
New TSA Policy May Lead to Increased Scrutiny of Reading Material - ColinWright
https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-future/new-tsa-policy-may-lead-increased-scrutiny-reading-material
======
Mediterraneo10
A decade ago, before the war in Syria, I hitchhiked from Europe to Egypt for
my winter holiday. When I was at the Jordan-Israel border, I got a little
extra scrutiny from the Israeli officials, because I had -- besides passport
stamps from some hostile countries -- in my backpack some textbooks for Kazakh
and Tatar linked to my university studies at the time, and the latter had a
picture of Kazan's main mosque on the cover. And yet, the official seemed
quite knowledgeable about these things, and realized that loads of people
interested in Central Asian area studies would have books like that and that
didn’t mean they had any interest in Islam etc. So, we chatted about that and
Russian/CIS politics for some time and then I was let through. The Israelis
must have been carefully observing my body language etc. according to their
security policy, but still everything was quite friendly and reasonable.

But I doubt that most American officials would ever be so informed about the
outside world and reasonable. The last time I visited the US, I was asked
about a Kazakh visa in my passport in so harsh a tone it sounded like a
reprimand for just having one at all (and in spite of the name ending in
-stan, Kazakhstan is generally about one of the most secular countries in
Eurasia). And if border control staff don't know anything, one can only expect
the worst from the TSA, a job that requires almost no qualifications.

~~~
uhhfcuvv
> Kazakhstan is generally about one of the most secular countries in Eurasia)

Presumably this is one reason why Sacha Baron Cohen chose Kazakhstan to be
Borat's hometown - if he had picked an Islamic country he'd be risking a
beheading in the streets of London.

~~~
Mediterraneo10
He chose Kazakhstan because he was unlikely to meet anyone who knew about
Kazakhstan or was from Kazakhstan. Originally the Borat character was an
Albanian named Christo, but there were too many Albanians coming to London by
the late 1990s.

~~~
tzs
I wonder why he didn't use a fictional country? That would insure that he
wouldn't meet anyone from there. He could even pick one that has been used
before, and put a couple references to that prior use, to give fans a bit of
trivia to notice.

For example, use Franistan, and have a reference to the Maharincess of
Franistan's 1952 visit to New York.

~~~
toyg
You lose part of the comedy value. As with his latest "Brothers Grimsby" or
with "Brüno" and all the way to Ali G, Baron-Cohen likes to root his comedy in
geographically-defined stereotypes. Occasionally the result latches on
somewhat universal figures, but from the beginning it relies on viewers
sharing Sacha's prejudices on this or that geographically-defined subculture.

------
angry_octet
TSA Top Ten books

1\. Idiots Guide to Flying [https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-
Flying-Gliding/...](https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Flying-
Gliding/dp/0028638859)

2\. The Qur'an [https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Koran-John-Medows-
Rodwell...](https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Koran-John-Medows-
Rodwell/9780553587524?ref=grid-view&qid=1498396568992&sr=1-2)

3\. A Handbook on Modern Explosives
[https://archive.org/details/ahandbookonmode00eissgoog](https://archive.org/details/ahandbookonmode00eissgoog)

4\. Dabiq or Rumiyah (Daesh magazine) [https://clarionproject.org/islamic-
state-isis-isil-propagand...](https://clarionproject.org/islamic-state-isis-
isil-propaganda-magazine-dabiq-50/) [Don't click this link!
[https://azelin.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/the-islamic-
state...](https://azelin.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/the-islamic-
state-e2809cdacc84biq-magazine-1522.pdf) ]

5\. 1984
[https://www.audible.com/pd/Classics/1984-Audiobook/B002V19RO...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Classics/1984-Audiobook/B002V19RO6?ipRedirectOverride=true)

Help me out with 6-10 people.

~~~
angry_octet
All good suggestions. But, pthreads, they are unlikely to detect the satire in
bringing Art of the Deal, and are more likely to be reassured than concerned.
In fact, I expect all Jihadis to be carrying tAotD already.

Forgot to engage karma shields though and the anti-humor brigade is out in
force! The book burners of HN!

------
iamnothere
No fan of the TSA, but this is a reach. There was another (better) article
about this explaining that tightly packed books appear on x-ray scans as big
solid opaque blobs. This makes it difficult to distinguish them from chemical
material.

The TSA has 1001 ways to harass you for whatever they want, and that sucks.
This won't make that situation any better. That said, I'm tired of
"speculative journalism" pieces that attempt to paint the worst possible
scenario imaginable in order to raise people's fear level or (in this case
perhaps) to gin up donations from supporters.

