<story><title>Don&apos;t Fly During Ramadan</title><url>http://varnull.adityamukerjee.net/post/59021412512/dont-fly-during-ramadan</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>magikarp</author><text>Everything about this story, right down to the questions, agents involved, luggage inspections and the man&amp;#x27;s apartment being broken into and searched, fits very well with my own experiences in 2012 with entering the United States. I&amp;#x27;m a recent Lebanese immigrant to Canada, male, in my early twenties, and to top it off I work on encryption software. I imagine the only worse thing I could be is an Iranian nuclear scientist.&lt;p&gt;I was asked questions ranging from whether I am affiliated with Hezbollah to why I was developing encryption software (and one time there was even a technician who asked me about its technical aspects), and specifically detained for questioning more times than I can count.&lt;p&gt;I was never refused entry, but I just wanted to attest that this man&amp;#x27;s story is completely credible to me, right down to the fine details he describes.&lt;p&gt;Possibly an interesting side-story for HN folks: By astronomical coincidence, I bumped into David Petraeus at a strange social event in D.C., after being harassed at the border every single time, and told him conversationally, casually, about my background and what I work on, just to see how he would react, if his reaction would line up with the knee-jerk reaction at the border. He smiled, raised a glass of champagne, and said, &amp;quot;cheers.&amp;quot;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tlrobinson</author><text>(For the curious, magickarp is the author of Cryptocat)</text></comment>
<story><title>Don&apos;t Fly During Ramadan</title><url>http://varnull.adityamukerjee.net/post/59021412512/dont-fly-during-ramadan</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>magikarp</author><text>Everything about this story, right down to the questions, agents involved, luggage inspections and the man&amp;#x27;s apartment being broken into and searched, fits very well with my own experiences in 2012 with entering the United States. I&amp;#x27;m a recent Lebanese immigrant to Canada, male, in my early twenties, and to top it off I work on encryption software. I imagine the only worse thing I could be is an Iranian nuclear scientist.&lt;p&gt;I was asked questions ranging from whether I am affiliated with Hezbollah to why I was developing encryption software (and one time there was even a technician who asked me about its technical aspects), and specifically detained for questioning more times than I can count.&lt;p&gt;I was never refused entry, but I just wanted to attest that this man&amp;#x27;s story is completely credible to me, right down to the fine details he describes.&lt;p&gt;Possibly an interesting side-story for HN folks: By astronomical coincidence, I bumped into David Petraeus at a strange social event in D.C., after being harassed at the border every single time, and told him conversationally, casually, about my background and what I work on, just to see how he would react, if his reaction would line up with the knee-jerk reaction at the border. He smiled, raised a glass of champagne, and said, &amp;quot;cheers.&amp;quot;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>javert</author><text>&amp;gt; I imagine the only worse thing I could be is an Iranian nuclear scientist.&lt;p&gt;I would like to think such a person would have no problem coming, but just wouldn&amp;#x27;t be allowed to go back.</text></comment>