<blockquote style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;" class="gmail_quote"> <i>I've already heard one of our South American editors say that people from her country are often refused US visas for no reason.</i><br clear="all">
</blockquote><br>Is not for "no reason", they just think all of us are looking forward for the possibility of live in the "dream land" that is America, and can't believe we would come back after be there[1]. To be honest, is easier to me go to Europe than go to USA (and i don't need visa to go to Europe as Brasil has an agreement with EU). I only can imagine that go to next year Wikimania will be quite complicate for us, but i'm still want to go. :)<br>
<br>[1] No ofense to all good people from USA who are in that list, you have no fault for those things.<br>_____<br><font style="font-family:georgia,serif" size="2"><i>Béria Lima</i></font><br><a href="http://wikimedia.pt/" target="_blank"></a>(351) 925 171 484<br>
<br><i style="color:rgb(153,153,153)">Imagine um mundo onde é dada a qualquer pessoa a possibilidade de ter livre acesso ao somatório de todo o conhecimento humano. <a href="http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Nossos_projetos" target="_blank"><font color="#333333">É isso o que estamos a fazer</font></a>.</i><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 11 August 2011 07:05, WereSpielChequers <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:werespielchequers@gmail.com">werespielchequers@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div dir="ltr">Sorry to hear about Sumana and others bad experiences, can't say I'm looking forward to the security on my own flight home. <div><br></div><div>A couple of days ago I walked through a metal detector and my camera was given more inspection than the half a dozen lads in front of me who were in civilian clothing but carried rifles.....<br>
<div><br></div><div>As requested I won't bother making my own Wikimania CD in deference to anyone returning later than me. I might even skip my "Do I look like the sort of person who packs my own bags" line.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Serious suggestion for the future, amongst the many criteria we use to judge bids for Wikimania we not only need to add "Who isn't allowed to go there or wouldn't be allowed in" but also something about the attitudes of the authorities. On this occasion we were warned a year ago that some people would be humiliated by Israeli security if they attended. <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimania_2011/Bids/Israel#Arab_countries" target="_blank">http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimania_2011/Bids/Israel#Arab_countries</a> Glad to hear that the DC team is working on this, I've already heard one of our South American editors say that people from her country are often refused US visas for no reason.</div>
<div><br></div><div>There are plenty of venues available in countries where the authorities have an open and welcoming attitude to foreigners.</div><div><br></div><div><font color="#888888">WereSpielChequers</font><div><div>
</div><div class="h5"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 10 August 2011 17:05, Sumana Harihareswara <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sumanah@wikimedia.org" target="_blank">sumanah@wikimedia.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Since we are sharing experiences:<br>
<br>
This morning I went to Ben Gurion Airport for my El Al flight back to<br>
New York City. I wore my Wikimania t-shirt, badge, and lanyard, and<br>
prominently carried my Wikimania shoulder bag, along with a Wikimedia<br>
shoulder bag. I was asked, among other questions:<br>
<br>
What was the purpose of your trip to Israel?<br>
Didn't that conference end about a week ago?<br>
What are your parents' names?<br>
Where did you stay in Israel? Near the city center?<br>
Do you belong to any community or congregation? Any communities with<br>
which you celebrate holidays like the Sabbath?<br>
What languages do you speak?<br>
Where do you live?<br>
What is the origin of your name?<br>
<br>
An agent asked me about whether I had liquids; I showed my little<br>
bottles/vials and was told to put them all into my checked luggage. My<br>
bags were X-rayed, my laptop X-rayed separately. Then I was directed to<br>
secondary screening. All my bags were opened and hand-searched and<br>
swabbed. I was asked about my ZaReason laptop specifically because it's<br>
not a brand/model they'd seen before.<br>
<br>
An agent took me to a curtained, well-used cell with no clock,<br>
hand-searched me and swabbed me ("spread your legs," "raise your arms,"<br>
"now face me," etc.), and took my wallet, passport, phone, shoes,<br>
brooch, and overshirt away for inspection. I don't know how long I was<br>
there. She eventually returned all my belongings to me; one pocket of<br>
my wallet had been unzipped and the contents were scattered in the tub.<br>
<br>
I could see from a dialog box on the screen that the agents had tried to<br>
look at the contents of my phone. I do not know whether they tried to<br>
turn my laptop on, or found a way to access its contents.<br>
<br>
Overall I estimate the hassle took about 45 minutes to an hour. But at<br>
least they let me take my laptop on the plane.<br>
<br>
In contrast, before I could get on my flight from New York to Israel, El<br>
Al agents interrogated me and searched me and my belongings for<br>
approximately two hours. Worse, they put my laptop into my checked<br>
luggage, so I could not do any work on the flight (I had not planned on<br>
checking any luggage, just using two carry-on shoulder bags).<br>
<br>
As part of my search and questioning in New York, an agent took me into<br>
an employee break room and hand-searched and swabbed me and took all my<br>
belongings to be inspected. I know from mistaken time settings on my<br>
phone that they opened my phone and temporarily took out its battery,<br>
then had to reset its timezone, the date, etc. I do not know whether<br>
they tried to access my laptop's contents.<br>
<br>
In New York, I showed the agents a bunch of Wikimania conference<br>
information printouts, the registration letter, and my business cards,<br>
and was wearing my Wikimedia bag. The agents asked, among other questions:<br>
<br>
Do you have a family? Do you have children? Why didn't you take your<br>
husband's name? Why isn't he coming on this trip?<br>
Do you know anyone in Israel? Do you have his phone number?<br>
What do you do for a job? Do you go to an office? Could you talk me<br>
through what you do each day? Did you have to do any special training<br>
for that job?<br>
You don't have more luggage than that?<br>
Where did you go to college? What are the jobs you have had since then?<br>
Why have you had so many jobs in the past two years? You say you did<br>
some consulting for GNOME; can you open your laptop and show me some<br>
work you did for them?<br>
Will you be traveling in the area after the conference?<br>
<br>
<br>
The agents in New York were kinder and less brusque than the agents at<br>
Ben Gurion, and -- since they'd delayed me for so long -- walked me to<br>
the airplane's jetway, ensuring I skipped to the front of the airport<br>
security line and any other queues.<br>
<br>
In both cases I was traveling alone. And in both cases I was myself, a<br>
US citizen whose parents and name and skin color came from South Asia.<br>
I can't pass as anything else.<br>
<br>
An agent asked me, at the Tel Aviv airport, what community or<br>
congregation I belonged to. I didn't understand at first, and my first<br>
thought was, "the free software community, I guess?" The community that<br>
congregates at Wikimania, that I'd come to Haifa to celebrate. And my<br>
search and interrogation experiences were, to me, the least welcoming<br>
thing about my Wikimania.<br>
<br>
To bring it back to the thread topic: No one asked me about the<br>
conference CD.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
<br>
-Sumana Harihareswara<br>
Volunteer Development Coordinator<br>
Wikimedia Foundation<br>
</font><div><div></div><div><br>
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