Israel Airport Security Allowed To Read Tourists' Email

wiredmikey writes "Israeli security officials at Ben Gurion airport are legally allowed to demand access to tourists' email accounts and deny them entry if they refuse, the country's top legal official said on Wednesday. Details of the policy were laid out by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein in a written response to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the group said in a statement. 'In a response dated April 24, 2013, the attorney general's office confirmed this practice,' ACRI said, quoting sections of the document which said it was only done in exceptional cases where 'relevant suspicious signs' were evident and only done with the tourist's 'consent'. 'Allowing security agents to take such invasive measures at their own discretion and on the basis of such flimsy "consent" is not befitting of a democracy,' commented Lila Margalit from ACRI."

Comments

My house, my rules

[Anonymous Coward]

Israel has every right to require you show just cause why they should let you in. Just like the US has that same right.

You have no right to enter a country of which you are not a citizen, and they can deny you entry for any reason, and require whatever they want of you as a condition of entry.

That's just the way it is. Don't like it? Don't go to Israel.

Re:My house, my rules

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

The question isn't whether they can require something; but whether they are showing good taste by doing so.

Given that nation states exist largely in a state of nature unless they piss off enough members of the security council, what they can do is a very broad category indeed. That, however, makes judging them on what they do choose to do rather easier...

Re:My house, my rules

[Anonymous Coward]

The USA is but one of many that doesn't play by its own rules. The US government quite blatantly violates its country's constitution, after all.

Re:My house, my rules

[joe_frisch]

The point is to decide which rules you are willing to accept. I will not enter a country that might ask for access to my private accounts, assuming that I can verify that this is really the case.

Re:My house, my rules

[shawn(at)fsu]

IMHO Israel is not worried about what's in good taste and is more worried about national security from countries that have stated in no uncertain terms that Israel should be wiped off the map.

Re:My house, my rules

[Anonymous Coward]

The USA lost its political sovereignty in 1974 when capital controls were removed allowing foreign investment and thus influencing of internal affairs.

Re:My house, my rules

[Anonymous Coward]

In defense of the US, at least the government still pretends to follow its own rules where it thinks it might get caught and it could cause a stink, costing someone (or several or many someones) reelection, etc. This provides a lot more stability than many governments do. In America, it's actually possible to go your entire life without having to bribe anyone, for example. Living somewhere where they at least pretend to care about civil liberties, etc. is better than living somewhere where they don't even bother to pretend, which explains in large measure why so many people came here, still come here, and why so many stay who could leave.

Being able to leave, coincidentally, is another nice feature of our system. If I want to travel abroad, I don't have to SNEAK AWAY. Can the prisoners... er... 'citizens' of every other country say that? Also, for all the other countries whose citizens CAN, in fact say that, how many might have more repressive governments than they do were it not for America's influence? Historically, this long-suffering and oft derided nation has been responsible for a lot of freedom beyond its borders, thank you very much you fnck!ng ingrates.

For example, if you live in France, and you enjoy not speaking German, (or if you live anywhere in Europe, for that matter, and enjoy not being required to speak German...) you're welcome. If you live anywhere in Asia, and enjoy not having to speak Japanese, if only to ask your masters for water, or for them not to whip you so hard... you're welcome. Has everything this nation done been good, and on the up and up? Of course not - but on balance, if we're not the best, when it comes to civil rights, and being a great place to live, raise a family, etc., then we're certainly near the top of the list, regardless of how some one or more groups who have had the temerity to presume to rate and rank various places' worth, generally by criteria that necessarily skew the results one way or another.

Did we perhaps get overzealous recently? That's probably fair to say. Have some of our policies, foreign and domestic benefited the rich at the expense of everyone else? Clearly. Does that make the entire nation a benighted sh!+hole worthy only of scorn? Hardly. If anything, it underlines the point that people should give a lot more thought to how, and for whom they vote, and less time worrying about whether the people have (D) or (R) after their names, or how slick their hair is, or how menacing they make the notion of their opponents' victories seem in advertising, because most, if not all of the horrible things this country has done, looking back, can ultimately be attributed to a careless, negligent, uninformed, and/or easily frightened or manipulated, apathetic electorate.

