

Want to cross the border illegally? There's an app for that - auston
http://www.psfk.com/2009/11/an-app-for-crossing-the-border-the-transborder-immigrant-tool.html

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kpanghmc
For every "Border Angel" trying to help illegal immigrants cross the border,
there's a "Minuteman" trying to prevent it from happening.

I wonder if this app will do more harm than good for this guys' cause. It's
only a matter of time before the people in the "Minuteman Project" figure out
that they can go raid/camp out/etc. near these water sources/help centers and
do ... well, whatever it is they do when they spot an illegal immigrant
crossing the border.

~~~
mynameishere
_whatever it is they do when they spot an illegal immigrant crossing the
border_

They call the border patrol. Can you believe such wickedness exists?

~~~
ubernostrum
Yeah, at least they have the decency to wait until you're in the country
before murdering you in your home:

[http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/06/13/20090613fa...](http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/06/13/20090613fatalhomeinvasion.html)

~~~
JshWright
I assume your use of "they" refers to "Minutemen" as a whole. Regardless of
your opinions on the illegal immigration debate, the article seems to indicate
the folks involved in this crime were not accepted by the Minuteman movement.
I doubt even the perpetrators would suggest the killings were motivated by
their anti-illegal immigration beliefs.

Would you have used the same language to group the entire Muslim faith in with
those who commit terrorism?

Don't get me wrong, I suspect we probably hold fairly similar opinions on the
immigration issue. I just don't think false generalizations add anything
useful to the conversation.

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anigbrowl
Source: [http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n11/htdocs/follow-the-
gps-225...](http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n11/htdocs/follow-the-
gps-225.php?page=1)

An interesting interview on the more traditional 'grey hat' aspects of
hacking.

~~~
Mz
I actually like this guy's thinking. For example:

"I would imagine they won’t be too happy with us, but again we’re not trying
to hide. It’s a safety tool. It’s not trying to resolve the political
anxieties of these communities or resolve the inadequacies of a fictional
border for a so-called free-trade community. Again, our position is that it’s
not a political resolution; it’s a safety tool. That, at the core, is what
we’re attempting to do."

In Meyers-Briggs terms, I'm a Perceiver, not a Judger. A big part of what I do
in life is rethink and reclassify and question current mental models,
assumptions, and classifications. I look for that "third option" (a la
<http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TakeAThirdOption>) on a regular
basis.

So thanks for the link.

------
eam
Illegal immigration has always been a touchy subject. I applaud Ricardo
Dominguez for his effort and for standing up to save human lives.

In regards to the app, it would certainly be a double-edged sword. If I were
an illegal immigrant, I would only rely on this app if I were lost and had no
other resort to survive. In such case it would be valuable.

~~~
jacobolus
> _double-edged sword_

What's the other edge? It seems to me that crossing the border with this tool
is strictly better than crossing without it.

~~~
furyg3
Border patrol also having access to the app... waiting for you at one of the
safety/shelter/water points?

~~~
dagw
Border patrol already have access to all this information and much much more
from various surveillance equipment they use. If you make it across the border
without being caught by border patrol then it is purely due to lack of
manpower and other priorities by the border patrol and not due to lack of
intelligence on their part.

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the_real_r2d2
Probably this would be illegal, but crowsourcing the position of border
patrols is another use. It would add social network capabilities to the app.

------
Mz
Makes me wonder what the potential legal repercussions are for developing an
app to help folks do something illegal like cross the border.

~~~
coderdude
Couldn't be more than the repercussions of being a "Border Angel" leaving
water out there to help those who are going to do it anyway. The app developer
can just use their slogan: "Saving People's Lives" (yes, they put it in quotes
too).

~~~
Mz
How much you wanna bet this app will be used to track those folks down by The
Law?

~~~
anigbrowl
How is that going to work, unless they are putting out locate data? GPS is
passive reception.

~~~
Mz
The article states: "We were also able to add other information, like where to
find water left by the Border Angels, where to find Quaker help centers that
will wrap your feet, how far you are from the highway—things to make the
application really benefit individuals who are crossing the border."

So it sounds to me like they are giving out information which could
potentially lead you to the whereabouts of such helpful sorts of people.

~~~
anigbrowl
Oh, I see. That wasn't exactly a secret prior to this, though - I thought you
meant some novel way of finding crossers by tracking the phone, as opposed to
exploiting existing information available on paper maps or suchlike.

~~~
Mz
I hadn't thought of that, but if people actually make phone calls, their
location can be approximated based on the cell towers that picked up the call
(or so I understand -- I imagine there are folks here who know way more about
that process than I do).

