Immigration about to kick Hackers for Charity out of Uganda | Hacker News Reader

Immigration about to kick Hackers for Charity out of Uganda

hackersforcharity.org

17 pointssp33216 comments

He went on to explain that I should forge a certificate of some kind and “tender a particular payment” to “expedite the process”. Seriously?

Seriously. When a functionary in the host country gives you solution, doesn't matter if it's unpalatable or moral, you take it. He's looking for a payment. That's it.

You could get a letter of recommendation from Bishop Desmond Tutu and it wouldn't change a thing unless there was some money in that envelope.

Unfortunately, greasing palms is how a lot of work gets done in the world. And all the internet indignation won't change that, especially in a country with limited access.

Hell, even the US Passport Office does the same. You can either wait 8-10 weeks for a new one...or pay $100 and it will be ready in 2.

FedEx also gives you the option of paying for expedited service. It doesn't make them, or the US Passport Office, corrupt. The point is that the choice whether or not to pay for faster service is left entirely up to the customer, not the grasping official.

Call out corruption for what it is, and don't try to excuse it as a cost of doing business in 3rd world countries.

With Fedex there is a material cost to get your things sooner. It's 24-hours by air instead of 7-14 days on a truck.

How much money does it cost to move a passport application from the bottom of the pile to the top?

I wasn't implying that passport office is corrupt (okay, I was being a little facetious). They've got a written policy stating that, "paying us money gets you faster service" so its more at an institutional level that doesn't benefit the reviewer at all.

Actually it is a problem for the passport office - they have a monopoly so they get to decide what they want.

My partner works for a medical communications company (doing events for product launches) and it's a well known secret that the term "sundry transport costs" in their cost sheets for shipping materials abroad is the amount to bribe customs to release their stuff in time to host the event, otherwise it tends to clear customs the day after the stands need to go up. Argentina is especially bad.

Dude you from jamacia?

Indeed. but raised in the US.

For those unfamiliar with the process: a foreigner has to prove his/her value to the host country in order to get a visa. Johnny Long is training local Ugandans, which ordinarily would qualify him for a visa. But in this case, the immigration official doesn't believe that he can do all the training he claims to be doing, because he doesn't have a degree or any certifications.

Most of his qualifications used to be in the underground scene, but his regular talks at DEF CON, Black Hat, ShmooCon, and Blue Hat, as well as the books he's written and edited should be more than enough to qualify him for this work.

I think that might be assuming that a random official in Uganda has any idea what those things are and that they provide any qualification for him training.

This is the head of IT in immigration. He should understand that writing Google Hacking for Penetration Testers, which was good enough they also published his sequel, shows some qualifications..

True, and there are many things we all are ignorant about.

However, we act to inform ourselves while this guy asks for a bribe.

There is a massive overvaluing of 'degrees' throughout Africa. You are promoted not based on skill or ability but by 'highest level of education acheived'. The degree does not necessarily even need to apply to the work you are doing and even if it does a degree in X does not in generally qualify someone to be an administrator in that field.

I'd vote for a move to Rwanda. They seem to be a little more sensible regarding foreign business involvement.

Ask his name, it's a common anti-corruption measure. This gives you two options

- he'll give his name, great! go report him for corruption.

- he refuses to give his name, great! tell his boss. (repeat until people get fired or your application gets approved)

That might not be a wise path in certain circumstances.

True, it depends on your goals.

If your goal is to help Ugandans, it may be more beneficial to attack a corrupt official for a bit. For all the good we're capable of doing, this immigration official is apparently a wrench in the gears capable of preventing many people from doing their work. I almost see it like writing more code while you have an error preventing your program from executing.

Corrupt officials are usually experienced in this kind of confrontations.

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