3 ms·

I'll bite. Disclaimer: Never been to the US, don't plan to do it, limited insight into the laws over there. How are export restrictions relevant for people en

I'll bite. Disclaimer: Never been to the US, don't plan to do it, limited insight into the laws over there. How are export restrictions relevant for people entering the country? Aren't US export restrictions only affecting US citizens or corporations? According to his twitter page that guys from Montreal / Beirut? And how does the whole idea of export restrictions for decentralized internet projects work? I do believe this might've been blown out of proportions, but your answer seems a little too naive/easy, from this armchair here.

drone 14y ago
Actually, he was leaving the country[1], but I'm pretty sure that's ultimately beside the point. I have sincere doubts that cryptography was the reason for his detainment. By his own admission he had been detained four times in the previous three weeks[2]. Tweets quite often in support of Wikileaks/Assange/Manning, hails from Lebanon[3], makes strong indications that he is an activist, and just got done speaking at a human rights conference[4] - I have a hard time believing they stopped him because he wrote an encrypted chat program. Did they ask him about cryptography? They probably did, but I'd bet dollars to donuts he brought it up first. [1] https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/210363454954016769 https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/210363454954016769 [2] https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/210367538759086083 https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/210367538759086083 [3] https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/210386514369191936 https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/210386514369191936 [4] https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/208388821346299904 https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/208388821346299904
- Spoom 14y ago
  Interesting, I didn't realize he had been detained so much. It does make one wonder how much detaining "activist" types actually helps anything though. Also, do we know if he was detained by USCBP or CBSA (i.e. Canadian Customs)? You did mention he was detained as he was leaving the country, and unless they were running a special program that day (which happens every so often), usually the US side doesn't examine people leaving.

drone 14y ago

Actually, he was leaving the country[1], but I'm pretty sure that's ultimately beside the point. I have sincere doubts that cryptography was the reason for his detainment. By his own admission he had been detained four times in the previous three weeks[2]. Tweets quite often in support of Wikileaks/Assange/Manning, hails from Lebanon[3], makes strong indications that he is an activist, and just got done speaking at a human rights conference[4] - I have a hard time believing they stopped him because he wrote an encrypted chat program. Did they ask him about cryptography? They probably did, but I'd bet dollars to donuts he brought it up first. [1] https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/210363454954016769 https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/210363454954016769 [2] https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/210367538759086083 https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/210367538759086083 [3] https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/210386514369191936 https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/210386514369191936 [4] https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/208388821346299904 https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/208388821346299904

Spoom 14y ago
Interesting, I didn't realize he had been detained so much. It does make one wonder how much detaining "activist" types actually helps anything though. Also, do we know if he was detained by USCBP or CBSA (i.e. Canadian Customs)? You did mention he was detained as he was leaving the country, and unless they were running a special program that day (which happens every so often), usually the US side doesn't examine people leaving.