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U.S. To Collect Social Media Data on All Immigrants Entering Country

nytimes.com

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Re: U.S. To Collect Social Media Data on All Immigrants Entering Country

#81

Post by Zenst »

musha68k wrote: post #9

As much as I’ve always loved to come to the US and as fascinating as some US conferences are (e.g. StrangeLoop might be my personal fav) – no international attendee or speaker can be expected to put up with this ever expanding amount of bullshit anymore. If the science community or “our industry” really want to encourage and unlock the magic of diversity we need new venues for a whole lot of conferences either in Can…

Oh I think you will find the EU is not far behind and in some area's further ahead in this orwellian future. Germany for example on verge of rolling out facial ID recognition and trialing currently: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-security/german-p...

This with data retention laws imposed upon ISP's, they already have all your data, so no need to ask.

Re: U.S. To Collect Social Media Data on All Immigrants Entering Country

#82

Post by musha68k »

thinkMOAR wrote: post #56
musha68k wrote: post #9

As much as I’ve always loved to come to the US and as fascinating as some US conferences are (e.g. StrangeLoop might be my personal fav) – no international attendee or speaker can be expected to put up with this ever expanding amount of bullshit anymore. If the science community or “our industry” really want to encourage and unlock the magic of diversity we need new venues for a whole lot of conferences either in Can…

At this point in time i still wonder why people physically move from one part of the world to another to hear somebody speak. What is wrong with live streaming? (and record, download and re-play)

At the next conference you attend I encourage you to mainly focus on the people there, rather than the talks – more often than not, the topics of those talks will come up in even more interesting discussions anyways :)

Re: U.S. To Collect Social Media Data on All Immigrants Entering Country

#83

Post by donohoe »

justaman wrote: post #19
musha68k wrote: post #9

As much as I’ve always loved to come to the US and as fascinating as some US conferences are (e.g. StrangeLoop might be my personal fav) – no international attendee or speaker can be expected to put up with this ever expanding amount of bullshit anymore. If the science community or “our industry” really want to encourage and unlock the magic of diversity we need new venues for a whole lot of conferences either in Can…

Well if you are not attempting to stay here then (if I understand this correctly) you will not need to release your social media information.

Edited/removed as I made an incorrect point

Re: U.S. To Collect Social Media Data on All Immigrants Entering Country

#84

Post by matt4077 »

saimiam wrote: post #14
brentm wrote: post #3

It's hard to see how this will do anything besides generate a ton of false positives.

Or null results. What's to stop anyone from creating a secret profile and using a VPN (to avoid linking the terrorist persona's IP address with their main persona's IP address) just to talk to fellow terrorists? Terrorists could even force every recruit to use a common, shared profile or just avoid popular social media altogether when needing to discuss terrorist acts.

Yeah, and if ISIS were running an ISO 9001 certified terror plot, that's exactly how they'd do it.

But in the real world, a terrorist doesn't just spawn at the other end of de_dust. They know others in these social circles long before they're radicalised.

The current crop of terrorists also happens to be a few landings short of a pilot's license, so to speak: the "Four Lions factor" (named for the movie) refers to the hypothesis that the aggressors' incompetence has been a major factor foiling their plans. How are they going to use a VPN if they frequently blow themselves up because they get confused by time zones?

Not that I consider this policy good in any possible way. It's one more example of that country softly proclaiming "all men are created equal / with unalienable rights", then turning around and making visitors feel like Somalian hostages. But if I were tasked with unearthing terrorist networks, I'd definitely get entirely to excited at the prospect of getting access to the Facebook graph.

Re: U.S. To Collect Social Media Data on All Immigrants Entering Country

#85

Post by donohoe »

bit48 wrote: post #36
SerLava wrote: post #7

Something to realize here: If you're between 10 and 60 years old, "I don't use social media" will likely not really be an answer at the border. Even a barely-used account will not really be an answer. They're going to be able to say you're probably just hiding your real account. That could factor into denying you entry into a country. If this becomes common with many countries, it could become de facto illegal to kee…

Question is what happens if one really does not use social media, at least mainstream playforms such as facebook. I'm guessing I'm not the only one around here with a small social media footprint...

My guess is very little. If it turns out you were lying it might go against you on future visits, or jeopardize green card etc if it came up.

To me it’s not all about that. It’s this dragnet and the meta data (profiles of people who connect to you become fair game)

Re: U.S. To Collect Social Media Data on All Immigrants Entering Country

#86

Post by [deleted] »

justaman wrote: post #19
musha68k wrote: post #9

As much as I’ve always loved to come to the US and as fascinating as some US conferences are (e.g. StrangeLoop might be my personal fav) – no international attendee or speaker can be expected to put up with this ever expanding amount of bullshit anymore. If the science community or “our industry” really want to encourage and unlock the magic of diversity we need new venues for a whole lot of conferences either in Can…

Well if you are not attempting to stay here then (if I understand this correctly) you will not need to release your social media information.

[deleted]

Re: U.S. To Collect Social Media Data on All Immigrants Entering Country

#87

Post by omaranto »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #22
SerLava wrote: post #7

Something to realize here: If you're between 10 and 60 years old, "I don't use social media" will likely not really be an answer at the border. Even a barely-used account will not really be an answer. They're going to be able to say you're probably just hiding your real account. That could factor into denying you entry into a country. If this becomes common with many countries, it could become de facto illegal to kee…

Not sure how it could actually go that far. Some people just don't have social media accounts, you can't ban people entry for that. If that does happen, there's no way it's gonna stay legal and the simplest solution is a boycott of social media.

I studied mathematics in Mexico City as an undergrad and know plenty of people who tried to go to a math conference in the US but had their request for a visitor visa denied. (I've personally never been denied a US visa, and I think most of my friends have been able to go to the US whenever they want, but still plenty of people get denied.) The embassy doesn't give you a reason and there's nothing you can do about it. In the future the reason they don't tell you could easily be "It seemed fishy that he didn't have a twitter account" or "Last facebook post from a year ago? Must be a fake account". If you aren't told the reason it can be anything.

Re: U.S. To Collect Social Media Data on All Immigrants Entering Country

#88

Post by musha68k »

Zenst wrote: post #81
musha68k wrote: post #9

As much as I’ve always loved to come to the US and as fascinating as some US conferences are (e.g. StrangeLoop might be my personal fav) – no international attendee or speaker can be expected to put up with this ever expanding amount of bullshit anymore. If the science community or “our industry” really want to encourage and unlock the magic of diversity we need new venues for a whole lot of conferences either in Can…

Oh I think you will find the EU is not far behind and in some area's further ahead in this orwellian future. Germany for example on verge of rolling out facial ID recognition and trialing currently: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-security/german-p... This with data retention laws imposed upon ISP's, they already have all your data, so no need to ask.

You are right, it's getting worse everywhere - it has been so for far too long.

That said, I can't imagine a more unwelcoming tourist entry into a "western" country than the US at this point in time.

Re: U.S. To Collect Social Media Data on All Immigrants Entering Country

#89

Post by autokad »

musha68k wrote: post #9

As much as I’ve always loved to come to the US and as fascinating as some US conferences are (e.g. StrangeLoop might be my personal fav) – no international attendee or speaker can be expected to put up with this ever expanding amount of bullshit anymore. If the science community or “our industry” really want to encourage and unlock the magic of diversity we need new venues for a whole lot of conferences either in Can…

from what i can tell, this would not apply to you (conference attendees / speakers), but even though they said immigrants seeking visa, perhaps they could mean a broader set of visas.

I couldnt tell from reading the article if they meant viewing their wall or private messages. Did anyone have any clarification on that?

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