U.S. now can ask travelers for Facebook, Twitter handles • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. now can ask travelers for Facebook, Twitter handles

#11

Post by mikeash » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 3:45 PM UTC

giobox wrote: post #9

mikeash wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For US citizens, they may hassle you a bit but they have to let you in. For non-citizens, any refusal to cooperate will likely result in being refused entry and immediate deportation back to wherever they came from.

Does this actually apply to US citizens at all? All the reporting I've read suggests this is solely visa applicants, which of course will never include US citizens.

I don't think there's any official policy, but nothing stops them from asking when you go through customs. It's rare but it happens. For example: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/american-citizens-u-s-bo...

Re: U.S. now can ask travelers for Facebook, Twitter handles

#12

Post by herbst » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 3:51 PM UTC

xaviex wrote: post #8

Do people who travel to other countries REALLY have the gall to post something threatening to the country they are traveling too?

Sure. I never found it a issue to post my opinion about democratic western countries openly. Surely I wouldn't do that with Thailand or other developing nations with slightly unstable political situation

Re: U.S. now can ask travelers for Facebook, Twitter handles

#13

Post by anotheryou » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 3:55 PM UTC

xaviex wrote: post #8

Do people who travel to other countries REALLY have the gall to post something threatening to the country they are traveling too?

I don't post anything public on facebook. What will they say? Or will they breach my privacy right away and have a look anyways? From the outside it is not even clear how old the acc is.

Re: U.S. now can ask travelers for Facebook, Twitter handles

#14

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 3:57 PM UTC

xaviex wrote: post #8

Do people who travel to other countries REALLY have the gall to post something threatening to the country they are traveling too?

[deleted]

Re: U.S. now can ask travelers for Facebook, Twitter handles

#15

Post by tritium » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 4:01 PM UTC

And travelers can now promptly regret Facebook's Real Name Policy.

Re: U.S. now can ask travelers for Facebook, Twitter handles

#16

Post by iRobbery » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 4:09 PM UTC

for real? i mean isn't that something those secret agencies should have done so already by fancy machine learning and stuff?

And i remember, if you ask something, like a phone-number (of a girl in a club), you don't always get the proper information!

Re: U.S. now can ask travelers for Facebook, Twitter handles

#17

Post by PopsiclePete » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 4:15 PM UTC

xaviex wrote: post #8

Do people who travel to other countries REALLY have the gall to post something threatening to the country they are traveling too?

Define "threatening". It's a slippery slope. Yeah, maybe "Allahu Akbar death to America" is an obvious one, but what about "Fuck Trump for pulling out of the Paris climate accord" - is that "anti-American"?

Re: U.S. now can ask travelers for Facebook, Twitter handles

#18

Post by Karellen » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 4:16 PM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #7

anotheryou wrote: post #2

More important: what happens when someone refuses to tell or claim not to have one?

For US citizens, they may hassle you a bit but they have to let you in. For non-citizens, any refusal to cooperate will likely result in being refused entry and immediate deportation back to wherever they came from.

I actually don't have, and have never had, a facebook or twitter account. So, if I ever try to go to the US it's likely that that will be seen as "refusal to cooperate"? And I'm likely to be denied entry because of it?

Wow.

Re: U.S. now can ask travelers for Facebook, Twitter handles

#19

Post by jc_811 » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 4:18 PM UTC

I'm all for privacy and the government not overstepping their bounds, but could someone please let me know why this is so bad? I'm genuinely curious.

Your social media info is Public. If you have information public, that is your own fault and the govt can access that regardless if you give them your handles or not. If they were asking for passwords and access to accounts - of course that would be a different ball game.

But simply asking for your handles (while you can easily say you don't have accounts) doesn't seem like too much of an intrusion to me.

Re: U.S. now can ask travelers for Facebook, Twitter handles

#20

Post by kevinh » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 4:22 PM UTC

jc_811 wrote: post #19

I'm all for privacy and the government not overstepping their bounds, but could someone please let me know why this is so bad? I'm genuinely curious. Your social media info is Public. If you have information public, that is your own fault and the govt can access that regardless if you give them your handles or not. If they were asking for passwords and access to accounts - of course that would be a different ball gam…

I don't think the ability to lie to government agents is a good argument against a law that allows them to ask for that information. At best it gets you enhanced scrutiny, at worst you go to jail.