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US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

thejournal.ie

21–30 of 226 posts

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#21

It seems to me one of the methods of control in oppressive States is to have a multitude of rules, which are impractical to actually adhere to, where failure to adhere provides leverage to State - a "justification" for State to then do whatever it is it decides to do with you (such as deportation without due process).

Play the devil's advocate with me for a bit.

Say you let someone in who suicide bombs himself and takes out several Americans. Then a reporter asks the DHS spokesperson how they let someone in the country that had "Death to America" posts all over their social media out in the open for everyone to see but they didn't. Nobody would forgive the government for such a grave oversight.

At the airport you already let them check your luggage and pockets to make sure you're not a threat to the crew and passengers. How's it different to be checking your social media before entering to make sure you're not a threat to the citizens?

Which do you think is more important to the electorate, the safety of the citizens, or the privacy inconveniences of immigrants, which doesn't exist anyway?

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#23

I don’t even know that I could come up with such a list. Setting everything to “public”, likewise, has potential implications far beyond a visa, since scraping can happen real fast. Then, things on the Internet live like… more than forever, potentially resurfacing later. That could be a potential employer, romantic interest, etc.—and just consider how things from 10-20 years ago have already resurfaced for some high-…

Some people set their social media profiles to less-than-public for very good reasons: e.g. they have protected characteristics and often experience online abuse as a result. This is basically saying "if you're the victim of bigots, you can't come to the US".

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#24

This is only possible of you ignore decent security precautions and rarely use different user names. They are literally saying that only those who lie or have garbage security practices can get Visas.

That sounds an awful lot like the kind of goons running the country...

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#25

Is there a legal definition of "social media"? Because I am a law abiding citizen and I would like to list all of them, no worries. A few dozens, maybe a hundred.

That's not very relevant unfortunately. Visa applications can be denied at a whim.

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#26

It seems to me one of the methods of control in oppressive States is to have a multitude of rules, which are impractical to actually adhere to, where failure to adhere provides leverage to State - a "justification" for State to then do whatever it is it decides to do with you (such as deportation without due process).

Play the devil's advocate with me for a bit. Say you let someone in who suicide bombs himself and takes out several Americans. Then a reporter asks the DHS spokesperson how they let someone in the country that had "Death to America" posts all over their social media out in the open for everyone to see but they didn't. Nobody would forgive the government for such a grave oversight. At the airport you already let them…

Why would a suicide bomber provide the government links to their death to America posts?

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#28

It seems to me one of the methods of control in oppressive States is to have a multitude of rules, which are impractical to actually adhere to, where failure to adhere provides leverage to State - a "justification" for State to then do whatever it is it decides to do with you (such as deportation without due process).

Play the devil's advocate with me for a bit. Say you let someone in who suicide bombs himself and takes out several Americans. Then a reporter asks the DHS spokesperson how they let someone in the country that had "Death to America" posts all over their social media out in the open for everyone to see but they didn't. Nobody would forgive the government for such a grave oversight. At the airport you already let them…

"takes out several Americans" is a Tuesday in the US right now [1]. The main people attacking Americans on American soil are...other Americans. The US has decided to do almost nothing to address the issue.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_...

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#29
post #14

I think what the US wants is for nobody to visit them any more. For nobody to do trade with them any more. Basically Shogunate Japan?

I think part of the point is to put the squeeze on companies that have been abusing the H1B program in spirit if not by the letter by making it hard for their talent to enter the country easily and giving the executive fairly unilateral right of denial. Though I think this is an ancillary motive.

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#30
post #13

Haven't these guys heard of the "reciprocity principle"? When I went to Brazil a few years ago, the basic price for a tourist visa was like $25 and could be done online. But, if you were a US citizen, it cost $150 and you had to schedule an attend an interview in person -- because , those were the costs and burdens placed on Brazilian citizens to apply for a US visa. Does the US want other countries inspecting our ci…

to play the devil's advocate, if more people wanted to visit the US than the other way around, then it's not "disadvantageous" for the US to do this.
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