[governance] Caution on Twitter urged as tourists barred from US

Wed Feb 1 11:41:18 EST 2012

And judging by this  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16811042 we
had all better start learning to self-regulate our innermost thoughts from
now.
Deirdre

On 1 February 2012 09:39, Riaz K Tayob <riaz.tayob at gmail.com> wrote:

> Robotic stupidity compounded Carlos.
>
> What amazes me is the spectrum of thought on this thread... in the long
> gone past (before the Patriot Act gained acceptance as a tool of legitimate
> governance) there were big differences between those "liberals" jealous of
> their freedoms from the state from others who are proportionate and
> reasonable... and the former are missing in large order including the "i
> disagree with what you say but will fight (sans violence) for the right for
> you to say it"...
>
> on freedom of speech I do think instead of thinking like
> governments/courts need more "jealous" liberals, jealous of any
> imposition/restriction . . .
>
> Sometimes I feel that instead of being civil society, wuddenly we are
> lawmakers and being "proportionate" when it is the government who should
> make the case for any limitation on rights... one need only look at the
> discussions on the Great Firewall of China to look askance at the treatment
> this issue is receiving... which is an entirely other story...
>
> how about your internet bill of rights?
>
>
> On 2012/02/01 12:41 PM, Carlos A. Afonso wrote:
>
>> Robotic stupidity is inherent to the profession, it seems, particularly
>> when the service is in practice militarized.
>>
>> During the military dictatorship in BR in the seventies, soldiers
>> invaded the São Paulo university campus (I was studying there at the
>> time) and found a book on hydraulic pumps ("bombas hidráulicas" in
>> Portuguese) and a paper on the dynamics of underwater explosions -- both
>> from the engineering course in Fluid Mechanics. The texts were
>> impounded. Someone must have noticed the stupidity later on and the
>> texts were never mentioned in the military courts.
>>
>> I continue to be amazed at the Guinness record of stupidity when the
>> immigration officers went to search for the shovels the Brits ought to
>> be bringing from Britain to unearth Marilyn's body. This must be a record.
>>
>> []s fraternos
>>
>> --c.a.
>>
>> On 02/01/2012 07:52 AM, Rui Correia wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Wolfgang
>>>
>>> Just for thought.
>>>
>>> A few years ago, a Brazilian teeanager was arrested leaving the US for
>>> telling customs officials that he was carrying a bomb when asked what a
>>> volume of luggage was. He was immediately arrested as the officials
>>> thought
>>> he was joking and did not see any humour in it.
>>>
>>> It turned out that he was acually speaking the **truth**, abeit in
>>> defective English. In Portuguese, "bomba" is both a "bomb" and a "pump",
>>> and the teeanager used the word "bomb" to mean "pump" to refer to the
>>> diving air compressor.
>>>
>>> It took a lot of high-level diplomacy for the US to accept the linguistic
>>> faux pas as a reasonable explanation.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>
>>> Rui
>>>
>>> 2012/1/31 "Kleinwächter, Wolfgang"<
>>> wolfgang.kleinwaechter@**medienkomm.uni-halle.de<wolfgang.kleinwaechter at medienkomm.uni-halle.de>
>>> >
>>>
>>>  Hi
>>>>
>>>> is "joking" protected by the first amendement of the US constitution and
>>>> part of Article 19 (right to freedom of exression) of the UN Human
>>>> Rights
>>>> Declaration?
>>>>
>>>> wolfgang
>>>>
>>>> ______________________________**__
>>>>
>>>> Von: governance-request at lists.**igcaucus.org<governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org>im Auftrag von Riaz K Tayob
>>>> Gesendet: Di 31.01.2012 16:23
>>>> An: governance at lists.igcaucus.org
>>>> Betreff: [governance] Caution on Twitter urged as tourists barred from
>>>> US
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 31 January 2012 Last updated at 12:51 GMT
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Caution on Twitter urged as tourists barred from US
>>>>
>>>>  Post-9/11 USA is highly cautious of any perceived threat, Abta said
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Holidaymakers have been warned to watch their words after two friends
>>>> were
>>>> refused entry to the US on security grounds after a tweet.
