
The woman who accidentally ticked: 'I am a terrorist' - camtarn
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-45678517
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sschueller
Because a terrorist would actually answer yes on such a Form. /s

Same goes for the old form that asks if you were part of the nazi party in
1939-1945 even thought you were born much later.

These forms are such bullshit and are only here to give authorities leverage
against you at a later date incase you did purger yourself. Then they have it
in writing that you lied.

~~~
394549
> These forms are such bullshit and are only here to give authorities leverage
> against you at a later date incase you did purger yourself. Then they have
> it in writing that you lied.

They're not bullshit. The forms' design is what gives the government
unambiguous grounds to revoke the citizenship of foreign war criminals, once
their crimes are discovered. The fact that they lied during their
naturalization means it was _never_ actually valid.

~~~
dragonwriter
>The forms' design is what gives the government unambiguous grounds to revoke
the citizenship of foreign war criminals, once their crimes are discovered.

No, they are what makes the person (even if they never apply for citizenship;
the form has nothing to do with citizenship applications) unquestionably a
criminal under US law if they've ever done the thing asked about in the
question and denied it on the form, because US law doesn't unconditionally
exert universal jurisdiction over all instances of the international crimes
identified, but it does over lying to the US government.

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yial
I recently (as of about 5 weeks ago) stopped working in gun sales. (Relevance
in a moment.).

While I think this case is absolutely outrageous...

There’s a form called the 4473 that you fill out when you purchase a firearm
in the US. (Among other forms depending on state ).

This form has a bank of questions such as “are you the actual purchaser of the
firearm” to “are you an addict and illegal user of drugs”. And while you would
think no one would answer “yes” to the wrong questions, people do.

I will also say, I wish literacy (is that the right word here, it’s very early
in the morning where I am at ) was a requirement. A frequent question I would
get for one question, which read “have you ever renounced your US citizenship”
would be variations of “is this asking me if I’m a Mexican?” Or “re-no-unsed,
is that like a place?”

Though perhaps I need to be less judge mental. I denied a lot of sales.

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blackbrokkoli
This is an excellent example of one of the three pillars of classic test
theory (the basis of which such forms _should_ be based), validity:

Is this parameter measuring what I want to measure?

This is an examplariously hilarious case of absolutely not. Saved.

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mikejb
Note that 'terrorist' is a larger group of people than some might imagine. My
favorite example is the "Animal Liberation Front", a group of militant self-
proclaimed animal lovers that, after burning down enough buildings, got on the
FBI's "domestic terrorist" list.

So if you are member of the ALF, you'd have to tick this box; Otherwise it'll
be another item on the list you can get arrested for.

[1] is a list of organizations on the US' 'domestic terrorism' list.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism_in_the_Unit...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism_in_the_United_States#Terrorist_organizations)

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anon49124

        [ ] Yes, I am a psychopathic axe murderer looking for my next victim.
    
        [ ] Yes, I am avoiding taxes that would make the Panama Papers blush.
    
        [ ] Yes, I am a going to Bermuda to marry my underage girlfriend.
    
        [ ] Yes, I am a terrorist, the bombs are at home.
    
    

_I dunno which to pick, maybe all but the girlfriend one. Which did you
choose, deary?_

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amingilani
This was without a doubt my worst fear when filling out the visa application
form. I went back and rechecked five times, just to ensure I didn't actually
declare myself a terrorist.

Now, I know what happens.

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kirkules
Can you imagine if your browser or some add-on decided you could auto-fill
info. on a form like that, and inappropriately checked the box or filled the
radio button or whatever?

~~~
anon49124
Add AI, automation and thought UIs... thoughtcrime is upon us.

Moreover, imagine illicit drones that have weapons or explosives that operate
with AI and thought-control... you think about killing your boss, but you
forgot to think "you didn't mean it" that the drone shouldn't do it. Whoops.

