Customs Agent Used Wikipedia to Grill Journalist on an Aircraft He Was Covering

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Recently, a customs agent is believed to have used Google to research what questions you should ask an engineer–and then used that to grill an incoming software engineer. 

Twitter blew up in response with many software engineers admitting they wouldn’t be able to solve that problem.

But is this a new policy?

Seth Miller (of Wandering Aramean) recounts a story where a customs agent used Wikipedia to quiz him on an airplane.  Seth returned from covering the retirement of the MD-11 from the KLM fleet and the agent wanted to make sure he knew facts about the MD-11.

But this didn’t happen recently–this happened in 2014, so using “research” to quiz someone isn’t a recent phenomenon.

You can check out his whole story here.

I had someone use Google on me at the airport once but in a positive way.  When my purse was accidentally packed by someone else, I was still able to board the plane after a few questions about my age and employment.  They disappeared to verify me and I was able to board the plane.  Just like that.  (I also happened to have one credit card on me with my name on it too, so that may have helped).

I was grilled coming back into the country after a trip to Rome.  I was asked about all the Christmas presents I bought my family–which they, of course, could not verify.  But I guess I was convincing enough!