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So last time I visited the US I was fingerprinted and this time I guess I'll have my phone searched. Nothing says Welcome to our Country like being treated lik

So last time I visited the US I was fingerprinted and this time I guess I'll have my phone searched. Nothing says Welcome to our Country like being treated like a criminal.

dekrg 7y ago
EU citizens have to give their biometric data to the government to get a passport. Does that mean EU treats it's citizens like criminals?
- mtgx 7y ago
  Yes. I don't like having to give my fingerprint data, which no doubt will be stolen from their databases especially now that they intend to unify them and allow all sorts of agencies to have access to it, just to be allowed to travel in what's supposed to be a an almost border-free region. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.zdnet.com/google-amp/article/eu-votes-to-create-gigantic-biometrics-database/ https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...
  - rietta 7y ago
    Not saying its right, but they have so many fingerprints of non-criminals. Anyone who has served in the US military has their biometrics and fingerprints on file. Jobs with children (teachers, daycare workers, church child care people) can and do require fingerprint-based background checks. Gun carry licensees in most states also require a fingerprint-based FBI background check as part of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System pre-screen.
- raxxorrax 7y ago
  Yes, and I don't give them shit.
- krzyk 7y ago
  Well, I prefer to give my data to my country not some foreign one.
  - blunte 7y ago
    Considering how poor infosec is in most organizations (and countries), it's safe to assume that parties other than just your country have access to your data.
- pjc50 7y ago
  Not fingerprints, just facial biometrics from the photograph (UK at least).
  - travelbuffoon 7y ago
    OP meant Schengen when they said EU.
- qwsxyh 7y ago
  I didn't have to give any biometrics away when I got my passport last year.
  - neuronic 7y ago
    Germany takes finger prints of both index fingers when getting a passport. Not all ten fingers like at the US border.
    - travelbuffoon 7y ago
      And they're supposed to only store the data temporarily until it gets put on the passport chip (i.e. not go into the database). Of course there's no way to verify that, but I generally have a bit more trust in German authoroties. (you can also travel widely with just an ID card which doesn't get the biometrics, although that does limit you to Europe.)
- dangerface 7y ago
  I got an EU passport a month ago, they have a photo of my face thats all the biometric data they wanted.
TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
This is my favourite little horror story about entering the US: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-25/mem-fox-detained-at-los-angeles-airport-by-us-officials/8303366 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-25/mem-fox-detained-at-l... Mem Fox is a world renow children's author* who has travelled to the US 116 times previously, without incident. Australian author Mem Fox has received a written apology from the United States after what she said was a traumatic detention by immigration officials at Los Angeles Airport. Fox, who was questioned by Customs and Border Protection officers for two hours earlier this month as she was on her way to Milwaukee to address a conference, said she collapsed and sobbed at her hotel after she was released. She said the border agents appeared to have been given "turbocharged power" by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump to "humiliate and insult" a room full of people they detained to check visas. "I have never in my life been spoken to with such insolence, treated with such disdain, with so many insults and with so much gratuitous impoliteness," Fox said. "I felt like I had been physically assaulted which is why, when I got to my hotel room, I completely collapsed and sobbed like a baby, and I'm 70 years old." Fox, whose books include classics such as Possum Magic and Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, said she was questioned about her visa status, even though she had travelled to the United States 116 times previously without incident. "My heart was pounding so hard as I was waiting to be interviewed, because I was observing what was happening to everybody else in the room," she said. "They accused me of coming in on the wrong visa and they were totally wrong about that. "The person who interviewed me was heavy with weaponry, was totally dressed in black with the word 'police' in hand-sized letters across his chest." The author said she was unlikely to visit the United States again despite the friendliness of ordinary Americans. "At the moment I'm in so much shock about it, I can't imagine going back to the states," she said. "I'd hate not to go back to the states because it's been so good to me and Americans in general are not [like] the border police at LA airport." "I thought: 'How can human beings treat other vulnerable human beings in this fashion, in public, in full view of everybody?'
- corey_moncure 7y ago
  >How can human beings treat other vulnerable human beings in this fashion, in public, in full view of everybody? Either the people are innately monsters (i.e. some groups of people can have innate differences from other groups) or the environment breeds monstrosity (i.e. monsters arise wherever policy creates a place like LA). The debate never seems to rise to acknowledging this essential contradiction.