~~~
RhodesianHunter
The point is not that the TSA wants to or even ever will use your reading
material against you in some way.

The point is the slow and steady erosion of privacy rights one tiny inch at a
time.

In the far future when a government DOES decide to use these things against
its people, they will have no defense against it because the practice has
become a long accepted fact of life.

~~~
iamnothere
I do agree with the ACLU's mission and with the notion that privacy rights are
being eroded. At the same time, I personally feel that this kind of polemic is
becoming so common that its usage risks numbing us to the biggest risks. (If
everything is an emergency, then nothing is.) Criticism is possible without
relying on cheap speculation and exaggeration.

------
kbody
A friend of mine had quite the adventure when she was detained for no reason
even though she had entered before just fine and was a university student.

Even though I am a citizen of a "safe" "first-world" European country and
having visited USA in the past with barely any issue, I now try to not visit
friends there due to these policies and behavior, but rather I convince those
that can to meet me either on Canada or Mexico.

It's really sad what it has come down to.

~~~
muninn_
I think you have fallen victim to the news. Yes there are a lot of rumblings
about things like the OP, but the vast majority of people pass through US
customs with no issue. Even as you said. Last time I went to Mexico both my gf
and I were searched. When I landed in Brussels last time the immigration
officer was really rude to me for no reason. It's not unique to the United
States. My view is that your comment, like many other similar comments, are
more so about venting outrage at Trump and so this is a convenient straw man
(despite the fact that these kinds of policies continued under Obamacare). I'm
not saying there aren't horror stories, but they are very few and far between,
and much more publicized than getting detained in Thailand for a day because
you didn't pay off the customs officer (contrived example). The US is the big
target, so everything is exaggerated. I've heard people from Europe say they
wouldn't visit the US because they fear for their lives and other things like
that too, but again that's because they heard about a school shooting and then
assumed New York was a battleground.

~~~
UnoriginalGuy
> I think you have fallen victim to the news.

I've experienced these problems first hand. US immigration being incredibly
rude to visitors for no reason at all, and know someone from London who was
sent to secondary because they were the wrong skin color (their electronic
devices searched, books read, and seemingly no clear answer as to why, it was
a business trip with a return ticket to a conference they had a ticket for and
hotel room booked for).

I genuinely wish Americans could experience US immigration as a foreigner;
rather than get their special lines where they just get waved through. Then
things would change, things would change rapidly.

How many times, online, do Americans need to read that US immigration is some
of the worst in the world before you'll believe it? That your border feels
like entering a police state? Seriously, what will it take? The fact that you
guys are now attributing it to "fake news" says a lot.

News stories are fake, anecdotes are fake, it is all fake because you don't
like to hear it...

PS - US immigration has been horrible since at least 9/11 (arguably it was bad
before). This has nothing to do with Trump, it was horrible under Obama and W.
Bush too.

~~~
muninn_
Yeah idk. Every country I've been to, customs has not been great. I'm. not
saying the US immigration isn't bad, but people actively avoiding the entire
country for anything bad? Not hardly.

~~~
CarolineW
Well I have some anecdata for you. I personally know three people who have
cancelled subsequent trips to the USA after their treatment on entry, and I
personally will not be coming back after the way I was treated. I've travelled
on business to over 30 countries, and thus is the first time I've decided that
a particular one is just not worth the hassle.

So you keep believing everything is ok, I'm sure it makes you feel better,
rather than actually listening to other people's stories.

~~~
muninn_
And yet, many people I know who have immigrated here, whether on work or
student visas, have had no issues at the border.

So.... I'm not sure what to tell you. What exact treatment happened? Somebody
being rude to you at the border doesn't count, who cares about that? If you
were detained, or interrogated, or something along those lines, then yeah you
have a legitimate gripe. But I don't want to hear anything about "the security
officer was rude".

~~~
CarolineW
You claim that people are not avoiding the country because of treatment
received at immigration. I'm telling you that I know people who are avoiding
the country, and I'm one of them.

Don't tell me what I am and am not allowed to feel based on my experience.

