13 ms·

It would be fun to start a meme of carrying antiquated electronic waste devices, and getting them confiscated as a means of disposal. Encrypt them with spacefi

It would be fun to start a meme of carrying antiquated electronic waste devices, and getting them confiscated as a means of disposal. Encrypt them with spacefiller data and start crossing borders, and then refuse to provide passwords and abandon them for sheer amusement. 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.

walrus01 10y ago
Carry an ancient, worthless 50 pound 2U rackmount server with a giant sticker on it that says "wikileaks mobile data collection unit", while the 6 x 36GB raid array is entirely full of a barebones centos install, ext4 partition and h.264 videos of never gonna give you up.
- tyfon 10y ago
  That will land you in Guantanamo!
- pmiller2 10y ago
  That sounds awfully expensive for what amounts to an elaborate prank. :)
  - walrus01 10y ago
    Such servers are basically free if you know anyone in the electronics recycling business.
    - trome 10y ago
      Lol, or the old EMC servers, local no-name recycling place I visit occasionally got flooded with a few hundred racks of them a while back.
    - cm2187 10y ago
      But the airline will charge you $$$ for checking in such a heavy luggage!
      - derefr 10y ago
        You don't have to come in via air. Do this at the Canada-US land border.
        WildUtah 10y ago
        Do they still just wave people through there, eh? You might have to carry it a long time to get searched.
        Kliment 10y ago
        Apparently they refused entry to, detained, and searched people wanting to go to the protests in DC yesterday. So just wait until an event like that happens again, which is likely to be fairly frequent now.
        perryprog 10y ago
        Actually, I think that was on the US side. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/20/womens-march-canada-protesters-denied-entry-us https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/20/womens-march-c...
        dghughes 10y ago
        The US border guards even refused entry from Canada to the US of Trump supporters who had tickets.
        ChoGGi 10y ago
        My Dad has a mailbox for American packages just across the border, they seem to have quotas as his car is searched fairly regularly (it isn't a busy crossing).
        10y ago
    - i336_ 10y ago
      I'm looking to get in touch with anyone with connections to these industries around the Sydney, Australia area. Long shot, but I'm currently in a position to highly appreciate some new hardware at the moment.
      - chiph 10y ago
        Do you have the power needed to run them? I once had an opportunity to get a huge HP "cluster in a box" server (two computers and a drive array all in one chassis) for not much money. It was looking good until I saw that it needed 20A to run and I'd have to hire an electrician to expand my circuit-breaker box.
        i336_ 10y ago
        Very valid point. Wow, 20A is crazy. I'm curious what model that was, or what I can Google to get an idea of what this was. It sounds pretty big! (FWIW, you can retrofit your powerbox for about $80, if you're in AU, and it's not that hard. Ahem.) Ultimately I think my answer would be weighing the machine's rareness or unusualness against its power draw, fan noise or other annoyances. More of the former means that I'll accept more of the latter :) but in a worst-case scenario I'll just collect stuff and file it away, for example I was given some Sun V240s a while ago that I hope to be able to fire up when I can rack them in a well-ventilated faraway corner where I can't hear them. Practically speaking I'm curious where people get rid of i3 based systems and multi-TB HDDs at the moment; I (crazy badly) need a new file server, and (for obscure, fun reasons) saving up for new HDDs is taking quite a few more months (and proving more stressful to my family, sadly) than I'd anticipated.
