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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.
This is a good idea. People who use "social media" should not be allowed in the country.
Except that would be troubling for the rest of the world if they had to absorb an influx of american refugees kicked out of the USA for social media usage.
Of course Trump would be fine. He would just have a staffer deny that he ever used social media (right after Trump's tweeting about how bad this Obama policy was)
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> very invasive (phone number's often as good as a street address)
Yeah I bet the next step is when Syrians and Iranians try to fly into the US, the US government will start asking for their name and address! It's just like Hitler!
Damn we *must* do something about our schools. We spend twice as much on schools as other countries, yet we're raising a generation of idiots.