Decius wrote:
This is an important development. One of the things that information systems can do is make law enforcement perfect in certain contexts. Many laws are written with the assumption of imperfect enforcement.

Agreed... this is very dangerous, I think.

Eventually, the fact that this information is being shared with all sorts of countries may result in a U.S. Citizen facing a bigger hassle from a foreign government than visa denial because that government has access to this data, and different legal standards. Canada may bar you for a pot conviction, but most South East Asian countries execute people for pot possession. A xenophobic moral panic in such a country might result in a records check of all expats, who might be repunished there for crimes they had been convicted of elsewhere.

Which is one of the major reasons I'll never go to a lot of those countries. The line between life and death is too fine.

-k

RE: Going to Canada? Check your past / Visitors with minor criminal records turned back at border