~~~
muninn_
Nobody says you can't feel anything. And nobody says that some people aren't
avoiding the US because of how they were treated at immigration. What I am
saying is that the vast majority of people have no problem.

What was your poor experience?

------
rubyfan
Seems like a better way to find out about reading habits would be to tap into
the internet and track a bunch of meta data about people... oh, wait

~~~
__derek__
"Sir, I'm going to need your Goodreads and public library login credentials."

------
CodeTheInternet
I recently had TSA look at my carryon closely. I had a spiral notebook, folder
thick with papers, and a paperback copy of Gravitys Rainbow.

The agent pointed out the scan and how the thickness of the paper, combined
with all my charging cords, made it hard to detect what my bag contained.

He pulled the items out and looked thumbed the pages quickly; not reading just
looking for anything obvious. Then I was on my way.

I hate TSA as much as the next guy, but sometimes there isn't some malicious
infingement of privacy in mind.

~~~
revelation
Yes, there is just blatant, mindlessly ineffective infringement of privacy.

------
tomxor
Well ... there it is, if there was a threshold to past between "security" and
overreaching destruction of freedoms, it's been passed. They sortof had a case
banning various things that can hold explosives but banning certain reading
material for being "sensitive" is totally orwellian. I guess the time has come
to preserve all information before they start the book burning in the not too
distant future. (of course it will come under a different guise but it will be
book burning)

~~~
throwanem
Nothing of the sort is described, or even suggested, in the article.

------
spacemanmatt
Talk about your slippery slopes.

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
The USA is at the bottom of the slippery slope, has landed on it's arse and
now rapidly sinks deeper in to the quagmire.

 _For example, in 2010 the ACLU sued on behalf of a man who was abusively
interrogated, handcuffed, and detained for nearly five hours because he was
carrying a set of Arabic-language flash cards and a book critical of U.S.
foreign policy. We also know that the DHS database known as the “Automated
Targeting System,” which tracks information on international travelers, has
included notations in travelers’ permanent files about controversial books in
their possession._

~~~
fludlight
The flash cards case was not as clear cut as one would think:

> The flashcards included every day words and phrases such as “day before
> yesterday,” “fat,” “thin,” “really,” “nice,” “sad,” “cheap,” “summer,”
> “pink,” and “friendly.”

> However, they also contained such words as: “bomb,” “terrorist,”
> “explosion,” “attack,” “battle,” “kill,” “to target,” “to kidnap,” and “to
> wound.”

[http://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/114292p.pdf](http://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/114292p.pdf)

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
Crikey! Remind me not to invite you to parties. They're just _words_. Probably
pretty dumb ones to take through airport security, but then it would be hard
to find an action / thriller novel that didn't contain some or all of those
words many times over. Or as the sibling comment points out any _newspaper_.

You want a more egregious, what about detaining little old ladies in
wheelchairs and children's book authors?
[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/28/in-
tha...](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/28/in-that-moment-
i-loathed-america-i-loathed-the-entire-country)

------
Havoc
I don't think my paperback is going to take down a plane

~~~
__derek__
From the post:

> The second justification is to search for something called “sheet
> explosives,” which are apparently thin, flat explosives that can be hidden
> within sheafs of paper or photographs. In a case decided by the 9th Circuit
> in 2011, a man was arrested after TSA screeners found child pornography in
> his checked baggage, and while a district court ruled that the agency’s
> search of a stack of the man’s photographs was invalid, the 9th Circuit
> reversed, in the process accepting as justification the need to check for
> sheet explosives.

~~~
Havoc
An A4 sheet is like 5 grams.

Sure it's not impossible but I suspect the crooks can dream up something
easier.

------
wiredfool
I have consciously not carried "The Monkeywrench Gang" on a plane, even if I
was in the middle of reading it at the time.

~~~
kabdib
Ditto for a book on the history and manufacture of nitroglycerine. It's
fascinating, but I didn't want to try to explain my interest in the subject.
I've also worried about carrying printed material obviously related to malware
(e.g., "The Big Black Book of <whatever>").

Chilling effects, yeah.

------
nazwa
As they say... Knowledge is power!

