tourism – Techdirt (original) (raw)

The Problem Isn’t Whether The JD Vance Meme Story Is True—It’s That It’s So Believable After Everything The Trump Regime Has Done

from the have-you-ever-called-jd-vance-a-couch-fucker? dept

Much of what we’ve written about regarding the Trump regime’s nonsensical and ridiculous immigration policies have focused on how they’re grabbing people off the streets, or disappearing them to random foreign gulags without due process. But we’ve also talked about the absolute insanity of US immigration policy as it pertains to foreigners traveling to the US on visas. And the most telling thing about recent stories involving tourists being denied entry to the US? Nobody’s surprised by them anymore—even when they involve utterly ridiculous reasons like having a satirical meme on your phone.

We’ve mentioned how the US is now scanning the social media of anyone who wants to visit, and it’s leading to plenty of ridiculous stories that seem likely to cause plenty of foreign tourists to just stay the fuck away.

In the past two weeks, two such stories have made a fair bit of news. First, Aussie writer and former Columbia student Alistair Kitchen told a story of flying from Melbourne to Los Angeles (for a layover before traveling on to New York to visit friends) where he was detained for 12 hours, pressured into revealing his phone contents, and then being shipped back to Australia… because way back when, he had written an article about Palestinian protests at Columbia.

He wrote about the ordeal in the New Yorker, and there are plenty of crazy bits, with the CBP people demanding he unlock a folder on his phone and then scrolling through his dick pics with him being perhaps the craziest part:

He was gone for a long time. I imagined him, in his office, using some new software to surface all the grimy details of my life. Though I’d deleted a lot of material related to the protests from my device, I’d kept plenty of personal content. Presumably Martinez was skimming through all of this—the embarrassing, the shameful, the sexual.

That fear was confirmed. Martinez came out and said that I needed to unlock the Hidden folder in my photo album. I told him it would be better for him if I did not. He insisted. I felt I had no choice. I did have a choice, of course: the choice of noncompliance and deportation. But by then my bravery had left me. I was afraid of this man and of the power that he represented. So instead I unlocked the folder and watched as he scrolled through all of my most personal content in front of me. We looked at a photo of my penis together.

Come to America! Land of the free! Where we detain you for no reason at the border to yell at you about your reporting (free press!), force you to reveal your secrets (no general warrants!), and gleefully scroll through your dick pics together (cruel and unusual).

As Kitchen notes, they had planned to block him from entering all along. While he had done a cursory “cleanup” of his social media before flying to the US, they apparently already had everything they needed.

They were waiting for me when I got off the plane. Officer Martinez intercepted me before I entered primary processing and took me immediately into an interrogation room in the back, where he took my phone and demanded my passcode. When I refused, I was told I would be immediately sent back home if I did not comply. I should have taken that deal and opted for the quick deportation. But in that moment, dazed from my fourteen-hour flight, I believed C.B.P. would let me into the U.S. once they realized they were dealing with a middling writer from regional Australia. So I complied.

Then began the first “interview.” The questions focussed almost entirely on my reporting about the Columbia student protests. From 2022 to 2024, I attended Columbia for an M.F.A. program, on a student visa, and when the encampment began in April of last year I began publishing daily missives to my Substack, a blog that virtually no one (except, apparently, the U.S. government) seemed to read. To Officer Martinez, the pieces were highly concerning. He asked me what I thought about “it all,” meaning the conflict on campus, as well as the conflict between Israel and Hamas. He asked my opinion of Israel, of Hamas, of the student protesters. He asked if I was friends with any Jews. He asked for my views on a one- versus a two-state solution. He asked who was at fault: Israel or Palestine. He asked what Israel should do differently. (The Department of Homeland Security, which governs the C.B.P., claims that any allegations that I’d been arrested for political beliefs are false.)

Then he asked me to name students involved in the protests. He asked which WhatsApp groups, of student protesters, I was a member of. He asked who fed me “the information” about the protests. He asked me to give up the identities of people I “worked with.”