So last time I visited the US I was fingerprinted and this time I guess I'll have my phone searched. Nothing says Welcome to our Country like being treated like a criminal.

dekrg 7y ago

EU citizens have to give their biometric data to the government to get a passport. Does that mean EU treats it's citizens like criminals?

mtgx 7y ago
Yes. I don't like having to give my fingerprint data, which no doubt will be stolen from their databases especially now that they intend to unify them and allow all sorts of agencies to have access to it, just to be allowed to travel in what's supposed to be a an almost border-free region. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.zdnet.com/google-amp/article/eu-votes-to-create-gigantic-biometrics-database/ https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...
- rietta 7y ago
  Not saying its right, but they have so many fingerprints of non-criminals. Anyone who has served in the US military has their biometrics and fingerprints on file. Jobs with children (teachers, daycare workers, church child care people) can and do require fingerprint-based background checks. Gun carry licensees in most states also require a fingerprint-based FBI background check as part of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System pre-screen.
raxxorrax 7y ago
Yes, and I don't give them shit.
krzyk 7y ago
Well, I prefer to give my data to my country not some foreign one.
- blunte 7y ago
  Considering how poor infosec is in most organizations (and countries), it's safe to assume that parties other than just your country have access to your data.
pjc50 7y ago
Not fingerprints, just facial biometrics from the photograph (UK at least).
- travelbuffoon 7y ago
  OP meant Schengen when they said EU.
qwsxyh 7y ago
I didn't have to give any biometrics away when I got my passport last year.
- neuronic 7y ago
  Germany takes finger prints of both index fingers when getting a passport. Not all ten fingers like at the US border.
  - travelbuffoon 7y ago
    And they're supposed to only store the data temporarily until it gets put on the passport chip (i.e. not go into the database). Of course there's no way to verify that, but I generally have a bit more trust in German authoroties. (you can also travel widely with just an ID card which doesn't get the biometrics, although that does limit you to Europe.)
dangerface 7y ago
I got an EU passport a month ago, they have a photo of my face thats all the biometric data they wanted.

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago

This is my favourite little horror story about entering the US: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-25/mem-fox-detained-at-los-angeles-airport-by-us-officials/8303366 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-25/mem-fox-detained-at-l... Mem Fox is a world renow children's author* who has travelled to the US 116 times previously, without incident. Australian author Mem Fox has received a written apology from the United States after what she said was a traumatic detention by immigration officials at Los Angeles Airport. Fox, who was questioned by Customs and Border Protection officers for two hours earlier this month as she was on her way to Milwaukee to address a conference, said she collapsed and sobbed at her hotel after she was released. She said the border agents appeared to have been given "turbocharged power" by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump to "humiliate and insult" a room full of people they detained to check visas. "I have never in my life been spoken to with such insolence, treated with such disdain, with so many insults and with so much gratuitous impoliteness," Fox said. "I felt like I had been physically assaulted which is why, when I got to my hotel room, I completely collapsed and sobbed like a baby, and I'm 70 years old." Fox, whose books include classics such as Possum Magic and Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, said she was questioned about her visa status, even though she had travelled to the United States 116 times previously without incident. "My heart was pounding so hard as I was waiting to be interviewed, because I was observing what was happening to everybody else in the room," she said. "They accused me of coming in on the wrong visa and they were totally wrong about that. "The person who interviewed me was heavy with weaponry, was totally dressed in black with the word 'police' in hand-sized letters across his chest." The author said she was unlikely to visit the United States again despite the friendliness of ordinary Americans. "At the moment I'm in so much shock about it, I can't imagine going back to the states," she said. "I'd hate not to go back to the states because it's been so good to me and Americans in general are not [like] the border police at LA airport." "I thought: 'How can human beings treat other vulnerable human beings in this fashion, in public, in full view of everybody?'

corey_moncure 7y ago
>How can human beings treat other vulnerable human beings in this fashion, in public, in full view of everybody? Either the people are innately monsters (i.e. some groups of people can have innate differences from other groups) or the environment breeds monstrosity (i.e. monsters arise wherever policy creates a place like LA). The debate never seems to rise to acknowledging this essential contradiction.