American Citizen Detained At Border Due To Drawing Of An SUV
from the think-how-much-worse-it-could-be dept
If you want to understand why we're so troubled by the ACTA treaty that many nations are working on in secret, we just need to look at a story highlighted recently at Boing Boing about an American woman who was detained for a while at the US-Canadian border because she had a drawing of an SUV. The customs officials accused her of being an industrial spy and copyright infringer. In actuality, she's a professor and artist, who was doing an art project involving an SUV.Of course, what the ACTA treaty would do is give customs officials and border guards even broader authority and a mandate to try to "stop copyright infringement" at the border. It would open people up to inspections for all sorts of things, from computers to personal devices -- and if you thought a random drawing could get someone detained before, just imagine what happens after ACTA is put in place.
The most ridiculous part, of course, is that this really has nothing to do with what the border patrol should be focused on: which is keeping dangerous people or things out of the country. Copyright infringement is meaningless at the border. Infringement happens across borders all the time online. Stopping it physically at the border makes no sense. If someone wants infringement to cross the border, they'll just send it online, rather than carry it on their body. And, until customs and border patrol starts scanning every IP packet at the border, it's a total waste of time and effort to ask border patrol officials to search for copyright infringement. It takes their energy and attention away from the real task at hand of keeping dangerous people out.
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Filed Under: acta, border, border patrol, copyright, customs, drawing
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Hey, is my submit button working?
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Re:
Sadly, yes.
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Re: Submit Button
What's an Internet?
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Don't go giving them any ideas.
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Re: Re: Submit Button
What's an Internet?
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Re: Re: Submit Button
What's an Internet?
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Re: Re: Submit Button
What's an Internet?
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Next on the docket
Can't you hear it already? Somewhere, some politician is getting ready to say "we already have a precedence to view all evidence crossing our borders, inspecting every packet in the tube is just an extension of that precedence."
Sorry, had to throw the "tube" comment in there to make it sound like it really came from a politician. :)
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Hmm
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Whats Canada?
"Your the customs dude.. You tell be bro and please don't taser me!"
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Re: Whats Canada?
(they were probably looking for credit being smuggled in from Canada)
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Second, it shows once again how completely ignorant people are about copyright, trademark, and patents. Can you imagine how screwed up the world would be if cars could be copyrighted?! How could anyone even suggest something so completely ludicrous. But yet, here's a branch of government claiming it.
And third, my submit button does work.
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Protecting the property rights of the capital class is why we have government. I would think the current market turmoil would be enough to scare you hippies back into your laval lit cubbie holes . . . . look I dont have time to school you commies on how the real world works, but when you upset your betters, you get the current economy.
VOTE McCain 2008 - He knows better then to bite the hand that feeds him!
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The thought process of border guards
Border guards are ordinary people with almost unlimited powers of search, seizure, and detainment. If you provoke them, crap will happen. Mind your manners, have your receipts ready, don’t start telling them how important you are and how long will this take, and you will not have to explain to your analyst your feelings regarding the anal cavity search conducted by a 340 pound border guard the others refer to as “The Reamer”.
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what custom's officers do . . .
Customs Officers work at Ports of Entry.
Customs encompasses many jobs
-looking for fruit/vegitables
-looking for counterfeit products
-verifying that items claimed are what were stated in paperwork or verbally
-looking for smuggled items of any kind (animals, drugs, people, merchandise not claimed)
-verifying citizenship
-verifying visa are acurate and that persons entering are entering for the reason stated in their visa.
And I am sure many other things that I am not aware of, as I am not involved with customs.
FYI-Border Patrol works between the Ports of Entry at:
checkpoints,
on foot,
on horseback,
on ATVs,
in vehicles,
on snowmobiles,
and also do many other things that again I am sure that I am not aware of.
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You turn south and run head first into a metal spike. You die.
-1 Intarwebs
(R)etry, (A)bort, (F)ail
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Re: The thought process of border guards
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oops
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oops
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oops
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Re: The thought process of border guards
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Border Security
One should notice, NEITHER of the presidential candidates have made a comment on this problem.... shame.
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[dark-skinned bearded dude] - Ohficer, Ih was just tryin' to draw a pikcha of eh S-U-V.. This is no problem, sir ohfficer?
[officer] - FACE ON THE GROUND WITH YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD! NOW! 10-4 positive id on suspect. Send backup with K9 unit asap.
[during press conference] - We collected irrefutable evidence of a terrorist plan involving hijacking of an SUV. Here's what the terrorists have gathered about their potential target so far. [holds up the drawing] As you can see these dangerous people from that evil country hate all about us, and our cars. We must conduct preemptive strikes against their oil/uranium-rich country now.
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Re: Border Security
Z.
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Re: Earl
Yes, in fact I'd say that it's five times better than average.
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Re: Border Security
Its because NO ONE CARES, the terrorism, immigration {xenophobia}, boogey man stuff isnt working this time. The Republicans have so devastated the economy that NOTHING else matters. The United States is like a really sick person who can’t breathe. While we have lots of issues that need attention, when you can’t breathe, nothing else matters . . . nothing.
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Re: Re:
This one is not quite up to your usual standard. Please keep trying though, you are providing better writing than half of what I see on TV.
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my wife..
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She was HOT... get over it
Gotta give allow the minimum wage flunkies a little fun every once in a while (until it's your wife anyway).
USA the best government money can buy.
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Is everyone overlooking...
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Re: Border Security
>
> Until we secure our borders and remove all the aliens
> from this country who are not legal the US will not be
> same from terrorism.
Obviously brilliant stellar analysis from A.L. Shaw. Of course a terrorist will always be a brown skinned person from a foreign land with some funny name. They would never have a good Christian name, like Timothy McVeigh, and be lily white and natural born corn fed 100& USDA stock. No, couldn't happen.
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border searches
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Second, the article said she her passport shows she *visited* a number of countries in the last year.
hey maybe that's their strategy? if you've visited a foreign country you must be suspicious...and since *everybody* coming in through customs has just visited a foreign country it's foolproof! Brilliant!
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