3 ms·

They do not have a sense of humor. This would be a cute way of writing a blog post about your day(s) spent in detention before being sent back to your country

by reeses 13y ago

They do not have a sense of humor. This would be a cute way of writing a blog post about your day(s) spent in detention before being sent back to your country of origin/citizenship.

homeomorphic 13y ago
This is disgusting. White noise is all around us - how is possessing a recording of it in any way a crime? I'm sorry I sound so naive, but I'm still incredibly flabbergasted by this.
- greenyoda 13y ago
  The police might think that the white noise file is an encrypted document, demand that you provide the (non-existent) decryption key, and imprison you for "refusing" to provide it.
  - homeomorphic 13y ago
    Then surely they must logically also assume that when the prime minister's FM radio is tuned between channels he is receiving encrypted transmissions from terrorists. Are they going to xkcd-538 him for the key then? This stuff is not ok. Not at all.
  - reeses 13y ago
    Two things here. 1) These are not the police. Police are trained law enforcement officers. These are customs and immigration employees. They get training, but it's more important that they can get a security clearance. 2) Can you think of a reason for having a file of white noise that you could explain to this person that they would understand and believe? You really don't have many rights outside immigration/customs. "Probable cause" is "he acted weird." Cars have been destructively disassembled for less.
    - rdouble 13y ago
      I don't know about the UK, but the average customs and immigration employee in the USA does not have a security clearance.
      - reeses 13y ago
        You may be confounding ICE, CIS, and CBP, which is completely understandable (never mind EOIR, which is over in the DOJ and muddying the waters even more). The majority of CBP are federal "law enforcement" and are required to obtain clearance in addition to the suitability investigation(which is the equivalent of a lifestyle + polygraph background check for s/ts clearance). If they look at a computer based on information provided by a person entering the country, they have to have clearance. Uncleared or precleared people will often hang out over the shoulder of someone with clearance, so it's not really that "secure", but it ensures that queries are handled by cleared personnel.

by reeses 13y ago

They do not have a sense of humor. This would be a cute way of writing a blog post about your day(s) spent in detention before being sent back to your country of origin/citizenship.

homeomorphic 13y ago

This is disgusting. White noise is all around us - how is possessing a recording of it in any way a crime? I'm sorry I sound so naive, but I'm still incredibly flabbergasted by this.

greenyoda 13y ago
The police might think that the white noise file is an encrypted document, demand that you provide the (non-existent) decryption key, and imprison you for "refusing" to provide it.
- homeomorphic 13y ago
  Then surely they must logically also assume that when the prime minister's FM radio is tuned between channels he is receiving encrypted transmissions from terrorists. Are they going to xkcd-538 him for the key then? This stuff is not ok. Not at all.
- reeses 13y ago
  Two things here. 1) These are not the police. Police are trained law enforcement officers. These are customs and immigration employees. They get training, but it's more important that they can get a security clearance. 2) Can you think of a reason for having a file of white noise that you could explain to this person that they would understand and believe? You really don't have many rights outside immigration/customs. "Probable cause" is "he acted weird." Cars have been destructively disassembled for less.
  - rdouble 13y ago
    I don't know about the UK, but the average customs and immigration employee in the USA does not have a security clearance.
    - reeses 13y ago
      You may be confounding ICE, CIS, and CBP, which is completely understandable (never mind EOIR, which is over in the DOJ and muddying the waters even more). The majority of CBP are federal "law enforcement" and are required to obtain clearance in addition to the suitability investigation(which is the equivalent of a lifestyle + polygraph background check for s/ts clearance). If they look at a computer based on information provided by a person entering the country, they have to have clearance. Uncleared or precleared people will often hang out over the shoulder of someone with clearance, so it's not really that "secure", but it ensures that queries are handled by cleared personnel.