US has revoked Snowden's passport. | Hacker News Reader

US has revoked Snowden's passport.

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61 pointsteawithcarl25 comments

This seems to be more symbolic, since he still is able to travel, but I would expect a very different symbol from the US: I want that you delete all the data you have collected about me and I want an official apology for all the spying. Furthermore I want you to stop the distinction between US citicens and citizens of other countries when it comes to human rights. How do you justify that? Of course I expect the same from every other government with similar behavior. Let's start the 21. century now.

Do you travel in Europe? I am pretty sure there are a few intelligence and domestic security operations there as well. You seem to be demanding a stop to all of them (but selectively the US, as if you don't believe anyone else is doing them).

I wrote:

"Of course I expect the same from every other government with similar behavior."

I just landed in Madrid, coming from Vienna. It was an international flight, but since it was within the EU, I didn't have to show my ID once. I bought my ticket online, I checked in online. At the security checkpoint, I showed my boarding pass on the phone. When boarding the plane, they scanned the boarding pass on my phone.

I could have just given my phone to someone else to travel.

There's a lot less surveillance of travellers in the EU compared to the US.

That's not a fair comparison when Maastricht lets you go freely anywhere in Europe.

Why is it not a fair comparison? Someone claimed travellers in the EU were subject to similar surveillance as in the US. As far as I understand, you need to show an ID even for domestic flights in the US.

In practical terms, what does this actually mean?

I assume that only US entry/exit points "scan" US passports to determine whether a passport is valid or faked etc. (Or maybe European partners do too?)

But for entry and exit in most of the world, a foreign passport is just the physical object itself -- a foreign passport may be scanned, but just to record its details for domestic purposes, not to check its authenticity against any kind of international database. I assume that, in most countries, entering on a false foreign passport is a local crime, but do most country's laws or procedures say anything about foreign passports that have been "revoked" by the home country before their expiration date?

I believe that there are lists of stolen and revoked passports that are issued between countries for just this purpose.

Former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer was arrested in Japan's Narita International Airport attempting to travel using a revoked US passport. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer#Detention_in_Japa...

Though he wasn't deported to the US, but was held there for a few months, perhaps a year, before being allowed to fly to Iceland and claim asylum. That was arranged by chess friends of Fischer in Iceland, not Fischer himself.

I don't think Cuba or Venezuela would care if he has a valid passport. He seems to have already got diplomatic treatment from the two countries. The US' mistake was waiting until the 21st to revoke his passport.

I always assumed that there was an international database, e.g. interpol, at least between the EU and US. But maybe not between Cuba and the US.

And his library card too!

Are circumstances like these considered by the government appropriate for extraordinary rendition?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition

What are the legal specifics of a case like this? Does this mean his US citizenship has been revoked, ergo he is a stateless person? Would love to know.

If I understand correctly, he's still a US citizen. He is now like any other American who doesn't have a passport, except that he finds himself outside of the country.

There are lots of US citizens who don't have passports. Most, even.

No, passport revocation can happen to stop someone travelling without suggesting their citizenship is in doubt. See, e.g., the section on abduction of minors in http://travel.state.gov/passport/ppi/family/family_864.html

> Does this mean his US citizenship has been revoked

No. Under the 14th Amendment, the government cannot forcibly revoke the US citizenship of anyone born in the US. See Afroyim v. Rusk, 387 U.S. 253 (1967): "Congress has no power under the Constitution to divest a person of his United States citizenship absent his voluntary renunciation thereof".

next they are going to revoke his driver's license so that he can't drive anymore...

Edward Snowden is Jason Bourne.

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