Re US government starts asking foreign travelers to disclose their social media accounts

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Brock <bnmeeks () verizon net>
> Date: December 25, 2016 at 9:21:36 AM EST
> To: dave () farber net
> Cc: ip <ip () listbox com>
> Subject: Re: [IP] US government starts asking foreign travelers to disclose their social media accounts
>
> Although there is good reason to be skeptical of such an approach, the use of the phrase "has started demanding" in 
> the lede of this piece is disingenuous at best, when the information is, for now, merely voluntary, which a reader of 
> this piece doesn't learn until much further down. 
>
> With the crush of fake news being all the rage, poorly structured stories such as this could be used as grist for all 
> kinds of misleading follow-on stories, particularly when most readers have a habit of bailing out of a story well 
> before the end of the piece. 
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Dec 24, 2016, at 11:50 PM, Dave Farber <farber () gmail com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > > From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> > > Date: December 23, 2016 at 5:16:36 AM EST
> > > To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> > > Subject: [Dewayne-Net] US government starts asking foreign travelers to disclose their social media accounts
> > > Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
> > >
> > > US government starts asking foreign travelers to disclose their social media accounts
> > > To ‘identify potential threats’
> > > By Nick Statt
> > > Dec 22 2016
> > > <http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/22/14066082/us-customs-border-patrol-social-media-account-facebook-twitter>
> > >
> > > The US Customs and Border Protection has started demanding that foreign travelers hand over Facebook, Twitter, and 
> > > other social media account information upon entering the country, according to a report from Politico. The new 
> > > policy follows a proposal laid out back in June and applies only to those travelers who enter the US temporarily 
> > > without a visa through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, process. The goal, the government 
> > > says, is to “identify potential threats,” a spokesperson tells Politico. 
> > >
> > > Activists fear the policy could be a threat to human rights
> > >
> > > The new policy went into effect on Tuesday, and the request is currently “optional.” It asks foreign travelers to 
> > > “enter information associated with your online presence,” and offers a drop-down menu allowing participants to 
> > > enter in account names for most major social networks, including LinkedIn and even Google+. 
> > >
> > > It’s unclear if the information collected can be immediately used to deny travelers entry into the US. However, the 
> > > express purpose of the collection is to identify individuals with ties to terrorist groups. As it stands today, 
> > > Customs and Border Protection says it will not deny entry to those that refuse to submit any social media 
> > > information. 
> > >
> > > Still, the implementation of such a controversial policy has enraged human rights activists and technology 
> > > companies. Members of both communities expressed concern when the policy was first proposed this past summer. At 
> > > the time, industry lobbying group the Internet Association, which represents companies like Facebook and Google, 
> > > joined with the ACLU to condemn the proposal for its potential free speech and privacy violations.
> > >
> > > These groups fear that the request for social media info, although voluntary, will urge members of marginalized 
> > > groups from the Middle East and elsewhere to fill out the information for fear of being denied entry. It could then 
> > > be highly scrutinized, activists say, without clear and transparent guidelines. The policy could also lead to 
> > > potential abuses and even security risks as the information is collected and stored by the government.
> > >
> > > [snip]
> > >
> > > Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/>
> >
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