3 ms·

This sounds like the reprisals citizens of the totalitarian states in the Warsaw Pact had to endure. Heads up for pushing against it. Out of curiosity, do you

This sounds like the reprisals citizens of the totalitarian states in the Warsaw Pact had to endure. Heads up for pushing against it. Out of curiosity, do you know if there are any people trying to challenge these rulings/treatment they receive in court?

Cthulhu_ 9y ago
At least in those - and I'm sure this still happens - you could bribe the officials. Actually is that possible in the US or do the border officials still have a stick up their arse? I mean if you work for a big multinational IT company, surely they can provide a few hundred bucks to bribe someone to skip security. Bribing the police is normal in a lot of countries.
- gambiting 9y ago
  Yeah. My father described the experience of crossing borders between East Germany/Poland/Belarus/Ukraine in the 80s early 90s as the exact same theatre - " -sir, we have to strip your car to search it for contraband. -Ok, how long it's going to take? - About 24-48 hours, but it might take longer if we see anything suspicious - ok, what do I do in the meantime? - you can sit on the bench there - for 48 hours? - that's correct - I happen to have this nice bottle of vodka, would you like it as a thank you for your hard service? - hmmmm I have to check with my superior [ comes back 5 minutes later] - that's fine, we don't need to check your car today, have a safe journey" Nowadays I'm being told that this practice has been eradicated almost everywhere, but it basically relied on border control agents making your life as miserable as physically possible in hope that you will pay up. If you decided not to, they would eventually let you go, but you're wasting only your own time, they had infinite amount of it and perfect justification for everything they did.
- justincormack 9y ago
  You can get a 10 year prison sentence or so for bribery. In any country in the world, you can be prosecuted there, or in the US or Europe. You will probably also be fired.
  - 77pt77 9y ago
    > You will probably also be fired. Please elaborate on that.
    - groby_b 9y ago
      Any large company has an ethics code. Bribing government employees is usually a rather big no-no in that code.
      - 794CD01 9y ago
        Any large company also makes allowances for differences in local laws and customs when applying their ethics code.
        groby_b 9y ago
        Yeah... no. (The FCA[4] makes that fairly hard) Amazon: "Employees may not bribe anyone for any reason, whether in dealings with governments or the private sector. " [3] Apple: "Apple does not offer or accept bribes or kickbacks in any form, and we do not tolerate corruption in connection with any of our business dealings." [2] Google: "The rule for us at Google is simple – don’t bribe anybody, anytime, for any reason."[1] [1] https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct.html https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct.html [2] http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AAPL/0x0x803576/DAFD8C11-517A-4050-B8F5-706F089320A1/AC_Policy_Jan2015.pdf http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AAPL/0x0x803576/DAFD8... [3] http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97664&p=irol-govconduct http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97664&p=irol-gov... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Corrupt_Practices_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Corrupt_Practices_Act

Cthulhu_ 9y ago

At least in those - and I'm sure this still happens - you could bribe the officials. Actually is that possible in the US or do the border officials still have a stick up their arse? I mean if you work for a big multinational IT company, surely they can provide a few hundred bucks to bribe someone to skip security. Bribing the police is normal in a lot of countries.

gambiting 9y ago
Yeah. My father described the experience of crossing borders between East Germany/Poland/Belarus/Ukraine in the 80s early 90s as the exact same theatre - " -sir, we have to strip your car to search it for contraband. -Ok, how long it's going to take? - About 24-48 hours, but it might take longer if we see anything suspicious - ok, what do I do in the meantime? - you can sit on the bench there - for 48 hours? - that's correct - I happen to have this nice bottle of vodka, would you like it as a thank you for your hard service? - hmmmm I have to check with my superior [ comes back 5 minutes later] - that's fine, we don't need to check your car today, have a safe journey" Nowadays I'm being told that this practice has been eradicated almost everywhere, but it basically relied on border control agents making your life as miserable as physically possible in hope that you will pay up. If you decided not to, they would eventually let you go, but you're wasting only your own time, they had infinite amount of it and perfect justification for everything they did.
justincormack 9y ago
You can get a 10 year prison sentence or so for bribery. In any country in the world, you can be prosecuted there, or in the US or Europe. You will probably also be fired.
- 77pt77 9y ago
  > You will probably also be fired. Please elaborate on that.
  - groby_b 9y ago
    Any large company has an ethics code. Bribing government employees is usually a rather big no-no in that code.
    - 794CD01 9y ago
      Any large company also makes allowances for differences in local laws and customs when applying their ethics code.
      - groby_b 9y ago
        Yeah... no. (The FCA[4] makes that fairly hard) Amazon: "Employees may not bribe anyone for any reason, whether in dealings with governments or the private sector. " [3] Apple: "Apple does not offer or accept bribes or kickbacks in any form, and we do not tolerate corruption in connection with any of our business dealings." [2] Google: "The rule for us at Google is simple – don’t bribe anybody, anytime, for any reason."[1] [1] https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct.html https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct.html [2] http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AAPL/0x0x803576/DAFD8C11-517A-4050-B8F5-706F089320A1/AC_Policy_Jan2015.pdf http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AAPL/0x0x803576/DAFD8... [3] http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97664&p=irol-govconduct http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97664&p=irol-gov... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Corrupt_Practices_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Corrupt_Practices_Act