        chiph 10y ago
        I don't recall the model (sorry). This was one of the Compaqs that had been given a new HP model name after the acquisition. The 20A was at 110 volts (US standard) so 10A for Australia with your 220 volt standard. I just replaced a mirrored pair of USB drives running off a Mac Mini with a NAS from Synology. File server, plus Plex server, plus backup server, all in one. It won't be cheap (even factoring in the Australian duty) but it's something that can be tucked into a closet out of sight.
  - Anarch157a 10y ago
    Look at Craigslist or EBay. When Datacenters upgrade, they dump massive quantities of server gear for cheap.
- fapjacks 10y ago
  I'm going to get downvoted into oblivion, but I just gotta tell you that this made me laugh for ten minutes straight.
  - bryanrasmussen 10y ago
    I decided to upvote you to keep you from oblivion for that much longer.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- nevegonagiveUup 10y ago
  That is hillarious. And name the files: bad data, really bad data, Really really bad data
- mjolk 10y ago
  This would be checked baggage and would be subject to a different kind of inspection.
- rsync 10y ago
  I've done this, or very nearly this. In mid-2001 I had to fly from San Jose to Washington Dulles with a Sun Netra 1120 server. It's 4U and FULL length. Weighed about 60 pounds. I was late for my flight and the datacenter I retrieved it from had no packaging for it so I just carried it onto the plane - bare. It fit in the overhead.
  - walrus01 10y ago
    Surprised they let you do this since most any rack server is longer than the allowable carry-on length.
NIL8 10y ago
I'd love to see this take off. Not sure I'm willing to sacrifice my own time with it but, the 'kids' would have a good laugh with it.
psybin 10y ago
> Encrypt them with spacefiller data and start crossing borders, and then refuse to provide passwords and abandon them for sheer amusement. You don'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. A common method of confirming a profiled person seems to be using the "I have not done illegal drugs" checkbox on the entry documentation, they will find any drug reference on your devices using the passwords they just discovered. If you answer "yes", you're a criminal and you are barred from entry. If you answer "no" 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. One rejection is enough to ban you for life from ESTA, so for most people entering the US who don't have a temporary working visa, being profiled is the last time you'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.
- qeternity 10y ago
  > using the "I have not done illegal drugs" checkbox on the entry documentation 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's not on any major country's entry card.
  - psybin 10y ago
    https://i.imgur.com/BMuAufo.jpg https://i.imgur.com/BMuAufo.jpg "Have you ever violated any law related to possessing, using or distributing illegal drugs?" "Do you have a physical or mental disorder; or are you a drug abuser" It's also on the customs forms for New Zealand, where you'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've ever been set upon by fruit sniffing dogs.
rsync 10y ago
"Encrypt them with spacefiller data and start crossing borders, and then refuse to provide passwords and abandon them for sheer amusement." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_bomb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_bomb

