Rule number 5 brings me great amusement at the prospect of a TD standing near the bathroom holding on to our devices. Will they be handing out moist towelettes as well?
While most of the rules seem reasonable rule 10 seems incredibly intrusive IMO.
Does the USCF have a cheating advisory committee? Have they made any coherent rulings on this? Can we come to a consensus on cell phone usage during tournaments? Was there a recent event that prompted this rule change?
I am curious about this to, but since I have no formal legal training I’m just going to sit on my hands and wait for someone else to comment. I would think it would be an illegal search and seizure but again a lack of formal training precludes me from taking my argument any further.
“Illegal search and seizure” is a Bill of Rights prohibition against governmental action. A private entity can set pretty broad conditions for participating in their events.
This is a similar confusion that folks have about their non-existent right to free speech on privately owned web message boards, and about their non-existent right to carry a firearm on private property without the consent of the property owner.
If its part of the advance entry, then the repercussions are probably very limited unless they make a blatant error. However, CCA may wish to consider a few things:
Get wands, and make any search for devices non-intrusive. If the wand detects something, ask the player to show what it is. (Wands range from $20 to $60 on eBay.)
Will CCA have male and female directors at every event in the future in case a more intrusive search is needed?
What constitutes director permission? For example, can I enter in advance, confident that I can have my music-player examined only once when I enter and then use it every round? Or do I need to re-request permission every round? If I got to the tournament and couldn’t use my device, would I receive a full refund? Since the music player is dedicated to that only, do I have to leave that outside the bathroom?
Can I use my digital chess clock, or does that also require director permission?
Do I need director permission to use electronic scoresheets which are already approved by USCF and/or FIDE?
What constitutes an electronic device? For example, if I have wired, non-battery using earbuds in my pocket, unconnected to anything, have I violated the rule?
If Bill makes these conditions of entry into CCA events, then I suspect you agree to possibly even more onerous rules in contracts of adhesion every time you apply for a credit card or open up a software package.
This is particularly true for individuals who are participants in some kind of competition. Elite athletes, for example, can be subjected to random drug testing, and not just at competitions, but elsewhere - without any prior warning. They don’t have to comply, of course, but the penalty will be not being allowed to compete in their sport.
I was incorrect about search and seizure but I maintain that I have an expectation (and right) of privacy especially regarding my cell phone. If you have nothing to hide blah blah blah, for me it isn’t about “hiding” things. I play honestly and as an honest player I don’t expect that a simple accusation by an embittered opponent warrants a search of me or anything related to me; the first step should be to gather evidence, not assume guilt until innocence is proven by rummaging through a persons personal affects.
I’ll sooner give up my USCF membership than my right to privacy (and I suspect I’m not the only one). This is little more than a technophobic witch hunt where few cheat and everyone is punished by rules that do little more than irritate. Not to be rude here but most TD’s don’t even know how to set digital chess clocks. How can we expect them to look through a modern cell phone and say with any reasonable certainty that a player did or did not cheat? Is there going to be a course to educate TD’s as to how to properly search through a cell phone? If so who is going to be teaching this course? I’m inclined to believe that this is going to make those with devious intentions more willing to cheat because they will likely be exonerated by a technologically deficient TD.
Instead of shunning new technological advances we should be embracing them and using them to help make tournaments easier (See: MD chess associations texted pairings). Now I have to worry about some joker with sour grapes accusing me of playing dishonestly and having the text messages sent by my friends who have no expectation that anyone other than me will be reading them being read by someone I don’t even know? Nah, that’s not going to happen.
At the US/Canada border if you cross frequently enough there is a special card you can have that allows you to use the express lane and avoid the long lines at the customs checkpoint. I’m inclined to believe that if you have a pattern of honest play (verified by TD’s and other players) than you should be given a pass. Most players just want to play chess, we don’t want to worry about some knucklehead rummaging through our belongings in search of an illusive program that they probably wouldn’t find anyways if you know what you were doing. I’ll just leave this here: http://lifehacker.com/hide-apps-in-ios-7-with-this-trick-1349955784
Just a thought that such thoughts and actions, however, lead
to non-profits such as USCF getting sued. It is almost as if we
sail along blindly hoping our ship does not hit an iceberg. We
hit a major one a few years ago, and it was only BTGOG that
we did not founder.
Sorry, you can’t agree to hand over your electronic device for inspection as a condition of entering a tournament, and then once the tournament begins, refuse to do so (well you can, but you can get thrown out of the tournament). This is Contracts 101.
Don’t be so dramatic. CCA is a private entity that runs chess tournaments. Don’t like CCA rules? Fine, don’t go to CCA tournaments, I suspect you wouldn’t be the only one. Nobody is saying (I hope) that these rules should be implemented at all USCF tournaments.
If a condition of entry is that you agree to follow the cell phone rules, then upon your entry, you give up the rights specified in the rules, just as you give up some rights to enter any USCF event.
BTW, you may not have as much of a right to privacy with a cell phone as you think. For example, any number you dial on a cell phone is considered not private since you are sending that number to a cell carrier.
In general, you give up some things when you enter into any contract. When you purchase a cell phone, you give up some rights. When you travel down a highway, you give up some rights.
If playing in a big money CCA event is not important to you, then you have nothing to worry about. If it is, then you’ll have to decide which right is more important.