The fix for this is simple, though far from easy. Education. Without education, we're doomed. Now if you'll pardon me, I'm going to go read.

Re:My house, my rules

[interkin3tic]

You're making a straw man argument. No one is saying they CAN'T do this.

Re:My house, my rules

[cffrost]

[I]f you live in France, and you enjoy not speaking German, (or if you live anywhere in Europe, for that matter, and enjoy not being required to speak German...) you're welcome. If you live anywhere in Asia, and enjoy not having to speak Japanese, if only to ask your masters for water, or for them not to whip you so hard... you're welcome.

Now if you'll pardon me, I'm going to go read.

I suggest you read a history book, particularly one that covers the Soviet Union's role during World War II. I suspect that your grade-school history/social studies books were either similar to or identical to mine, which were published in the United States during the Cold War on the behalf of government, and were therefore appropriately biased.

Re:My house, my rules

[shutdown -p now]

In this particular case, it would seem that they are sacrificing the freedom and privacy of visiting non-citizens for the sake of security of their citizens. As a nation-state, the goal of the State of Israel is to provide for these things for its citizens first and foremost, so it sounds like a reasonable trade-off. Especially given that they're facing some very real, rather than imaginary, threats.

Re:My house, my rules

[KGIII]

They didn't deny the Soviet Union's influence, are you attempting to deny US involvement, commitment, influence, and success? Why? They were allied - did he say don't thank a Russian? My questions are mostly rhetorical but concern why you seem to chose to reply the way you did. The subject is the US's help/involvement. Ah well, that question is for you alone to answer.

Re:My house, my rules

[Archangel Michael]

He knows what he did. He is just being a dickwad liberal/socialist, who can't admit that the US has actually done more good than harm in this world. Yeah, we've made some mistakes, some fairly big ones, but that does not change the fact that there are MUCH worse people out there, and given a chance, they would enslave as many people as they can.

The left loves to support tyrants, as long as they are socialists railing against America. Sean Penn's infatuation with the former Hugo Chavez is among the most notable. Michael Moore and Cuba is another. Dennis Rodman and NK. I could go on, but I think you get my point. If you listen to these leftists, you would think the world would be better off with their "benevolent dictators".

So, yeah, it is blindness to anything that doesn't fit their rose tinted view of the world.

Re:Throw away email account

[Nerdfest]

It might also be a good reason not to visit a country. Of course, if all countries keep heading towards police states like they seem to be currently, it won't really matter where you go. Goodbye privacy, "papers please".

Re:Article has Anti-Semitic Purpose

[Mr. Slippery]

To generate some sense of outrage against Israel and Jews for doing something that every other country on the planet does

Citation needed. What other counties demand access to tourists' e-mail? And outrage against Israel's human rights crimes is not "anti-semitic" or "outrage against Jews". Anyone with a lick of sense is tired of Israel playing the victim card.

I feel safer walking down the street in Tel Aviv than I do walking down the street in Detroit.

Damning with faint praise, there. And if you're Jewish, that's like a white person in 1965 talking about how safe he felt in Alabama, Bloody Sunday be damned.

Pointless

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

This is a stupid policy because anyone intent on doing harm will just set up a dummy account full of fluffy happy mail to show to airport security. Basically the only outcome of this policy is to deny entry to people who are not a threat.

Consent or get back on that airplane!

[girlinatrainingbra]

Consent, eh? Really?
-- Consent, or get back on that airplane!
-- Consent, or get into that jail!
-- (DUI checkpoint, consensual, of course) : consent, or give up your driving privileges, and line up over there for your breathalyser test!
-- (Border patrol checkpoint, right outside San Onofre Nuke plant, on I-5 north bound and southbound, about 50 miles NORTH of the California-BajaCalifornia USA-Mexico) border -- consent or step out of the car please
-- (Watertown MA, search for a terrorist, where did I misplace those 4th amendment rights, weren't they here just yesterday?) -- we're coming into your house NOW, consent or we're pulling you out anyway and we've got automatic weapons, so consent NOW!
-- (DUI checkpoint) -- roll down your windows and answer these questions, with your CONSENT! Hey, don't make a u-turn, we'll chase you DOWN for not CONSENTING to this intrusive non-probable-cause DUI checkpoint!!!
.
I musta signed that consent during that EULA as I was coming out of the womb, yeah, that must have been when I consented to all of this crap...