walrus01 10y ago

Carry an ancient, worthless 50 pound 2U rackmount server with a giant sticker on it that says "wikileaks mobile data collection unit", while the 6 x 36GB raid array is entirely full of a barebones centos install, ext4 partition and h.264 videos of never gonna give you up.

tyfon 10y ago
That will land you in Guantanamo!
pmiller2 10y ago
That sounds awfully expensive for what amounts to an elaborate prank. :)
- walrus01 10y ago
  Such servers are basically free if you know anyone in the electronics recycling business.
  - trome 10y ago
    Lol, or the old EMC servers, local no-name recycling place I visit occasionally got flooded with a few hundred racks of them a while back.
  - cm2187 10y ago
    But the airline will charge you $$$ for checking in such a heavy luggage!
    - derefr 10y ago
      You don't have to come in via air. Do this at the Canada-US land border.
      - WildUtah 10y ago
        Do they still just wave people through there, eh? You might have to carry it a long time to get searched.
        Kliment 10y ago
        Apparently they refused entry to, detained, and searched people wanting to go to the protests in DC yesterday. So just wait until an event like that happens again, which is likely to be fairly frequent now.
        perryprog 10y ago
        Actually, I think that was on the US side. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/20/womens-march-canada-protesters-denied-entry-us https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/20/womens-march-c...
        dghughes 10y ago
        The US border guards even refused entry from Canada to the US of Trump supporters who had tickets.
        ChoGGi 10y ago
        My Dad has a mailbox for American packages just across the border, they seem to have quotas as his car is searched fairly regularly (it isn't a busy crossing).
        10y ago
  - i336_ 10y ago
    I'm looking to get in touch with anyone with connections to these industries around the Sydney, Australia area. Long shot, but I'm currently in a position to highly appreciate some new hardware at the moment.
    - chiph 10y ago
      Do you have the power needed to run them? I once had an opportunity to get a huge HP "cluster in a box" server (two computers and a drive array all in one chassis) for not much money. It was looking good until I saw that it needed 20A to run and I'd have to hire an electrician to expand my circuit-breaker box.
      - i336_ 10y ago
        Very valid point. Wow, 20A is crazy. I'm curious what model that was, or what I can Google to get an idea of what this was. It sounds pretty big! (FWIW, you can retrofit your powerbox for about $80, if you're in AU, and it's not that hard. Ahem.) Ultimately I think my answer would be weighing the machine's rareness or unusualness against its power draw, fan noise or other annoyances. More of the former means that I'll accept more of the latter :) but in a worst-case scenario I'll just collect stuff and file it away, for example I was given some Sun V240s a while ago that I hope to be able to fire up when I can rack them in a well-ventilated faraway corner where I can't hear them. Practically speaking I'm curious where people get rid of i3 based systems and multi-TB HDDs at the moment; I (crazy badly) need a new file server, and (for obscure, fun reasons) saving up for new HDDs is taking quite a few more months (and proving more stressful to my family, sadly) than I'd anticipated.
        chiph 10y ago
        I don't recall the model (sorry). This was one of the Compaqs that had been given a new HP model name after the acquisition. The 20A was at 110 volts (US standard) so 10A for Australia with your 220 volt standard. I just replaced a mirrored pair of USB drives running off a Mac Mini with a NAS from Synology. File server, plus Plex server, plus backup server, all in one. It won't be cheap (even factoring in the Australian duty) but it's something that can be tucked into a closet out of sight.
- Anarch157a 10y ago
  Look at Craigslist or EBay. When Datacenters upgrade, they dump massive quantities of server gear for cheap.
fapjacks 10y ago
I'm going to get downvoted into oblivion, but I just gotta tell you that this made me laugh for ten minutes straight.
- bryanrasmussen 10y ago
  I decided to upvote you to keep you from oblivion for that much longer.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
nevegonagiveUup 10y ago
That is hillarious. And name the files: bad data, really bad data, Really really bad data
mjolk 10y ago
This would be checked baggage and would be subject to a different kind of inspection.
rsync 10y ago
I've done this, or very nearly this. In mid-2001 I had to fly from San Jose to Washington Dulles with a Sun Netra 1120 server. It's 4U and FULL length. Weighed about 60 pounds. I was late for my flight and the datacenter I retrieved it from had no packaging for it so I just carried it onto the plane - bare. It fit in the overhead.
- walrus01 10y ago
  Surprised they let you do this since most any rack server is longer than the allowable carry-on length.

NIL8 10y ago

I'd love to see this take off. Not sure I'm willing to sacrifice my own time with it but, the 'kids' would have a good laugh with it.

psybin 10y ago

> Encrypt them with spacefiller data and start crossing borders, and then refuse to provide passwords and abandon them for sheer amusement. You don'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. A common method of confirming a profiled person seems to be using the "I have not done illegal drugs" checkbox on the entry documentation, they will find any drug reference on your devices using the passwords they just discovered. If you answer "yes", you're a criminal and you are barred from entry. If you answer "no" 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. One rejection is enough to ban you for life from ESTA, so for most people entering the US who don't have a temporary working visa, being profiled is the last time you'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.

qeternity 10y ago
> using the "I have not done illegal drugs" checkbox on the entry documentation 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's not on any major country's entry card.
- psybin 10y ago
  https://i.imgur.com/BMuAufo.jpg https://i.imgur.com/BMuAufo.jpg "Have you ever violated any law related to possessing, using or distributing illegal drugs?" "Do you have a physical or mental disorder; or are you a drug abuser" It's also on the customs forms for New Zealand, where you'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've ever been set upon by fruit sniffing dogs.

rsync 10y ago

"Encrypt them with spacefiller data and start crossing borders, and then refuse to provide passwords and abandon them for sheer amusement." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_bomb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_bomb