Unfortunately for Officer Martinez, I didn’t work with anyone. I participated in the protests as an independent student journalist who one day stumbled upon tents on the lawn. My writing, all of which is now publicly available, was certainly sympathetic to the protesters and their demands, but it comprised an accurate and honest documentation of the events at Columbia. That, of course, was the problem.

That story got some attention, but not nearly the global attention that the story of a Norwegian tourist, Mads Mikkelsen, who had a somewhat similar experience. In his telling, he was denied entry due to a JD Vance meme on his mobile phone.

Mikkelsen claims that immigration officials stopped him for questioning and quizzed him “about drug trafficking, terrorist plots, and right-wing extremism,” all of which he said was “totally without reason.” He says he was placed in a holding cell.

“They took me to a room with several armed guards, where I had to hand over my shoes, mobile phone, and backpack,” he told Nordlys.

Next, Mikkelsen claims that officials threatened to imprison him or fine him $5,000 if he did not grant them access to his phone, so he did. He said that is when agents found a meme on his device that showed the vice president’s face—digitally altered to make him chubbier, bald, and cartoonish—that became popular after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the Oval Office in February. He claimed they also signaled disapproval to a photo of him with a homemade wooden pipe.

Now, the Department of Homeland Security has denied that he was denied entry for the meme, saying it was actually because he had admitted to past drug use (apparently he admitted to having marijuana twice: once in New Mexico and once in Germany, though he pointed out it was legal in both places — though in New Mexico while it’s legal at the state level, it’s still (stupidly) illegal at the federal level):

That said, the meme (which had already gone semi-viral back in February) suddenly started appearing all over the place, with plenty of people (especially across Europe) using the meme and Mikkelsen’s story to mock both JD Vance and American immigration/visa policies.

It even went all the way up to the Irish legislature, where a politician, Ivana Bacik, held up the meme of JD Vance during questions on legislation.

Here’s the thing that should terrify anyone who gives a shit about America’s global reputation: when told that a tourist was denied entry over a JD Vance meme, nobody’s first reaction was “that’s obviously fake.” Instead, people across the globe nodded and thought “yeah, that tracks.” The fact that this story is completely believable is a damning indictment of where US immigration policy has gone. That’s not the kind of shit the US is supposed to do, and there’s no way that this isn’t damaging US tourism as these stories spread far and wide.

The thing is, as absurd as it is that Mikkelsen was turned away for either the meme or smoking a little pot, as with the Australian writer, Kitchen, the truly horrifying bit was in how they treated Mikkelsen. Lots of people are laughing about the JD Vance meme bit, but nothing Mikkelsen did could possibly deserve this kind of treatment.

He alleges that he was then strip-searched, fingerprinted, had blood samples taken, and was held for five hours before being put on a flight back to Norway.

Strip searched? Blood samples? What the fuck?

Whether Mikkelsen was actually bounced for the meme or the pot is beside the point. The real story is that when the world hears “American border agents detained a tourist over a satirical image of the Vice President,” their response isn’t disbelief—it’s dark laughter and relief that they’re not planning any trips to the US anytime soon.

That’s not the brand of a free society. That’s the brand of an authoritarian state where mocking the leadership gets you disappeared. And if that doesn’t embarrass the shit out of anyone with even a passing familiarity with what America used to claim to stand for, then we’re already further gone than these stories suggest.

Filed Under: alistair kitchen, cbp, immigration, jd vance, mads mikkelsen, memes, streisand effect, tourism, visas

DHS Steps Up Demands For Visa Applicants' Social Media Account Info

from the welcome-to-land-of-the-free,-sucker dept

The slow boil of ultra-intrusiveness at the border is underway. Americans apparently signed away a great deal of their rights in exchange for some national security, resulting in a Constitution-free zone extending inland 100 miles from the nation’s borders. Visitors and visa holders are in for a much more revealing experience upon arrival, although they’ll be on the only ones doing the revealing.

The DHS has floated several ideas over the last several months, ranging from “voluntary” requests for social media account info to straight-up demanding account passwords. The vetting of newcomers and visitors is moving towards the “extreme” end of the dial, with the DHS finally formalizing the first part of its list of demands.

