[IP] Reciprocal treatment for American travellers

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+@ux13.sp.cs.cmu.edu
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2004 21:31:46 -0200
From: Wilson Roberto Afonso <wilson@netwhatever.com>
Subject: Reciprocal treatment for American travellers
To: dave@farber.net

Dave, for IP if you'd like...

Brazil has started to apply a policy of "reciprocal treatment" towards US 
visitors entering the country.  Now, just like it's the case in the USA 
(with the US-VISIT) program, Americans (and only Americans) coming into 
Brazil are fingerprinted and have their picture taken.  This has caused 
significant delays for arriving tourists, specially in Rio, with some 
people having to wait for more than eight hours; this happens because, 
unlike in the US, fingerprints in Brazil are taken using ink and paper, and 
there's only one digital camera in the airport (one more was to be 
installed today).

The Australian newspaper "The Age" talks about it at 
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/06/1073268031785.html, mentioning 
the official reaction of US authorities ("...we regret the way in which new 
procedures have suddenly been put in place that single out US citizens for 
exceptional treatment...").

TV coverage has shown some tourists leaving the airport very upset; in one 
particular group, who had to wait for three hours in an isolated room, 
without access to toilets or water, people complained of "feeling 
sequestered" and being given no information.  Other tourists were more 
understanding, but all looked very tired.  A few tourists missed connecting 
flights due to the delays.

-Wilson

--
Wilson Roberto Afonso            wilson@netwhatever.com
http://www.netwhatever.com/weblog/random/

To know recursion, you must first know recursion.

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