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US To Seek Social Media Details From Certain Visa Applicants (phys.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: The State Department wants to review social media, email addresses and phone numbers from some foreigners seeking U.S. visas, as part of the Trump administration's enhanced screening of potential immigrants and visitors. The department, in a notice published Thursday in the Federal Register, said it was seeking public comment on the requirement. But it also said it is requesting a temporary go-ahead from the White House budget office so the plan can take effect for 180 days, beginning May 18, regardless of those comments. The proposed requirements would apply to visa applicants identified for extra scrutiny, such as those who have traveled to areas controlled by terrorist organizations. The State Department said it estimates that the rules would affect about 0.5 percent of total U.S. visa applicants, or roughly 65,000 people. Affected applicants would have to provide their social media handles and platforms used during the previous five years, and divulge all phone numbers and email addresses used during that period. U.S. consular officials would not seek social media passwords, and would not try to breach any privacy controls on applicants' accounts, according to the department's notice.
It also doesn't affect people who won't be visiting this third world shit-hole either!
Don't travel to the US and don't do business with US companies. Problem solved.
Governments don't understand that social media can be easily forged to appear normal enough and puppet accounts are easy enough to manufacture. The equation of security awareness with user profiling is a foolhardy notion at best. The skilled will use this to their advantage while the unskilled may be inappropriately harmed by false positives.
True security awareness must be undetected by the masses and after continual thought on this subject, such awareness is as critical as it is dangerous. The body of data available online does not reveal anything through the noise and only works to eliminate unintelligent threats against any nation.
However, enough people are willing to fork over intimate details about who they are and what their beliefs are. And those who are but shadows in the social areas are more likely to also suffer the consequences of a false positive due to their care and caution against leaving a footprint.
What is an ideal citizen and who gets to decide that? What does it mean when opposing parties secure their power rather than secure true safety for a population?
We could face a total enslavement to AI eventually, even with cautious practices; these policies only help human beings to tighten our own collective noose.
Once a policy exists for one small demographic, in this case new immigrants, that policy can easily widen to 100% of all citizens. However, we should assume that even today, everything we say or do online is added to the international security blueprint. Very few get to decide how that information is used and most of them are sociopathic narcissists, because that appears to be one of the hallmark traits of many a politician.
What's better though, through knowing about this, is that we can identify a clear path through such adversity and find ways to protect citizens from such potential threats.
There are threats to sovereignty and safety and we can look carefully at protecting all people from injustice but only if we get a clear understanding about what injustice is, where it comes from and how it can be averted effectively.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
"Certain Visa applicants"
You mean brown people.... all others will be patted on the back and allowed to enter
And yet, I don't see many Christians writing "Kill the witches" on social media. It's almost as if Christian thought evolved beyond the beliefs of the Jewish books that preceded Christianity, as if the cultural norms and practices of a religion are not necessarily constrained by its scripture.
If I did see a Christian unusual enough to write "Kill the witches" on Facebook, I'd think there was something wrong with him. If I were in charge of vetting him for entrance to a country, I would likely treat that as a red flag.
Likewise, if someone coming from a place characterized by terrorist activity posted on social media, especially in places frequented by terrorists, "Kill the infidels," I might treat that as a sign that something is amiss with this person.
As a Greek i have the privilege to read the New Testament in it's original language: Greek! I have not read anywhere the phrase "Kill the witches" or anything like this - on the contrary, i read many things about not killing, not even those who want to kill you.
And, as usual when i try to describe Muslims as they are (violent) in Slashdot, you try to suggest that Christians are like Jews (the ones who killed Christ... because He told people to not be like Jews who kill witches!).
And as i wrote:
STOP ATTACKING CHRISTIANS WITH LIES EVERY TIME SOMEONE DESCRIBES THE VIOLENT NATURE OF MUSLIMS
Christians are the followers of Christ, as we know Him from the New Testament (where, among others, He instruct His followers to NON-violence) - killed by the Jews who follow the Old Testament (the one you are quoting from)
Muslims follow Muhammad, as we know him from the Quran and the hadids, and where, among others, he instruct his followers to "Kill the Infidels".
Is that clear enough for you Sir, or should i write it to Greek?