Happy holidays -- not.

[trixtah]

I really wonder what kind of crack the Department of "Homeland Security" (is it just me, or is that name very reminiscent of 1930's Germany) in the US is smoking these days. The latest scheme is to now fingerprint all  fingers of those of us wanting to travel to the US from furrin parts. When they brought in the requirement to fingerprint two fingers last year, I reluctantly travelled to Hawaii as I had already bought my travel tickets and the person I was visiting had already made arrangements. That was irksome enough.

As a reward for paying off my copious debts sometime this year, I was planning to travel to the UK, probably via San Francisco (since I like that town). I was even going to suck up being treated like a minor criminal, as I was already in the Immigration database. However, this latest scenario is waaaay different.

• Not only are all your fingers going to be printed, a copy of the information is going to be given to the FBI.
  
• Not only does the FBI have access to it, but they will allow access to the information by other "international agencies".
• Not only does every Tom, Dick and Harry "agency" have access to the info, in the EU all transactions on the credit card used to book flights to the US may be traced.
• Not only can they trace your credit card transactions in the EU, they can also trace all email traffic going to or from the email address that you gave to the airline when booking.
• It's unclear whether the latter two apply to Australia or NZ - that information about the EU was only released under a Freedom of Information request. I imagine that the US government would certainly have requested similar "undertakings" from our governments, which may or may not have been fulfilled (who knows?).

Since I won't be able to travel anywhere before mid-year, I won't be able to get in before the gates are effectively shut. I wonder if they'd go in for the whole fingerprinting routine if you travelled by road? Say, flying to Vancouver (the flights that don't stop off in Honolulu, since it doesn't matter if you're "in transit": you still go through the entire immigration/customs routine in the US), and then driving over the border to Seattle (haven't been there yet, so that might be cool)?

Anyways, you can read about the latest great idea here (Observer), here (NZ Herald - and yeah, apparently us kiwis just loooove travelling to America so much, we won't care), and here (and what a crap report from the SMH that is too).

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

Woah! That's just hardcore. I was hoping/planning to go to the US in 2008.

I think from now on, I will give airlines my university addy, as it contains nothing but academic lists.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it's just ludicrous. Regarding the fingerprinting, what terrorist worthy of the name wouldn't be using gloves at all opportunities anyway?

If you want a gmail addy you can use for throwaway mail, I can flick an invite your way if you need one.

[ironed_orchid]

I have 3 gmail accounts, one for my name and one for each of my regular usernames. But thanks.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Oh, groovy. I'm going to start up another sockpuppet purely for booking airline tickets purposes. Especially since I'll be paying for my intended trip with a UK credit card.

[pretentiousgit.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this is... not very cool. I mean, much as I love many products of the US, paranoia and lockdown is not one of them.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

My sentiments exactly.

[sraun]

Apologies for the stupidity of my government - I wish there was something more active I could do. FWIW, this looks like another round of a sequence we've gone through before - our government panics and passes some nasty restrictive laws, then a small number of years later, we come to our collective senses and the laws are either repealed or struck down by the Supreme Court.

I'm hoping we get through the cycle quickly - but I'll be that the repeals don't happen until 2009 after we get a different president. :-(

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Oh well, if things get sorted in 2009, I can travel to the US then. Of course, that's the year I'm intending to buy a house...

It just more of the "liquids on a plane" thing - the powers that be who want to be seen to be doing something, whether or not it's effective in achieving the stated aims. *sigh*

[sraun]

Yeah - security theater. It's simultaneously fun and depressing to read or listen to Bruce Schneier pontificating on security theater - fun because he's a really engaging speaker / story-teller, depressing because of the subject matter. I wish his Beyond Fear was required reading (with comprehension tests!) for anyone in the federal government (executive and legislative branches!) that had anything to do with planning and/or implementing security. And I do specifically include the Senators and Representatives!

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

I've never (well, since I was quite young and only then on a couple of occasions) had them even ask me to get out of the car when crossing the U.S. border, so no fingerprinting or anything like that so far. However, I was always crossing as a Canadian citizen, so I imagine things could be quite different for people who were from abroad.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

They really only seem to be targetting EU citizens, Japan, NZ and Australia with these regulations.

Personally, I think it's because of all these "Islamic terrorists" in the UK (and possibly France and Germany) who still have family connections in Pakistan they're worried about. I'm sure our other countries are just being roped in to make it look good, since there aren't any "renegade clerics" in NZ for the Muslims to attend services with and be brought over to The Dark Side. Not to mention the fact that the various British police forces seem to be doing a vigorous job of keeping tabs on the rogue element.

It would be nice if they were less paranoid about land border crossings, not that I need any excuses to go to Canada anyway. :-)

[msss.livejournal.com]

OMG, that's both crazy and stupid. The US Administration never fails to amaze me at how they can take both those criteria to ever greater heights.

And that also rules out working for Google, since all their staff do stints in SF from time to time.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Word.

Just as well I'm not likely the kind of person to be recruited by Google, but I do think their timing stinks for MY holiday! Heh.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Like Scott, I apologize for my government's actions.

That said, if you do end up visiting the Seattle area, be sure and let me know, and I'll show you around.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

I definitely hope to get there one day; it seems like a cool town. And thank you for the tour guiding offer - how nice that teh intarwebs connect up people living in interesting places!

[tygerr.livejournal.com]

"Homeland Security"--Yes, VERY '30s Germany. The very first time I ever heard that phrase, a week or so after 9/11/01, as a mere proposal, I kinda freaked out for that very reason.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Yeah, no wonder. And it's not as if their actions subsequently have led to any great feeling of confidence that it's not as fucked-up as it sounds.

[tygerr.livejournal.com]

Jingoistic name, check.
Personal loyalty to the PERSON rather than the office or the nation, check.
Building great honkin' wall, check. (Okay, that's postwar Communist Germany, not prewar Nazi Germany, but still.)
Semi-secret internment camps for unclear purposes, check.

Geez, all we need now is for Die Fuehrer to claim the authority to cause Undesirables to vanish into special secret prisons with no habeas corpus rights (lawyer, public trial, formal charges, etc.). Oh, wait--we've done THAT, too.

Erm...this is completely different from Hitler's jackbooted thugs because...ah...the uniforms don't actually have JACKBOOTS. And the eagle insignia is taller, with the wings in a different position. Yeah, that's it--see, *totally different*!

I weep for my nation. :-(

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

The Department of "Homeland Security" reminds me of George Orwell's 1984 in addition to reminding me of 1930s Germany. They scare me. I won't blame anyone else who chooses not to visit this country over their behavior.