[kictanet] Caution on Twitter urged as tourists barred from US

[Grace Githaiga]

      31 January 2012
        Last updated at 12:51 GMT 
      

      
      Caution on Twitter urged as tourists
        barred from US
        Post-9/11 USA is highly cautious of any
          perceived threat, Abta said 
       

      
      Holidaymakers have
        been warned to watch their words after two friends were refused
        entry to the US on security grounds after a tweet.
      Before his trip, Leigh Van Bryan wrote that he was going to
        "destroy America".
      He insisted he was referring to simply having a good time - but
        was sent home.
      Trade association Abta told the BBC that the case highlighted
        that holidaymakers should never do anything to raise "concern or
        suspicion in any way".
      The US Department for Homeland Security picked up Mr Bryan's
        messages ahead of his holiday in Los Angeles.
      The 26-year-old bar manager wrote a message to a friend on the
        micro-blogging service, saying: "Free this week, for quick
        gossip/prep before I go and destroy America."
      The Irish national told
          the Sun newspaper that he and his friend Emily Bunting
        were apprehended on arrival at Los Angeles International Airport
        before being sent home.
      "The Homeland Security agents were treating me like some kind
        of terrorist," Mr Bryan said.
      "I kept saying they had got the wrong meaning from my tweet."
      No joke
      Abta, which represents travel companies in the UK, said
        holidaymakers need to learn to be ultra-cautious when it comes
        to talking about forthcoming trips, particularly after 9/11.
       Continue
          reading the main story
        “Start Quote
        
          Airport security staff do not have a
            sense of humour when it comes to potential risk”
        
        Abta 
      "Posting statements in a public forum
        which could be construed as threatening - in this case saying
        they are going to "destroy" somewhere - will not be viewed
        sympathetically by US authorities," it told the BBC.
      "In the past we have seen holidaymakers stopped at airport
        security for 'joking' that they have a bomb in their bag,
        thoroughly questioned and ending up missing their flights,
        demonstrating that airport security staff do not have a sense of
        humour when it comes to potential risk."
      In another tweet, Mr Bryan made reference to comedy show Family
        Guy saying that he would be in LA in three weeks, annoying
        people "and diggin' Marilyn Monroe up".
      Mr Bryan told the newspaper that he was questioned for five
        hours about his Twitter messages.
      'Tweeter account'
      After the interview, Homeland Security's reported: "Mr Bryan
        confirmed that he had posted on his Tweeter website account that
        he was coming to the United States to dig up the grave of
        Marilyn Monroe. 
      "Also on his tweeter account Mr Bryan posted he was coming to
        destroy America."
        Paul Chambers was fined after posting a
          message about Robin Hood Airport 
      The US Customs and Border Protection agency said in a statement
        that it tried to maintain a balance between "securing our
        borders while facilitating the high volume of legitimate trade
        and travel that crosses our borders every day".
      It added: "We strive to achieve that balance and show the world
        that the United States is a welcoming nation."
      Mr Bryan is not the only person to suffer from a misjudged
        tweet. In January 2010, Paul Chambers tweeted that he would blow
        snow-affected Robin Hood Airport in Doncaster "sky high!" if it
        was not reopened in time for him to see his girlfriend.
      He was fined £385 plus £2,600 in costs - a sum which actor
        Stephen Fry offered to pay on Mr Chambers' behalf.
     		 	   		  
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