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As a frequent internationally traveling U.S. citizen I understand your newfound reluctance to travel but in light of the NSA reveals this is mostly just theatre
by csydas 10y ago
As a frequent internationally traveling U.S. citizen I understand your newfound reluctance to travel but in light of the NSA reveals this is mostly just theatre in my opinion. With how much data is already collected when you pass a U.S. Border this is more just formally doing what they likely already can do. When you cross you scan your passport several times, pose for a new picture of yourself for a database, present you itinerary on how you got to the border, and non-native citizens get 10-printed on site by digital fingerprint readers.
There's a very tiny leap to connect that to the already publicly available information, which likely already has a few thin threads connecting you.
I would suggest that you shouldn't let it intimidate you from traveling if you are lucky enough to be able to. The government will do what it will do regardless. If it assuages your fears slightly, all through the Ukraine crisis and the standoffs with turkey and with the U.S. over Syria, I traveled to and from Russia. One time I was held for extended questioning, but it was mostly corroborating my story I think.
The more paranoid side of me says this is to try to discourage people from travel and spending money outside the U.S., so the best "up yours, Uncle Sam" to me seems to be travel as much as possible. And while rogue or borish border guards do happen, most of my experiences with border guards are employees who wish they were doing absolutely anything else and just process as they're required.
It is a scary precedent happening, but nothing they're doing is new, it's just ou in the open now. So do as you would, but I'd not give them the satisfaction of me not traveling.
- morganvachon 10y ago> I would suggest that you shouldn't let it intimidate you from traveling if you are lucky enough to be able to. My fear isn't in leaving the country, it's that they might find the slightest reason to not let me back in. Granted, I'm probably not even on the radar; I'm a boring person who isn't politically active and I don't hold any extreme views (that I'm aware of). However, I usually vote Libertarian, I'm nearly 40 years old and have never had a passport, and I have never drank alcohol, smoked, or taken illegal drugs my whole life. I just wonder if I fit the profile of some sort of Leftist-Straightedge punk that would be stopped and questioned every time I'm near the border. I've read horror stories of journalists and other heavily scrutinized types who, despite being law abiding US citizens, were detained for days or even weeks at the border in the so called "Constitution-free zones". Then again, I'm probably worried over absolutely nothing. My wife has traveled outside the US several times in her adult life with zero issues; we mostly hold the same views, mostly vote the same way, and she abstains from alcohol/drugs/tobacco as I do.
- forgetsusername 10y ago>just wonder if I fit the profile of some sort of Leftist-Straightedge punk You called the entire new cabinet of the incoming President "racist" in your first comment. Minor, yes, but would you be surprised to be painted with such a "liberal" brush? That's the scary thing about your Internet activity being monitored.
- cema 10y agoslightest reason to not let me back in I think if you are a US citizen there is no way they can "not let" you back in, but they certainly can make your entry quite unpleasant. I have been flying from and to the US about once a year in the past quarter of a century. It used to be that crossing the US border was tedious, long lines and all that (especially in airports like JFK) but otherwise efficient and professional. In recent years it changed, at least in my perception, to the effect that I feel the US border is less pleasant than the Russian border. At least as a citizen of both countries I am unlikely to not be able to enter either (exit is another matter). DHS is a mess.