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US Customs Wants To Know Travelers' Social Media Account Names (helpnetsecurity.com)
Orome1 quotes a report from Help Net Security: The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has submitted a request to the Office of Management and Budget, asking for permission to collect travelers social media account names as they enter the country. The CBP, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, proposes that the request "Please enter information associated with your online presence -- Provider/Platform -- Social media identifier" be added to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) and to the CBP Form I-94W (Nonimmigrant Visa Waiver Arrival/Departure). "It will be an optional field to request social media identifiers to be used for vetting purposes, as well as applicant contact information," the CBP noted. "Collecting social media data will enhance the existing investigative process and provide DHS greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity and connections by providing an additional tool set which analysts and investigators may use to better analyze and investigate the case." The public and affected agencies are asked to comment on the request within 60 days of its publication. Commenters are asked to send their comments to this address.
Especially when a Slashdot type person goes "don't have one, don't need one, don't want one". Then you end up in the little room as a suspicious person.
As a foreigner who lives outside of china and USA it is far easier to travel around China now than the USA. Also the chances of getting shot at while taking in the views are next to zero in china compared to the USA.
...extremists are busy creating new FB accounts and smothering them with cat pics and lolz.
The American Security Theater Administration (or whatever their real name is) already asks people going into the US idiotic questions - I've been asked for the address of my hotel, address and phone numbers of my relative in the US (why?), the address of the university I finished 20 years ago (why, you want to send them mail?), and a lot of other crap. Clearly, I could invent random responses and the interviewer would not know any better. I could also claim I didn't have or didn't know an answer. But do you know anybody who, after spending thousands of dollars on a vacation, would risk it all just to spite the security interviewer? So everybody (except the actual terrorists, of course) just tells these guys the truth. And hates the American culture just a little bit more :-(
And in the next iteration, account names will be mandatory, together with the passwords for them (verified on the spot by your friendly customs people) and the PINs for your banking cards?
The PSA (Paranoid States of America) still shit their pants because of one terrorist incident a decade ago, while local yokels with guns (including the police) kill ten times that much people per year.