OT ‘US entry’ story
p2pnet.net OT News:- A little while back we posted an OT item centering the fact Britain’s Yusef Islam, aka Cat Stevens, was refused permission to enter the US.
He’s not the only one, says a Reader’s Write.
In fact, "The issue with Cat Stevens (or whatever name you want to use for him now) is not as unusual as you might like to think."
Now read on >>>>>>>>>>
My wife and daughter were booked on a flight earlier this year to go back and visit her family. As soon as she walked into the airport and up to the counter, you saw the lady at the counter give her a quick look up and down and the next thing you know both she and my daughter had missed their flight due to a VERY thorough check of ALL of their personal belongings.
So what made my wife stand out? Why was she ‘randomly selected’ (as they stated at the time) to go through this check? It wasn’t the type of baggage they were carrying. It looked just like everybody else’s. She didn’t do anything suspicious. She wasn’t even nervous prior to finding out that they were probably not going to catch their flight and have struggles with any and all connecting flights because of it.
So why? The only reasons that I have been able to make out is that they saw a lady there that was obviously from a different part of the world and was headed out of the country. Even though she was traveling with a 6 year old girl, that MUST mean she is a terrorist, right??
This is the current state of things in the United States at this point. We have let them take or civil liberties away from us and even the idea of being innocent until proven guilty is a thing of the past in an airport. If you buy a ticket, you are automatically a terrorist and they can violate your privacy in any way they see fit all in the name of ‘National Security’. It doesn’t matter if you are traveling from one US state to the other or all the way around the planet, you are at their mercy and you are guilty if they say you are.
FYI — For those of you that are wondering, my wife is from Asia. She doesn’t even come from, nor was she traveling to, any part of the world that is considered to be a hot spot for terrorists. She simply walked into an airport in the Midwestern United States where she stood out in the crowd. That is all it takes these days, right or wrong.
I, for one, think it is wrong…
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See:-
Yusef Islam – Cat Stevens denied US entry, p2pnet, September 22, 2004
September 22nd, 2004 at 8:15 pm
wtf has this got to do with p2p?
September 22nd, 2004 at 8:28 pm
We run OT items every now and then because they’re interesting. Or just because we feel like it : )
And going by the RW posts in the original story, other readers find it interesting too.
September 22nd, 2004 at 10:29 pm
Racial profiling is always going to be a fact of life anywhere you go. It’s the people who aren’t “one of us” who can expect to receive the brunt of selective law enforcement.
The nice thing about the Internet is that it is colorblind – of all the multi-thousand RIAA lawsuits, it’s probably safe to say that not one was racially biased. Maybe the only type of legal action/law enforcement that does not target specific ethnic groups.
September 22nd, 2004 at 11:59 pm
Given that the people the RIAA is suing come from all racial groups, it couldn’t be racially biased. I firmly believe that it would if it could, though ….
September 23rd, 2004 at 3:39 am
What has this got to do with P2P?????? Simple Freedom Liberty Rights!!!!! Today the airports Tommorrow Filesharers!!!!!!!
September 23rd, 2004 at 1:58 pm
We’re all in the same boat. Franticly bailing. Anyone keeping up with P2P news should know that file sharers are also supporting terrorism, according to industry authorities. So don’t be surprised if the day ever comes when getting a DMCA notice leads to your name ending up on a no-fly list.
A recent P2Pnet news article states:
“Hollywood has finally found a way to link copyright infringement directly to terrorism, giving it reason to demand even more powerful connections with international law agencies to protect ‘product’.
“There is new evidence that terrorist organizations around the world are getting at least some of their funding from the sale of illegally copied intellectual property”
http://p2pnet.net/story/1664
September 23rd, 2004 at 8:23 pm
That about sums it up, except the file sharers bit isn’t tomorrow – it’s today.
Cheers!