world is the US or Iran? Hello dumbass....there a ***** load of better countries to live in than the US. Don't get me wrong, I like the country and have a lot of respect for it, but this whole "the US is the greatest, the world ends at our borders" thing is beyond dumb.
- oderdigg, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12Last I checked, you're still a loser troll with no life.
This isn't about partisanship. This is about your country going to *****. Get it? Doubt it. - KnightWhoSaysNi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10I was in Italy and Switzerland just a month ago. The security people there are outright friendly.
However, on my return to Miami the pricks that work for the DoHS made everyone feel like a criminal. - fuzzmeister, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11Government isn't incapable of getting things right, it just has to be carefully monitored and carefully set up.
- aznaix, on 10/10/2007, -4/+14And this is one of the reasons America is such a screwed up country. Not only was she treated unfairly for new rules that were not previously implemented on previous visits, but you americans just have to defend your country full of "freedoms". Stupid terrorist fearing americans... That's why your dollar is sinking and i'm getting richer all the time.
I could care less if a terrorist killed me. That's not something to be afraid of. You should be fearing your own fellow americans. Read the statistics. How many americans are killed from terrorism compared to americans themselves (gun violence, your school shootings, homicides, etc.) I'd more likely get killed walking through some back alley in new york than in iraq. Which is actually true when you read the statistics. - tactix, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Brazil had the right idea when they implemented finger printing for US citizens when the US put Brazil on the list of countries requiring fingerprinting of their citizens. Id say if every single country decided to put into place a line especially for US citizens at their borders so they could be harrased, finger printed, anal probed, things would change pretty quickly.
To all those commenters who say "well dont come to the US then". I say fine. But I don't reccomend leaving the US either with that attitude, or else you will come to the sad realisation how disliked the US is right now. I mean by the US, not its citizens, but what the country as a whole epitomises. I have liked most of the US citizens ive met (although there seem to be alot more canadians around now, fake or otherwise). There are a whole lot of people though who wont make the distinction betweeen citizen and state.
I mean seriously. I was looking really forward to coming to your country a few years back, but ***** that. No way should I have my civil liberties dumped on. I feel sorry for your culture of fear. The rest of the world doesn't operate like this, you are soooo far out of step. - Phearce, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11RTFA
- chicoer2001, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10All those terrorist journalists. Yet regular Brits dont need visas.
- oderdigg, on 10/10/2007, -3/+12Another lame post by an idiot.
FireTheDNC: get a life! - dp1140a, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11No this is the result of our own policies. You reap what you sow.
-
Show 51 - 100 of 332 discussions
