
FedEx DVDs held at U.S. Customs until video declaration form completed (2012) - dredmorbius
https://plus.google.com/104925781657226108947/posts/hDJy8L9Z9Lj
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dredmorbius
I've just double-checked dates (G+ doesn't show them for original shares, and
the original FB post was deleted): this was actually posted in January of
2012, so it's nearly 2 years old.

In which case I'd be really interested to know what the follow-up on this is /
has been.

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dredmorbius
The FedEx form in question:
[http://www.fedex.com/sg/services/tools/demo/video_form.html](http://www.fedex.com/sg/services/tools/demo/video_form.html)

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jlgaddis
"EFFECTIVE 07/01/2001"

Weird that we've never heard of it before now.

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MagicWishMonkey
Don't forget, the terrorists hate us for all our freedoms.

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dreamdu5t
I don't understand why customs needs this.. it's perfectly legal for them to
just take whatever they want or deny whatever they want entry for no reason as
I understand it.

If they don't want Occupy videos they can just reject them. This form isn't
needed to accomplish that.

What is its real purpose?

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Amadou
It has been widely speculated that the customs form that they pass out on the
airplane en route to the USA is not about stopping bad guys but about getting
them to lie on official paperwork so that there is a documented crime to cite
as a reason to deport/jail them.

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tedunangst
What about about the customs form you get when flying from the USA to another
country?

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GFischer
The ones here in Uruguay and especially Argentina are mostly concerned about
illegally entering or withdrawing cash (US Dollars mostly).

You have to declare cash above a certain amount, and I believe excess cash can
be confiscated.

There are also other questions (for example: if you're bringing animal
products - we had very damaging outbreaks of foot and mouth disease, the mad
cow scare, etc)

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adestefan
That's exactly what is on the customs forms going into the US, too. Of course,
that doesn't fit into the conspiracy theories.

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Pinckney
The I-94 form asks such questions as "have you ever been or are you now
involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities; or genocide; or
between 1933 and 1945 were involved, in any way, in persecutions associated
with Nazi Germany or its allies", "have you... procured or attempted to
procure a visa or entry into the U.S. by fraud or misrepresentation?", and
"are you seeking entry to engage in criminal activities?"

[http://www.immihelp.com/visas/i-94w.html](http://www.immihelp.com/visas/i-94w.html)

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adestefan
Wrong form. The customs form is 6059B.

[http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/sample_declaratio...](http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/sample_declaration_form.xml)

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Pinckney
Yes, I know. I'm fairly confident it's the form tedunangst referred to, and to
travellers, the distinction is mostly academic, since they're both handed in
at customs.

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strathmeyer
I'm confused, what if the videos contain information about Obama murdering
Americans with drones? Would that be illegal for import?

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grecy
It's illegal in parts of the US to film the things going on inside factory
farms. That are real events that are actually happening, so I don't think the
fact that what you mention is actually happening will make a difference. If
they don't want you to know about it, they'll make it illegal.

This is so similar to the Chinese people not being educated about Tienanmen
Square it's eerie.

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ds9
The author of the post was importing videos from a vendor. How can she swear
to what the contents are? Well, in this case there's a basis for confidence
that they're training videos, but she may not have seen them. If you ordered,
for example a fictional film on the basis of a recommendation, or someone sent
you a data disc, you might have little idea. Will the government refuse it
admission if you can't swear that its content is within the guidelines?

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michaelfeathers
But: internet.

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gcb0
They have that covered.

