
Canadian islanders angry over US mail searches - tartoran
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49901455
======
Scoundreller
Meanwhile, Canadian incumbent telecoms pretty much refuse to peer locally
outside their little club.

The result is that a lot of local IP traffic round-trips through the USA.

E.g. half of the Toronto Voip.ms servers have a route that take go from
Toronto to WashingtonDC to NYC to Montreal and then back to Toronto.

Fuck you Rogers.

~~~
cheez
Gee, I wonder why it is set up that way.

~~~
Scoundreller
Our regulators consider incumbents' strength to be more important than
national security.

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droithomme
From a pragmatic and cost effective basis, this is a terrible policy the US is
following here. This is a tiny rural island with a few people living there
which just happens to need mail routed through the US very briefly even mail
from Canada to Canada. There is no history of mail abuse or criminal
operations taking advantage of this system. So while the US may technically
claim the right to search every letter under this unique situation, it's a
massive waste of time, money and US taxpayer resources to to this, money that
should instead be spent on legitimate issues where there is a real threat. In
short, these searches subvert US security by diverting resources away from
where they are needed.

Probably some petty tyrant on a power trip started this whole debacle. Whoever
that is needs to be stomped on by their supervisory agency for wasting
resources in the personal pursuit of puerile ego trips.

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flyGuyOnTheSly
I would be angry as well, but ultimately this is Canada Post's shortfall and
not the fault of US border patrol agents who are just doing their jobs.

However thoroughly they choose to perform their jobs in their country should
be of no concern to Canadian Citizens.

The only reason that mail is driven through the USA is due to cost,
presumably.

We fly mail up north.

We should probably fly mail to that island as well if it's a matter of
national sovereignty.

It's insanity that Canada Post has been allowing packages potentially
containing Cannabis to travel through the US border en route to Canadian
Citizens with their name and address right on the package.

I foresee a class action between the residents of the island and Canada Post
brewing if it is not already in the works.

~~~
Scoundreller
> We fly mail up north.

Does USPS go around Canadian airspace? Do they avoid trucking through Canada
to go to Alaska or Point Roberts WA?

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flyGuyOnTheSly
Sorry... by we I meant we Canadians fly postal mail to other Canadian
residents who live way far up in Northern Canada. Mainly because there are
hardly any roads connecting communities up as far north as I was talking.

As for USPS driving mail through Canada... we probably don't care as much
about securing that "threat" and choose not to spend resources on that.

Whereas the Americans do, and that's entirely within their right as a
sovereign nation.

They're allowed to waste resources and piss off and police their neighbors to
the north if we allow them to do by placing our packages directly into their
hands.

We could retaliate and do the same thing, but it's not really in our best
interests to do so.

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bpodgursky
> Campobello residents cross into the US regularly for everything from filling
> up their car with petrol - Campobello has no bank, gas station, or hospital
> - to driving an hour through Maine to New Brunswick for access to government
> and medical services.

To be blunt... it sounds like an outdated artifact of history that this is
even Canadian territory. If it's not able to effectively operate as a Canadian
town in a Canadian province, why not just make it part of Maine? (Or, don't
complain that you are crossing borders to obtain basic services).

(And yes, I feel the same way about US exclaves in Canada)

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throwawaycanada
Good point. Give Alaska to Canada.

~~~
bpodgursky
Nobody in Alaska drives to Canada for services, because the part of Canada
bordering Alaska is almost uninhabited.

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ENOTTY
Point Roberts in Washington is in the same boat, but on the American side. The
Canadian government would be well within their rights to reciprocate.

~~~
Scoundreller
... Except that most of the mail going in/out of Point Roberts is probably
Canadians shipping their stuff in and out of there because Canada Post is
expensive, or US retailers ignore Canada.

