Brickbat: The Great White North

Alain Philippon faces up to a year in prison and a $25,000 fine for refusing to give customs officers the password to his smartphone when he returned to Canada from the Dominican Republic. Whether border officials in Canada can require smartphone passwords has not yet been tested in court

Comments

[Suthenboy]

He fights. He loses. Officials discover he has photos of himself in a sleazy Santiago bar engaged in wild donkey sex.

[BigT]

'WILD donkey sex.'

Is there any other kind?

[Robert]

Tame donkeys have sex too.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Take that, you stupid poor man's Frenchman! He could have been carrying undeclared plantains on that phone.

[Rich]

Or worse -- undeclared poutine.

[UnCivilServant]

Does he get an additional fine if the password is monolingual?

[WTF]

Oui!

[Ted S.]

I didn't hear about this on the CBC radio news bulletin this morning, because they were too busy talking to rent-seekers bitching that broadcasters won't have to buy as many Canadian TV productions in the future.

[Gene]

I dunno how you can listen to them. I did for years but anymore it just tends to induce a rage response so I stick to the light stuff here at H&R.

[DavidKMagnus]

Is there some sort of prohibited data you could be carrying on your phone?
I assume that just because you are crossing the border doesn't mean you'd have to turn over your email passwords or bank information? How is this different?

[Free Society]

I was recently turned away from the Canadian border for refusing to tell them whether or not I own any guns back home. Note that's not whether I had any with me, they wanted to know whether or not I simply own one somewhere in the world. The guards were exceptionally hostile as soon as I questioned the necessity of seeking such information, they then proceeded to detain us and tear apart our car and then told us literally "Canada doesn't want you. Don't come back".