Foreigners applying for a visa to enter the US will now be asked to turn over their social media handles for the past five years, as well as biographical information — including email addresses and phone numbers — for the past 15 years.

The new form says nothing about its voluntary nature until the very last sentence of the fine print on the second page. Presumably, the DHS is hoping applicants will fill the whole thing out before getting to the statements saying they don’t have to. The wording also hints not filling out the form completely will result in a less favorable review of the application. The terms “delay” and “denial” are placed in very close proximity to the word “voluntary.”

And even if applicants opt out, the government still has the power to remove the voluntary aspect of the social media account info requests.

The agency added that consular officials… will have free rein to demand applicants to turn over their information who they believe may “warrant additional scrutiny in connection with terrorism or other national security-related visa ineligibilities.”

The government’s filing states officials will not request account passwords, at least not at this time. That is still subject to change and DHS head John Kelly has already hinted at this demand’s inevitability. And that only covers this form. There will be no box on this form for social media passwords, but that doesn’t specifically forbid officials and/or CBP/ICE agents from hinting things will run smoother and faster with the right kind of voluntary cooperation.

Filed Under: dhs, social media, tourism, visa applications

Kuwait Creating Mandatory DNA Database Of All Citizens, Residents — And Visitors

from the makes-you-want-to-spit dept

A growing number of articles on Techdirt attests to the fact that the use of DNA is becoming commonplace in many fields, thanks to the continuing drop in the costs of gathering and analyzing genetic material. As those costs fall, of course, so the temptation to roll out the use of DNA more widely increases. It looks like Kuwait has the dubious honor of being the first nation to require everyone‘s DNA — including that of visitors to the country. The Kuwait Times has a frighteningly matter-of-fact article about the plan, which is currently being put into operation. Here’s how the DNA will be gathered:

> Collecting samples from citizens will be done by various mobile centers that will be moved according to a special plan amongst government establishments and bodies to collect samples from citizens in the offices they work in. In addition, fixed centers will be established at the interior ministry and citizen services centers to allow citizens give samples while doing various transactions.

Those who are not citizens of Kuwait will be sampled when they apply for residence permits:

> Collection will done on issuing or renewing residency visas through medical examinations done by the health ministry for new residency visas and through the criminal evidence department on renewing them.

As for common-or-garden visitors to the country:

> Collection will be done at a special center at Kuwait International Airport, where in collaboration with the Civil Aviation Department, airlines and embassies, visitors will be advised on their rights and duties towards the DNA law.

“Rights and duties” basically means: “no DNA, no way Kuwait”, since the article says elsewhere:

> the test will be mandatory for visitors

The DNA will not be used for medical purposes, such as checking for genetic markers of disease, which will avoid issues of whether people should be told about their predisposition to possibly serious illnesses. Nor will the DNA database be used for “lineage or genealogical reasons.” That’s an important point: a complete nation’s DNA would throw up many unexpected paternity and maternity results, which could have massive negative effects on the families concerned. It’s precisely those kinds of practical and ethical issues that advocates of wider DNA sampling and testing need to address, but rarely do.

Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and +glynmoody on Google+

Filed Under: dna, dna database, genetic database, kuwait, privacy, tourism

DailyDirt: Space Tourism Is Almost Here

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The Space Shuttle program is retired, but we still have the Soyuz (and maybe a mysterious secret mini-shuttle) to get people into space. On top of that, though, the private space industry is starting to kick in with more and more ambitious plans to offer rides into space — or at least to the edge of space. Here are just a few more examples of these private efforts.