Re:Consent or get back on that airplane!

[Anonymous Coward]

Flying is a privileged activity. You have no right to fly.

Driving is a privileged activity. You have no right to drive.

Any time you partake in a privileged activity such as flying or driving, you give your implied consent to whatever conditions are attached to that privilege. It just so happens that implied consent to search is a condition of both flying and driving.

And yes, any officer who stops you can search your car if they stopped you for violating a traffic law. It's called search incident to an arrest - and a traffic stop is an arrest (because an arrest occurs the moment a reasonable person believes they are not free to leave). They try to get consent because it makes convicting you easier, but they do not need it.

Constitutional protections do not apply when you are engaged in a privileged activity, and there is over a century of case law that says so.

Good luck with that.

[fahrbot-bot]

I use Thunderbird to POP my mail down to my local desktop at home. The server copy is *not* retained. Furthermore, I don't even know my ISP mail and Gmail passwords off hand - they're stored in my local mail client, which, as I mentioned, is a desktop at home.

Re:Article has Anti-Semitic Purpose

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm Jewish but I'm still trying to process your response... maybe Slashdot can help me.

Unfortunately, bigots like you...

The parent did a good job differentiating condemnation of Jews and the state of Israel's actions. There is a massive difference between the two. Even then, let's say that there wasn't a difference. In the United States, we value the freedom of speech which includes the freedom to offend. We critique and criticize Christians and Muslims all the time. Is any of that Christianphobia and Islamophobia? Sure. Is it all Christianphobia and Islamophobia? No. We also criticize our own government. Does that make us America Haters? No. Criticism and critiques come with nuance. Jumping to the extreme shows a fragile nature.

...have done everything they can to allow Muslims into Israel...

Last I checked, plenty of Muslims have lived in that area. The expulsion of non-Jews from Israel either through constant terrorism or other forms of force is well documented. Denying Palestinians (Muslims and Christians alike) the right to return to their homes is a policy that hawks and right-wing fanatics in Israel's government (and Slashdot commentators) gets them slobbering at the mouth in glee. It doesn't make it right. Your comment is starting to become offensive at this point.

...so [Muslims] can commit terrorist attacks against innocent civilians.

Do you believe Muslims alone commit terrorist attacks against innocent civilians? Or do you believe that all Muslims commit terrorist attacks against innocent civilians? The reality is Israelis, and by extension Jews, commit plenty of terrorist attacks against Palestinians and Muslims. The fact that it is sanctioned by the government by people in soldiers doesn't make it just. Also, the fact that settlers commit terrorist attacks against Palestinians and Muslims while kicking them out of their land doesn't make it just. Your comment has crossed the line to offensive at this point.

And as for the moronic comparison to 1965 Alabama, no. There is no comparison there. Give it up.

The parallels are appropriate. Right-wing/militant Israelis and their sympathizers would love nothing more than to claim offense at the comparisons to the pre-civil rights era of the United States and Apartheid South Africa but there is no better description. Don't shut down honest discussion on this topic but using accusations of "antisemitism" or "bigotry."

Cry me a river

[Anonymous Coward]

Whine all you want, but more than happy to help these guys. They have:

* A legitimate reason for increased security. They're under far more serious security threats (and frequency) than the US and Europe.
* A better security record (% of attacks foiled) using far less money
* Real security at airports and malls, unlike the security theater going on elsewhere in the world.

Trust me, if they ever get to the point of asking for your email they have flagged multiple levels of suspicious behavior. I have been traveling there for years and their security is *far* less intrusive than the US and Europe. Personally I wish them all the best. They're the only country in the entire world that is actually winning against Islamic terrorism. That's most than most countries can say.

Re:Cry me a river

[cheekyjohnson]

* A legitimate reason for increased security.

I believe there are few legitimate reasons for wanting to violate people's privacy or freedoms in the name of security, and the fact that there may be real threats does not matter to me. If the TSA was actually anything other than security theater, I'd still be against it completely.

Re:Hmmm....

[BoRegardless]

"What they did do was actually spend time talking to me and watching me."

