Re:Judge Rules Terrorism Watchlist Violates Constitutional R...
by GordonS on Thursday September 05, 2019 @01:47PM
(#20889140)
My name got a hit on a watch list when I flew into Australia one time, several years ago.
I was taken into a side room by 2 plain-clothes policemen, who politely asked my several questions about why I came to Australia. At the end of it all, they apologised and explained that my name matched one on a watch list, but my age, hair colour, build etc didn't match - "but it's procedure". They also said it would happen every time I went to Australia (I never did go back tho).
It seemed incredible to me that they would use only a matching name as their reason to be suspicious of someone!
As I said though, they were very polite about it, and I never felt like I was under any kind of threat or danger, and they didn't invade my privacy (they didn't look at my devices, and didn't even search my bags). A stark contrast to my experiences at US border control, I must say...
I was taken into a side room by 2 plain-clothes policemen, who politely asked my several questions about why I came to Australia. At the end of it all, they apologised and explained that my name matched one on a watch list, but my age, hair colour, build etc didn't match - "but it's procedure". They also said it would happen every time I went to Australia (I never did go back tho).
It seemed incredible to me that they would use only a matching name as their reason to be suspicious of someone!
As I said though, they were very polite about it, and I never felt like I was under any kind of threat or danger, and they didn't invade my privacy (they didn't look at my devices, and didn't even search my bags). A stark contrast to my experiences at US border control, I must say...