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: hermes, liberty, mars, mars one, rockets, shuttle, space, spacecraft, tourism
Companies: alliant techsystems, atk, kickstarter, nasa, virgin galactic

Guy Claims He Owns The Idea Of Oprah Visiting Australia, Plans To Sue

from the ownership-society-at-work dept

When you think that ideas are ownable, you get absolutely ridiculous scenarios, such as the idea that anyone could ever “own” the idea of Oprah Winfrey visiting Australia. And yet, a dive boat operator in Australia is planning to sue Tourism Australia, because of Oprah Winfrey’s recent visit. You see, back in 2004, this guy by the name of John Heuvel, had the idea that it would be good for Austalia’s tourism if Oprah visited the country. That seems like the kind of idea just about anyone could have, of course, however he insists that it was unique to him. He pitched it to Tourism Australia, who agreed to work with him to get Oprah to visit. They pitched Oprah in 2005, and she (or, rather, her company) turned them down. Fast forward to 2009. Heuvel thought he’d try again, and pitched Oprah’s company directly (without the help of Tourism Australia). It appears there was no response.

However, last month, Oprah did finally go visit Australia, and Tourism Australia was (not surprisingly) heavily involved. However, Heuvel claims that since Tourism Australia had promised to work with him, it had now breached a contract. As for the idea that perhaps (just maybe) plenty of others at Tourism Australia might have had the idea of bringing perhaps the most recognizable entertainer in the world to the country to play up tourism in Australia? Why, that’s impossible, according to Heuvel:

“Tourism Australia is saying that it thought up the idea, which is ludicrous.”

Ludicrous? Really? Tourism Australia admits that it worked with Heuvel in 2005, and that that bid to lure Oprah down under failed. End of story. This latest trip was entirely unrelated. However, it appears that Heuvel really thinks that the idea itself is his and his alone, and that Tourism Australia owes him “millions” for actually having Oprah visit the country, without paying him first.

Filed Under: australia, contracts, ideas, john heuvel, oprah winfrey, tourism, tourism australia

Visiting Australia? Make Sure You Tell The Customs Officials About The Porn On Your Hard Drive

from the perhaps-I'll-visit-new-zealand-instead... dept

We’ve discussed, a few times, the issues with border patrol/customs officials in the US searching laptops at the border. The reason it doesn’t make much sense is that the purpose of border patrol is to make sure nothing bad gets into a country, but the content on your laptop can easily get into the country via the internet, rather than at the border. And even bigger concern, of course, is that people store everything on their laptops. If you’re packing your suitcase for a trip somewhere, you pack only the things you want to take. Everything you bring is effectively “opt-in.” However, on your laptop, you already have everything. If anything, you might (though I doubt many people do) delete some stuff to avoid having it searched. In other words, unlike your suitcase, the data on your laptop is more of an “opt-out” situation.

Well, it appears that down in Australia, they’ve taken border laptop concerns to a new and ridiculous level. Slashdot points us to claims for Australian officials that travelers entering Australia should have to declare all porn on their laptops. After some public outcry, that original claim was downgraded to “all illegal porn,” but as some people are still pointing out, it’s not at all clear what constitutes “illegal porn” in Australia, and it’s a violation of privacy to demand that travelers reveal their laptop porn. Again, I’m at a loss as to how this actually helps with anything. It’s not like having people declare it at the border will do anything to stop “illegal” porn. It just seems like an easy way to have something else to hold over people.

Filed Under: australia, border patrol, customs, porn, tourism

Australian Artists Upset That Australian Tourism Campaign Crowdsourced Images

from the overreact-much? dept

Reader mick writes in to alert us to a group of photographers in Australia who seem absolutely livid that the government’s latest toursim campaign sought to crowdsource photographs that could be used as part of the campaign. To me, that seems like a perfectly reasonable idea — in fact, a good idea in engaging people and getting them to take part in the campaign. But the problem comes from the fact that Tourism Australia asked people to let it use the photographs for free. That’s when a bunch of groups went ballistic:

The National Association for the Visual Arts, the Australian Copyright Council and the Arts Law Centre of Australia are protesting the conditions.

They are demanding the agency relicense any photographs used in the campaign to pay royalties to the artists.

Let me get this straight. Even though the whole thing is completely optional, and photographers, who don’t like the terms, have every right to just not participate, they’re pissed off that others can participate — of their own free will — by letting the Tourism campaign use their photographs freely. If the photographers don’t mind the terms, why should others? The reality is that these groups are trying to stomp out amateur competition. This whole hissy fit is about limiting the market to professionals, and keeping the amateurs out.