>>>>
>>>> Before his trip, Leigh Van Bryan wrote that he was going to "destroy
>>>> America".
>>>>
>>>> He insisted he was referring to simply having a good time - but was sent
>>>> home.
>>>>
>>>> Trade association Abta told the BBC that the case highlighted that
>>>> holidaymakers should never do anything to raise "concern or suspicion in
>>>> any way".
>>>>
>>>> The US Department for Homeland Security picked up Mr Bryan's messages
>>>> ahead of his holiday in Los Angeles.
>>>>
>>>> The 26-year-old bar manager wrote a message to a friend on the
>>>> micro-blogging service, saying: "Free this week, for quick gossip/prep
>>>> before I go and destroy America."
>>>>
>>>> The Irish national told the Sun newspaper<
>>>> http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/**homepage/news/4095372/Twitter-**
>>>> news-US-bars-friends-over-**Twitter-joke.html<http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4095372/Twitter-news-US-bars-friends-over-Twitter-joke.html>
>>>> >
>>>>  that he and his friend Emily Bunting were apprehended on arrival at Los
>>>> Angeles International Airport before being sent home.
>>>>
>>>> "The Homeland Security agents were treating me like some kind of
>>>> terrorist," Mr Bryan said.
>>>>
>>>> "I kept saying they had got the wrong meaning from my tweet."
>>>>
>>>> No joke
>>>>
>>>> Abta, which represents travel companies in the UK, said holidaymakers
>>>> need
>>>> to learn to be ultra-cautious when it comes to talking about forthcoming
>>>> trips, particularly after 9/11.
>>>>
>>>> Continue reading the main story<
>>>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/**technology-16810312#story_**continues_2<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16810312#story_continues_2>
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>> "Start Quote
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>        Airport security staff do not have a sense of humour when it
>>>> comes
>>>> to potential risk"
>>>>
>>>> Abta
>>>>
>>>> "Posting statements in a public forum which could be construed as
>>>> threatening - in this case saying they are going to "destroy" somewhere
>>>> -
>>>> will not be viewed sympathetically by US authorities," it told the BBC.
>>>>
>>>> "In the past we have seen holidaymakers stopped at airport security for
>>>> 'joking' that they have a bomb in their bag, thoroughly questioned and
>>>> ending up missing their flights, demonstrating that airport security
>>>> staff
>>>> do not have a sense of humour when it comes to potential risk."
>>>>
>>>> In another tweet, Mr Bryan made reference to comedy show Family Guy
>>>> saying
>>>> that he would be in LA in three weeks, annoying people "and diggin'
>>>> Marilyn
>>>> Monroe up".
>>>>
>>>> Mr Bryan told the newspaper that he was questioned for five hours about
>>>> his Twitter messages.
>>>>
>>>> 'Tweeter account'
>>>>
>>>> After the interview, Homeland Security's reported: "Mr Bryan confirmed
>>>> that he had posted on his Tweeter website account that he was coming to
>>>> the
>>>> United States to dig up the grave of Marilyn Monroe.
>>>>
>>>> "Also on his tweeter account Mr Bryan posted he was coming to destroy
>>>> America."
>>>>
>>>>  Paul Chambers was fined after posting a message about Robin Hood
>>>> Airport
>>>>
>>>> The US Customs and Border Protection agency said in a statement that it
>>>> tried to maintain a balance between "securing our borders while
>>>> facilitating the high volume of legitimate trade and travel that crosses
>>>> our borders every day".
>>>>
>>>> It added: "We strive to achieve that balance and show the world that the
>>>> United States is a welcoming nation."
>>>>
>>>> Mr Bryan is not the only person to suffer from a misjudged tweet. In
>>>> January 2010, Paul Chambers tweeted that he would blow snow-affected
>>>> Robin
>>>> Hood Airport in Doncaster "sky high!" if it was not reopened in time for
>>>> him to see his girlfriend.
>>>>
>>>> He was fined £385 plus £2,600 in costs - a sum which actor Stephen Fry
>>>> offered to pay on Mr Chambers' behalf.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>
>
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-- 
“The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge" Sir William
Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize Economics, 1979
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