An easy solution might be to leave your cell phone in your car.
Why shouldn’t they be implemented in all USCF tournaments? Surely it seems that most people have no problem with them here. You are complacent because it doesn’t affect you now. I’d love to see your position if the shoe was on the other foot and you couldn’t play in a tournament because you refused to tacitly agree to silly contracts that allow some stranger to rummage through your belongings.
It’s simply wrong, it’s fairly obvious most of you don’t actually care about the rules and would rather argue nuance and minutia about the legal ramifications about contracts. So I’m going to draw up a contract and post it on my website. This contract will be legally binding and state that unless you sign a waiver or check with me first the following conditions apply:
You agree that if I should be in a sporting mood I have the right to select a person that you don’t know to look through your cell phone and rummage through your luggage to ensure you don’t have a GM hiding in there giving you advice.
Additionally I will also be searching your person to make sure that you are not a cyborg and have no computer parts.
Additionally I get to use said phone for one call to Garry Kasparov in order to obtain advice from him regarding the nuances of any position we might reach.
Don’t see why it wouldn’t help. I understand that if taken by itself, you’d get the wrong impression, but its pretty clear that CCA isn’t intending to search a phone that isn’t on site. If you left your cell phone in CA and traveled to the World Open, they’d forfeit you for leaving your phone in CA?
The context are devices at the tournament - in the tournament area, bathrooms, on your person, etc. A device that is not at the tournament can hardly be a cause for concern.
I have no interest in big-money tournaments, so I largely don’t care what rules CCA decides to implement. Just like I don’t care how the Oregon Chess Federation conducts its state championship (I live in North Carolina). And why should either of those organizations care about what I think since I’m not a shareholder, member, or even a customer? Live and let live.
On the contrary, I think posters understand the rule that allows for variations very well (rule 1B1? I guess some do more than me).
I’m thinking you don’t understand how contracts work.
Is CCA planning on setting up a phone police force to patrol bathrooms at the next Chicago Open or the World Open? Have any TDs who work for CCA been contacted that they will have to do bathroom duty, holding onto cellphones? Will the CCA be responsible for any damage done to the phones they are holding onto? Will the phones be in a secure area or are the TDs expected to hold the phones in their hands? Will CCA provide the TDs with rubber gloves and hand sanitizer? Some players are pretty icky.
Will there be certified individuals or experts from the NSA on hand who can actually explore the phone’s contents? How many present TDs have the technical expertise to examine a phone for proof of cheating? What if the phone is locked, that none of its apps are accessible w/o a password? What if the phone is given by an employer who allows personal use as well as business use? What are the rights of the employer that this phone not to be used or looked at by a third party? What if the phone belongs to a young player? Will parental consent be required to search the phone or question the individual player? Will he be permitted to have an attorney present for the search?
What if the person’s phone or other electronic device is so deviously designed that it is not possible to determine whether it can be used to cheat? What is the next step to prevent cheating? What criteria are established that provide at least “reasonable suspicion” that cheating has taken place? Where is the list of these criteria?
As someone who does not have a cellphone, I find some of these special rules funny but similar to what teachers go through every day to prevent cheating on tests in schools. Phones with cameras are wonderful tools to cheat with in school. Kids take pictures of test material and send it to friends in another period or use texts to send cryptic messages that the other user understands but no one else. Low tech methods, however, in the long run are more effective if you really want to cheat. Have seen some truly ingenious methods students have used that could also be used for chess.
Oh, for Flying Spaghetti Monster’s sake, let’s just cut the melodrama, shall we?
No player has an absolute right to dictate the terms of entry for CCA tournaments (or any other tournament). The organizer has the right to set anti-cheating rules, provided adequate notice is given in all pre-tournament publicity. If you don’t like the terms, then don’t enter the tournament. It’s that simple.
How hard is it to have directors available who know how to look at a smartphone and determine which apps are running on the phone? As a practical matter, wouldn’t you just need to know how to do this for iOS and Android? Are there smartphones out there running other operating systems that have chess engines available?
There are not enough TDs to patrol the large tournaments. That will require enlarging the staffs and paying more for those with the expertise to examine electronic devices and phones. Or bring in outside experts and technology to scan and jam. For the Spaghetti Monster’s sake, where does it end? Must we go through metal detectors and a TSA examination or worse in order to play in chess tournaments? We all know that what CCA does gets picked up by other organizers and gets filtered down to smaller tournaments. That was how delay became more popularly used, increment use increasing, and the past phone rules instituted.
By all means, the simplest solution, as well as the cheapest, is not to go to CCA tournaments, or for that matter any tournament. That will save tons of money and aggravation. When the rules appear in local tournaments, they become yet another disincentive to play tournament chess. We can modify or ignore these rules, but we still have to deal with their impact.
Yes, and my point, was that if you care about playing in tournaments (any tournaments) you might take heed now, so you don’t have to later. The policies of the CCA could become the policies that USCF decides to implement. It has to do with doing right by chess and the players who play it, and treating each other with dignity and a modicum of respect. Organizers need players players need organizers, policies like this get in the way and tend to create an adversarial relationship between these two groups where one need not exist. You just focus on contract negotiations because you appear to be quite the expert in that field.
Thanks for clearing that up; when is your next contract writing class? Are there any spots open so I may enroll? Perhaps you have a newsletter to which I could subscribe?
