US Customs Detains Citizen Over An Art Project Sketch

Posted by Hell Toupee on October 7, 2008, 2:41 pm

Unbelievable. Click on the link to see the simple sketch that put
Customs' panties in a wad:

http://www.pressrepublican.com/0100_news/local_story_278220015.html

Published October 04, 2008 10:00 pm
Keene artist had hard time getting back into US
By LOHR McKINSTRY
Staff Writer

KEENE VALLEY -- Keene Valley resident Jerilea Zempel was detained at
the U.S. border this summer because she had a drawing of a
sport-utility vehicle in her sketchbook.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers told Zempel they
suspected her of copyright infringement.

She was released after more than an hour in custody at the Houlton,
Maine, port of entry from New Brunswick, Canada.

Her release came only after she persuaded border guards she was an
artist doing a project that involved a crocheted SUV as a statement
against America's dependence on oil and love for big vehicles.

Zempel's adventure began when she was returning from the Cultural
Capital Festival in Sackville, New Brunswick, where her submission
was an SUV cozy on a rented Hyundai Santa Fe.

"I wanted to turn an oversize, macho, gas-guzzling vehicle into a
technological ghost by shrouding it in a white, fuzzy cover
reminiscent of women's handiwork from another time, another place."

After the festival, Zemple headed for home in her own Toyota Prius
hybrid and stopped at the border crossing on Interstate 95 in Maine.

"What happened when I re-entered the U.S. made me ponder what my
lowly art project could mean in a larger political sphere.

"And it gave me an idea for a title: the Homeland Security Blanket."

SEARCH AT BORDER

Zempel's passport showed she'd been to Africa, Australia, Central
and South America, Mexico, Turkey and Europe in the last nine years.

"U.S. citizens who've traveled to the places I've been need to be
looked at. A half hour at the computer gave the agent cause to put
me into another suspicious category, meriting a full car search. She
(the agent) took my keys and went through my car.

"After going through my (laptop) computer, digital camera, cell
phone, business cards, suitcase, reading materials, boxes of yarn
and crochet tools, she returned with my sketchbook.

"I was taken to a room and told to sit on a bench with handcuffs at
both ends. But they did not handcuff me."

Zempel had drawn an SUV covered by a cozy, with its mirrors marked
as "ears."

"My sketchbook puzzled her," Zempel said. "It was a cartoon sketch.
They couldn't understand what I was doing. She said, "Just what
were you doing in Canada? We think you're engaged in some kind of
copyright infringement."

She said she and the CBP agent then had a "lively discussion" over
Zempel's status as an artist and a professor at Fordham University
in New York City.

"I had to spell Fordham for her. She left the room to see if she
could find me on the college's Web site."

While she was out, Zempel found her college ID and showed it to the
agent when she came back.

"Somehow being a college professor made it all OK. She said,
"'Welcome back to the U.S.' I was allowed to leave."

CIVIL RIGHTS

Zemple said that before the incident she didn't know border guards
could search computers and other digital devices "without reasonable
cause ... I was surprised to learn all your civil rights are
suspended. It was a form of intimidation."

U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) recently introduced a bill that
would prevent Customs and Border Protection officials from
conducting border searches and seizures of laptops and other
electronic devices when U.S. citizens return from international
travel unless the agents have justifiable reason to do so.

Customs and Border Protection spokesman Theodore Woo said he could
not discuss the specifics of the interview process Zempel went through.

"CBP officers may, at times, inspect a person's belongings to
determine whether or not items are admissible or are illegal."

Woo didn't say how a sketch of a car could trigger a border guard's
suspicion of copyright infringement. But he did say agents are
trained in trademark and copyright laws.

"It's a part of a CBP officer's training. Time is set aside for
intellectual-property-rights training."

The agency's role is to keep the country's borders safe while at the
same time enforcing many rules and regulations, he said.

"If somebody brings in artwork, it's not necessarily the artwork but
(whether) it's intended for a specific use, such as a commercial
nature. It doesn't mean the drawings themselves are bad, but what
they'll be used for."

He said Customs and Border Protection is in more than 300 ports of
entry and processes 1.5 million people a day.

"We appreciate passengers that appreciate we have a job to do. We
stress that our officers are professional."

Zempel said that even as she was being questioned, the border
officer "was very cheerful. She was very pleasant."

The problem, Zempel said, is "I wasn't doing anything suspicious. I
was doing something unpredictable."

Posted by Mary Fisher on October 7, 2008, 3:49 pm

show/hide quoted text

All publicity is good publicity :-)

Think positively!

Mary

Similar Threads	Posted
My new project	August 27, 2006, 11:53 am
Another project finished	January 5, 2007, 2:50 am
project report.	February 23, 2009, 12:04 am
any one working on a project	March 13, 2009, 9:35 pm
Project Linus address	December 12, 2006, 9:07 pm
I posted a new project on my blog for you all to see.	April 3, 2007, 11:06 am
Wild knitting project	May 2, 2007, 10:47 am
Finished my rush project	May 7, 2007, 10:35 am
Another wild knitting project	August 11, 2007, 6:35 pm
favorite project totes	May 13, 2006, 1:26 pm