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

Wed Feb 1 13:02:24 EST 2012

Caríssimo Riaz, people in our list love to do a lengthy, deep exegesis
of any issue. Not thtat this might generate (or not) any useful result
for our practice and advocacy, nor that it is (or not) relevant to the
debate, but we do need to land somewhere and people keep hovering... :)

frt rgds

--c.a.

On 02/01/2012 11:39 AM, Riaz K Tayob 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 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 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>
>>>>
>>>>   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>
>>>>
>>>> "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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