Arts Law Centre of Australia chief executive Robyn Ayres says the copyright rules set a “worrying precedent”.

“The creative industries play a huge role in our economy and our culture,” she said in a statement.

Of course the creative industries play a huge role in the economy and culture. But what does that have to do with willing participants letting the Tourism campaign use their images for free of their own free will?

“Refusing to license these photographic works in an appropriate way sends a message that it (government) does not value creative work in the same way as it values other economic assets.”

No, it shows that the Tourism group realizes that some people are more than willing to contribute their works for free for reasons other than direct payment.

Filed Under: agreements, australia, crowdsourcing, free, royalties, tourism

New Positioning From Tourism Australia: We Have Lawyers And No Sense Of Humor

from the well-that-makes-me-want-to-visit dept

Reader B Pickel alerts us to the news that Tourism Australia recently launched a new tourism advertising campaign to try to attract people to Australia, using the slogan, “There’s nothing like Australia.” This campaign was launched following the disastrous “So where the bloody hell are you” campaign. Seriously. Of course, minutes after announcing the new campaign, someone went out and registered the domain NothingLikeAustralia.net, and started posting spoof versions of the campaign.

Now, if Tourism Australia had a sense of humor, they’d laugh it off, or maybe embrace it in some way. Instead, they’re sending out the lawyers:

TA is understood to have launched a legal hunt for the creator of the site, seeking for it to be taken down for using the logo from the campaign that is a registered trademark of TA.

Yes, and the message that sends to potential tourists? Go somewhere else where people actually have a sense of humor. Update: As noted in the comments, Tourism Australia has apparently come to its senses and decided not to pursue a legal strategy. But the fact that they even considered it is pretty telling…

Filed Under: australia, tourism

Trademark Lawsuit For Using Kazoos To Quack Like A Duck

from the quack-quack dept

When this article in the ABA Journal started off by noting (accurately!) that the following story sounds like typical late-night fodder that makes lawyers look bad for filing frivolous lawsuits — but then said “but the suit is anything but silly” — I expected an article that would explain convincingly why a trademark lawsuit between two tourist tour operators that have passengers use kazoos to quack like a duck was not silly. But, I’m left scratching my head. I found the article via Eric Goldman, who notes that “I can’t imagine this lawsuit has a good ROI.”

Here’s the basic story. Apparently, there are some tour operations out there that involve amphibious truck/boats, that take tourists around different places both on land and in water. One company, Ride the Ducks, does this in various areas around the country, and has trademarked the sound of kazoos being used to quack like a duck — which it asks passengers to play as the truck goes from land to water. Now it turns out, right nearby where I am, in San Francisco, there’s a tour called Bay Quackers, that does something similar, also involving quacking kazoos. Ride the Ducks isn’t happy and has sued Bay Quackers, saying that the specific quack of the kazoo is trademarked.

My first question is why Bay Quackers just doesn’t get different kazoos. Well, actually, my first question is a slightly unprintable question about why tourists might ride amphibious boat/trucks while using kazoos to sound like ducks… but I figure that’s a tangent. Either way, it’s difficult to see what benefit there really is to this lawsuit, other than Ride the Ducks being pissed off that someone else is using their idea. But ideas aren’t protectable, and competition is a good thing. So, we’re left with a silly lawsuit about quacking kazoos that does, still, seem pretty frivolous.

Filed Under: amphibious trucks, kazoos, quacking, tourism, trademark
Companies: bay quackers, ride the ducks

Google So Dominant That A French Town Might Need To Change Its Name?

from the or-hire-some-better-seo? dept

Apparently, the French coastal town of Eu is so upset that people can’t find the town via a Google search, that it’s considering changing its name. The mayor of the town is quite concerned about how this is impacting the town’s tourism business — which does show the cultural dominance of Google, these days, on some things. Of course, as the article notes, a search on Eu french town turns up plenty of results — though, even those are currently dominated by stories like this one about the name search. Perhaps the town just needs to hire better SEO experts…

Filed Under: eu, france, search engines, seo, tourism
Companies: google