<story><title>I Had My Electronics Seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection</title><url>https://vc.gg/blog/so-its-been-a-while.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>psybin</author><text>&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;i.imgur.com&amp;#x2F;BMuAufo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;i.imgur.com&amp;#x2F;BMuAufo.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Have you ever violated any law related to possessing, using or distributing illegal drugs?&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Do you have a physical or mental disorder; or are you a drug abuser&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s also on the customs forms for New Zealand, where you&amp;#x27;re asked along with questions about any drug paraphernalia you might be bringing in. They seem to be much more concerned about fruit than people slipping through with a bong though. Only country I&amp;#x27;ve ever been set upon by fruit sniffing dogs.</text></item><item><author>qeternity</author><text>&amp;gt; using the &amp;quot;I have not done illegal drugs&amp;quot; checkbox on the entry documentation&lt;p&gt;What? I have lived and worked all over the world, travel regularly to a bunch of countries, and have never once seen this. I could have missed it on some less frequent countries, but certainly it&amp;#x27;s not on any major country&amp;#x27;s entry card.</text></item><item><author>psybin</author><text>&amp;gt; Encrypt them with spacefiller data and start crossing borders, and then refuse to provide passwords and abandon them for sheer amusement.&lt;p&gt;You don&amp;#x27;t get that option. The first thing that happens to everybody who is attempting to enter the US and flagged is that they give you a form to write down all keys and passwords you might have, they will then unlock your phone and attempt to find anything that might be used to bar you from entering.&lt;p&gt;A common method of confirming a profiled person seems to be using the &amp;quot;I have not done illegal drugs&amp;quot; checkbox on the entry documentation, they will find any drug reference on your devices using the passwords they just discovered. If you answer &amp;quot;yes&amp;quot;, you&amp;#x27;re a criminal and you are barred from entry. If you answer &amp;quot;no&amp;quot; and they find any reference to any recreational drug, no matter the context, you just lied to a federal officer and you are barred from entry.&lt;p&gt;One rejection is enough to ban you for life from ESTA, so for most people entering the US who don&amp;#x27;t have a temporary working visa, being profiled is the last time you&amp;#x27;ll ever be able to enter the united states. A woman I was speaking to was bumped back onto their flight for a 3 year old SMS on her phone where a friend asked if she wanted to come over and smoke a joint.</text></item><item><author>ploddington</author><text>It would be fun to start a meme of carrying antiquated electronic waste devices, and getting them confiscated as a means of disposal.&lt;p&gt;Encrypt them with spacefiller data and start crossing borders, and then refuse to provide passwords and abandon them for sheer amusement.&lt;p&gt;Way more fun than recycling old laptops and batteries. And better than planning to travel empty handed, in anticipation of getting ripped off by pesky customs guards.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nickonline</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve been pulled up by the kiwi&amp;#x27;s their basic problem was me not doing drugs in their country. Similar approach was used on my buddy &amp;quot;I&amp;#x27;m glad you answered yes to pot, because if you&amp;#x27;d declined I wouldn&amp;#x27;t have believed you and pulled you in anyway&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;So we were all pulled in an at that point I figured there was no reason to lie. I discussed all the drugs I&amp;#x27;d done previously and they stated there was no way for them to prove I was (or was not) smuggling as trace amounts were found in the bag I admitted to carrying them in for previous ski trips.&lt;p&gt;I stated it was illegal in my country but had no plans to do it in theirs. I was allowed in on the condition I didn&amp;#x27;t do illegal drugs in NZ... I accepted their terms and didn&amp;#x27;t do any gear while I was there.</text></comment>
<story><title>I Had My Electronics Seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection</title><url>https://vc.gg/blog/so-its-been-a-while.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>psybin</author><text>&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;i.imgur.com&amp;#x2F;BMuAufo.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;i.imgur.com&amp;#x2F;BMuAufo.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Have you ever violated any law related to possessing, using or distributing illegal drugs?&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Do you have a physical or mental disorder; or are you a drug abuser&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s also on the customs forms for New Zealand, where you&amp;#x27;re asked along with questions about any drug paraphernalia you might be bringing in. They seem to be much more concerned about fruit than people slipping through with a bong though. Only country I&amp;#x27;ve ever been set upon by fruit sniffing dogs.</text></item><item><author>qeternity</author><text>&amp;gt; using the &amp;quot;I have not done illegal drugs&amp;quot; checkbox on the entry documentation&lt;p&gt;What? I have lived and worked all over the world, travel regularly to a bunch of countries, and have never once seen this. I could have missed it on some less frequent countries, but certainly it&amp;#x27;s not on any major country&amp;#x27;s entry card.</text></item><item><author>psybin</author><text>&amp;gt; Encrypt them with spacefiller data and start crossing borders, and then refuse to provide passwords and abandon them for sheer amusement.&lt;p&gt;You don&amp;#x27;t get that option. The first thing that happens to everybody who is attempting to enter the US and flagged is that they give you a form to write down all keys and passwords you might have, they will then unlock your phone and attempt to find anything that might be used to bar you from entering.&lt;p&gt;A common method of confirming a profiled person seems to be using the &amp;quot;I have not done illegal drugs&amp;quot; checkbox on the entry documentation, they will find any drug reference on your devices using the passwords they just discovered. If you answer &amp;quot;yes&amp;quot;, you&amp;#x27;re a criminal and you are barred from entry. If you answer &amp;quot;no&amp;quot; and they find any reference to any recreational drug, no matter the context, you just lied to a federal officer and you are barred from entry.&lt;p&gt;One rejection is enough to ban you for life from ESTA, so for most people entering the US who don&amp;#x27;t have a temporary working visa, being profiled is the last time you&amp;#x27;ll ever be able to enter the united states. A woman I was speaking to was bumped back onto their flight for a 3 year old SMS on her phone where a friend asked if she wanted to come over and smoke a joint.</text></item><item><author>ploddington</author><text>It would be fun to start a meme of carrying antiquated electronic waste devices, and getting them confiscated as a means of disposal.&lt;p&gt;Encrypt them with spacefiller data and start crossing borders, and then refuse to provide passwords and abandon them for sheer amusement.&lt;p&gt;Way more fun than recycling old laptops and batteries. And better than planning to travel empty handed, in anticipation of getting ripped off by pesky customs guards.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dingaling</author><text>I was once taken into a room and questioned by US border personnel for eating a banana after passing US pre-clearance at Dublin airport.&lt;p&gt;Technically still on Irish soil but within the US customs zone, apparently, and I had thus lied on my form when I said I wasn&amp;#x27;t tranporting fruit or vegetables into the USA.</text></comment>