Israeli security are trained heavily in how to watch, talk to, ask questions, banter, and totally focus on all reactions from the traveler to see any signs of tenseness, irritation or unusual reactions, however slight. These guys are true pros and not the wimpy minimum wage TSA types (yeah I know they make more than minimum wages).

Re:Hmmm....

[TubeSteak]

I traveled through Ben Gurion airport in 2011 and I have to say, I found the security there a lot less invasive and arbitrary than security at US airports. They didn't make me take off my shoes or walk through a body scanner. And they didn't confiscate my bottle of water.

Israeli airport security is different from American security in one crucial way: they profile passengers.
So if you found their security less invasive, it's most likely because you don't have the wrong name/skin color/country of origin/family background.

Re:Throw away email account

[WaywardGeek]

Did you notice how Google seems incapable of providing any sort of encryption feature? I can't even digitally sign gmail. Secure communication with their servers has been there from the beginning, yet somehow Google doesn't have the technical prowess to incorporate a bit of GPG? If you think Google just finds it too hard to offer public key encryption with their email, I've got a bridge in Alaska you might want to invest in. Someone from the government has spooked them into keeping everything in plain text.

Re:Hmmm....

[dskoll]

So if you found their security less invasive, it's most likely because you don't have the wrong name/skin color/country of origin/family background.

Absolutely true. Given the situation in the Middle East, they'd be insane not to profile.

And no matter how politically-correct you are, all security involves profiling. There simply aren't the resources not to profile. So while it may not be as obvious in the US or Canada, you can bet your bottom dollar you're being profiled.

And this is why...

[jon3k]

I have about a dozen email accounts.

Re:Article has Anti-Semitic Purpose

[SplashMyBandit]

In response to your claim of "terrorism" by the State of Israel you probably need to get clued up on the legalities. Here's a video for you to look at that covers the relevant International Law. It turns out that only by denying International Law can you claim that the State of Israel is terrorist. You can claim it is heavy handed etc, but you cannot claim it has no legal basis to do what it does (which would make it a "terrorist" state). In short, Israel is not a terrorist state, despite what its critics would like you to believe (and many do believe the falsehood, because they never ever check the historical facts from objective sources):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub2x5UvjUs4 [youtube.com] "The Legal Case for Israel" (46 minutes)

Since you are Jewish you might also want to learn about the history of Palestine. You would see that the Israelis have an extremely good case for their right to be there (of course, the whole notion of a people having to justify their right to be in a land they inhabited continuously for over 3000 years is pretty immoral, but we won't worry about that here). I've got some *factual* videos you may wish to look at in this post (which I'll link to rather than re-post):
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3682915&cid=43543411

Israel does have a right to do what it is doing as a UN Member State. That's why it cannot be touched on legal grounds (despite the rantings of the genocidal OIC-bloc in the UN).

That is a genius idea

[Arancaytar]

Because terrorists are way too dumb to sign up for more than one email account.

Re:Is Isreal some small town in the US?

[SplashMyBandit]

No worries. Just one more tiny point, the land wasn't "UK". It was a Mandate granted by the League of Nations for the UK to administer (not own). I know I'm picking hairs here, but given the nature of the subject it pays to be a little pedantic with regards to the history.

What idiot would think that the Jews only got there after 1948?

Dude, you would be surprised. It is a common refrain of some Islamic supremacists that the Jews have no right to the land because they all came from Europe to displace Arabs at the end of WWII. That's why they mistakenly call for all Israelis to go back to Europe. Since even Western readers are also often confused I thought I'd better make the history explicit, and some folks might learn something. Much of the political problems are due to intentional or unintentional re-writing of history. I didn't mean to suggest you didn't know this. I just saw that some could misconstrue your original post as being that the Israelis only arrived at the end of WWII because the UK put them there - and displaced Arabs in some fit of colonialism. Since that meme is common, but not true, I thought I'd post just so no-one gets confused. I did not mean to raise your hackles.

Re:Is Isreal some small town in the US?

[tehcyder]

The Jews conducted terrorism against the British and the British decided to leave Palestine

Oh, so terrorism was a good thing back then?

The terrorists won, so they became freedom fighers. That is how it always works. It's like the ANC in South Africa.

If Germany hadn't lost WW2, the French Resistance would have been remembered as a bunch of deluded terrorists.