Israeli customs demanding email passwords
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,231
Israeli customs demanding email passwords
Disturbing.
I'd refuse to answer and tell them I'd rather not visit their country if this is how they behave. Possibly with a sniff of "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/aust...-1226385584079
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archive..._demandin.html
I'd refuse to answer and tell them I'd rather not visit their country if this is how they behave. Possibly with a sniff of "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/aust...-1226385584079
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archive..._demandin.html
Targeting mainly Muslims or Arabs, the practice appears to be aimed at rooting out visitors who have histories of pro-Palestinian activism, and in recent weeks, has led to the expulsion of at least three American women.
It remains unclear how widespread the practice is.
It remains unclear how widespread the practice is.
#2
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Portland, OR
Programs: DL MM Gold
Posts: 1,676
Trivial to have a plethora of gmail addresses, each salted with thousands of innocuous emails sorted into folders. Even easier if you own your own domain.
Sort of like 9/11 - it's a tactic that can't survive past its first use, once word spreads.
Sort of like 9/11 - it's a tactic that can't survive past its first use, once word spreads.
#5
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Doesn't make a difference, as most all passengers with their own email facilities use history are presumed to have password protected data available to/with them abroad too. I doubt anyone posting in this thread is so special as to be an exception to that.
#7
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: DFW
Programs: AA EXP, MR Gold, HH Gold
Posts: 926
Huh. When I travel overseas, it's always on business, and always with technical data on my laptop/in my email, with the approved license waiver of course. That waiver does not allow me to export any kind of data to foreign nationals, however, and booting up my computer and letting one rifle through it is a no-no.
And what's with the gmail/Facebook assumption? What happens when a traveler says, "I don't have an email account or Facebook"?
And what's with the gmail/Facebook assumption? What happens when a traveler says, "I don't have an email account or Facebook"?
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 11,513
The voluntary nature of it (you can give them the passwords or choose not to visit their country and go home. You'll even get room and board for the night with the latter option).
CBP searches devices without consent, sometimes seizing them if they are encrypted or have a lot of data that can't be combed through at the POE. While I accept that such measures are warranted in many situations, CBP maintains the authority to do these things without any cause or level of suspicion. I must confess that I consider the contents of my laptop much more private than the contents of a suitcase I happen to be traveling with-- and I'm sure many people feel the same way-- yet CBP sees them as one and the same. I believe there needs to be a standard or threashold which must be met before a computer search is done. I have a problem with the fact that there is no standard, even though officers obviously only search very few devices.
CBP searches devices without consent, sometimes seizing them if they are encrypted or have a lot of data that can't be combed through at the POE. While I accept that such measures are warranted in many situations, CBP maintains the authority to do these things without any cause or level of suspicion. I must confess that I consider the contents of my laptop much more private than the contents of a suitcase I happen to be traveling with-- and I'm sure many people feel the same way-- yet CBP sees them as one and the same. I believe there needs to be a standard or threashold which must be met before a computer search is done. I have a problem with the fact that there is no standard, even though officers obviously only search very few devices.
#9
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,849
The voluntary nature of it (you can give them the passwords or choose not to visit their country and go home. You'll even get room and board for the night with the latter option).
CBP searches devices without consent, sometimes seizing them if they are encrypted or have a lot of data that can't be combed through at the POE. While I accept that such measures are warranted in many situations, CBP maintains the authority to do these things without any cause or level of suspicion. I must confess that I consider the contents of my laptop much more private than the contents of a suitcase I happen to be traveling with-- and I'm sure many people feel the same way-- yet CBP sees them as one and the same. I believe there needs to be a standard or threashold which must be met before a computer search is done. I have a problem with the fact that there is no standard, even though officers obviously only search very few devices.
CBP searches devices without consent, sometimes seizing them if they are encrypted or have a lot of data that can't be combed through at the POE. While I accept that such measures are warranted in many situations, CBP maintains the authority to do these things without any cause or level of suspicion. I must confess that I consider the contents of my laptop much more private than the contents of a suitcase I happen to be traveling with-- and I'm sure many people feel the same way-- yet CBP sees them as one and the same. I believe there needs to be a standard or threashold which must be met before a computer search is done. I have a problem with the fact that there is no standard, even though officers obviously only search very few devices.