Post #113272

2026-01-05 13:54 UTC

My niece comes to the U.S. most years from Europe to visit her grandfather. This year she was stopped at the airport, taken into an interrogation room, accused of being a prostitute, had her phone taken and scanned, and released. You know, in case you were wondering why tourism to the U.S. is down.

Replies (8)

@sonjdol@ohai.social 2026-01-05 14:15

@kralcttam@mastodon.social That's why I don't even go to conferences to the US.

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@grammasaurus@mastodon.social 2026-01-05 14:33

@kralcttam@mastodon.social Wow! That’s insane! (what a shitty excuse for them to make in order to scan the contents of her phone) But I’m thinking this isn’t a good year for anyone to travel internationally.

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@gcvsa@mstdn.plus 2026-01-05 14:39

@kralcttam@mastodon.social I am confident that if we ever get a chance to investigate all of this, we're going to find out that the government's police forces have contracts with data brokers that reward them by the piece for how many devices they scan, image, and upload. The accusations of prostitution or whatever else are just a pretense to get access to the devices. The value is less the data on one specific device, and more the data in the aggregate of as many devices as they can nab.

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@GayDeceiver@mstdn.social 2026-01-05 15:06

@kralcttam@mastodon.social If I ever travel outside the US again, before I get on the return flight, I'll wipe my phone, since I have a nice backup on the cloud, go through customs, and then restore. ... that's if I'm allowed back in the States again. You know ... because ... reasons ...

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@vxo@digipres.club 2026-01-06 12:38

@lienrag@mastodon.tedomum.net @GayDeceiver@mstdn.social @kralcttam@mastodon.social definitely. we've seen Android malware that has automated root exploits for the last decade or so. Rest assured that for every patched out root exploit, there are probably two more being carefully stashed for a rainy day.

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@Eurospoofer@mastodon.social 2026-01-05 15:07

@kralcttam@mastodon.social this is what the millions of football fans have to expect if they wish to come to the world Cup? A boycot is looking far more appealing than face visiting such an unlawful and moral country

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@vlakicas@mastodon.social 2026-01-05 15:20

@kralcttam@mastodon.social So, we have immorals who accuse good people lightly. It's just that the world has been turned upside down because of those.

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@Lazarou@mastodon.social 2026-01-05 15:23

@kralcttam@mastodon.social big shout out the American Non-Voters on Mastodon reading this and not feeling an ounce of guilt.

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