[liberationtech] Open Letter To US Customs

[Andy Isaacson]

On Fri, Sep 06, 2013 at 12:48:52AM +0300, Maxim Kammerer wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 11:03 PM, Travis McCrea <me at travismccrea.com> wrote:
> > http://falkvinge.net/2013/09/04/open-letter-to-us-border-patrol-cbp/
> 
> My understanding of the relevant laws is clearly lacking, but the
> common theme of these border detentions is that apparently one is
> being held for questioning, yet is not detained/arrested. In that
> case, the threats to cooperate or be arrested otherwise do not make
> any sense, since the border agents have no power to arrest you in
> present situation anyway - is that correct? I.e., Miranda was just
> passing through UK, so what prevented him from simply staring blankly

Miranda was a very different scenario than the Canadian PP case.
Confusing them is ... confusing.  US vs UK, immigration vs transit, and
investigation vs political questioning.

So yes, I'd agree you should understand the relevant laws better if you
want to understand...

> at the agents for 9 hours? It's certainly less exhausting than
> answering silly questions of some failures equipped with a crash
> course on basic interrogation techniques?

Miranda was held under a law which appears to make it a separate crime
to refuse to answer the questions.

This has nothing to do with the linked article.

-andy