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Comment by standeven | Hacker News Reader

“Just don’t share opinions” is not an option for a free society. Being gagged for fear of retribution from a foreign government is not beneficial to my mental health.

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Obviously not, but locking down your phone is just not practical for most people. Of course, avoiding travel to the u.s. is the safest approach, but it's not that simple for many of us who have spouses, siblings, parents etc who were not born in the u.s.

Then don't travel, in many countries the penalty for disparaging the leader of that country is quite severe.

It’s sad that the USA is becoming one of these countries. But yes, that’s what I’m doing - travelling to free countries and avoiding the backwards ones.

IMO the USA is not becoming one of those countries and people are just fearmongering. But legally they can do it so it's better to take precautions anyway.

Why do you say it's fearmongering? There have already been several examples of it in recent months.

Here's one example: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/trump-musk-f...

DHS claims he admitted to having confidential info from Los Alamos that violated an NDA https://x.com/TriciaOhio/status/1902881013220385220

It also sounds like the guy was actively and openly trying to convince researchers to leave the US for France. May have even been the purpose of the trip.

Free speech is one thing, extending a visa to foreign individuals that are actively working against the country's interests is another. Few if any countries would grant visas knowing that intent.

I looked online to verify the claims stated therein and couldn't. Do you have any sources beyond a random tweet?

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