I suspect it's best not to tell them you have a social media account on 'Hacker' News.
US Customs wants to collect social media account names at the border
21–30 of 174 posts
Re: US Customs wants to collect social media account names at the border
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Likely unnecessary. 1. Unless you are taking extraordinary measures to sever all connections between yourself and your online presence, odds are there are enough links for any Government to tie a person to an account. Given how much is collected at the border already along with the big-data collected passively by the various TLA Government Orgs, they simply need to pop in your Passport ID or Drivers License or State…
I'd be curious to know how they correlate a facebook / twitter identity to a passport number. The number of people with the same name is huge. You could use circles of friends to identify family numbers which you can use if you have access to the Vital Records, but in many (developed) countries, Vital Records are not even digitized.
Simple, the TLAs (Three Letter Acronym organisations) have Stingrays set up (IMSI-catcher) and vehicle number plate readers.
You're much more easily identifiable your mobile phone number, vehicle registration number, name, and social media account(s) added together.
Because that's probably what is already happening.
Re: US Customs wants to collect social media account names at the border
#23There was this idea floating around a few weeks ago, about a startup that curates online sockpuppets of obidient citizen personas (I think it was in response to landlords surveilling their future clients). What was sureley meant as sarcasm is looking more and more like a serious business model.
Re: US Customs wants to collect social media account names at the border
#24This just shows the direction in which they aim.
It doesn't directly concern me (after Snowden's revelations and the fact that even more surveillance is being pushed down our throats, I have decided not to return to the US anymore), but we know that all the big (US) web/tech companies are part of Prism, which means the Customs will have some sort of access to our social media activity anyway (if not now already, then soon).
Re: US Customs wants to collect social media account names at the border
#25Time to set up some sanitized accounts for plausible deniability?
Likely unnecessary. 1. Unless you are taking extraordinary measures to sever all connections between yourself and your online presence, odds are there are enough links for any Government to tie a person to an account. Given how much is collected at the border already along with the big-data collected passively by the various TLA Government Orgs, they simply need to pop in your Passport ID or Drivers License or State…
> You have no obligation to use social media
Here's what worries me: let's say they set up some kind of scoring system. If you don't use social media, there's no info on you there so your score is 0. If you have an account with anti-government propaganda, that lowers your score obviously.
Now at some point, anyone with a score less than strictly positive will be subject to extra background screening / denied entry. You still have no obligation to use a social media account in a way that nets you a positive score, but they have no obligation to let you in either.
Someone, somewhere might have looked at China's "citizen score" system and thought it was a good idea. You have no obligation to support the Party on social media but it can be taken into account in job applications.
Re: US Customs wants to collect social media account names at the border
#26There was this idea floating around a few weeks ago, about a startup that curates online sockpuppets of obidient citizen personas (I think it was in response to landlords surveilling their future clients). What was sureley meant as sarcasm is looking more and more like a serious business model.
I suppose the NSA would penetrate that in a heart beat.
So you would just brand yourself as proven liar - and end up having an even higher risk of being rejected at the border.
You see where this is going. If you use social media, you will have to state the truth. And you know where that leads to.
Re: US Customs wants to collect social media account names at the border
#27There was this idea floating around a few weeks ago, about a startup that curates online sockpuppets of obidient citizen personas (I think it was in response to landlords surveilling their future clients). What was sureley meant as sarcasm is looking more and more like a serious business model.
Sort of a StepfordBook?
Re: US Customs wants to collect social media account names at the border
#28For the people who claim they'll never take action on trivial stupid tweets:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16810312
> The 26-year-old bar manager wrote a message to a friend on the micro-blogging service, saying: "Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America."
> Mr Bryan told the newspaper that he was questioned for five hours about his Twitter messages.
"All" that happened to him was that he wasn't allowed in.
Re: US Customs wants to collect social media account names at the border
#29Background check can be instant and automated. Terminal will just display entry denied message. Israel already does something similar. In result it will drive normal discussion underground, and we will see more surprises such as Brexit referendum results.
Indeed Israel does it, but only for Arabic or Muslim tourists that present certain characteristics - political engagement for instance. So it does exist but it's really not mainstream
At entry, Israeli border police check the online presence of a few people. This includes people, both Muslims and non-Muslims, identified as possibly being anti-Israel activists.
The social media check cannot be automated.
Border police at other countries also check online to follow up on the stories of a people who they stop as potentially not admissible.
Re: US Customs wants to collect social media account names at the border
#30Background check can be instant and automated. Terminal will just display entry denied message. Israel already does something similar. In result it will drive normal discussion underground, and we will see more surprises such as Brexit referendum results.
Indeed Israel does it, but only for Arabic or Muslim tourists that present certain characteristics - political engagement for instance. So it does exist but it's really not mainstream
At entry, Israeli border police check the online presence of a few people. This includes people, both Muslims and non-Muslims, identified as possibly being anti-Israel activists.
The social media check cannot be automated.
Border police at other countries also check online to follow up on the stories of a people who they stop as potentially not admissible.