Comment by throwawayway1 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by throwawayway1 | Hacker News Reader

I think the public outrage about Flock is well-deserved but – moving slightly off-topic – I wish it weren't the only privacy- and data harvesting-related issue the media are reporting about.

(Context: I'm currently looking into renewing my US visa. I've been to the US many times before both for shorter and longer periods of time and on many different visa – so far without any problems whatsoever.)

The Trump administration recently made it mandatory for all visa applicants to disclose any social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Reddit, LinkedIn, …) they have had in the last five years (EDIT: whether still existent or deleted). [0]

I'm scared shitless and don't know what to do. (Not visiting the US is not an option, unfortunately.) I don't think I have ever posted anything controversial or of relevance through any of my social media accounts but I just don't want anyone in the world to have that kind of data about me, particularly my private messages. Who says that once they know all my social media accounts, CBP officers won't start checking my messages whenever I cross the border in the future? Who says they won't abuse that access at some point?

Look, I am aware CBP officers can already search your phone without a warrant, and three-letter agencies probably get first-class access to all social networks, anyway, but consciously handing over your data as part of the application process is… a different level.

Where's the outrage here? I know non-citizens basically don't enjoy any rights whatsoever at US borders, so I've long given up on hoping someone would fight this in court but still… where are the public campaigns, the diplomatic notes & retaliation?

[0]: In fact, they require social media profiles to be made public for the duration of the application, apparently so that the State Department can access and review the accounts. (Which would be funny since we all know what the NSA can do – if it didn't also open up the social media accounts to crawlers and stalkers…)

Yes, invasive background checks like this are scary. Biometrics collection becoming normalized as well.

I encourage you to delete or suspend your accounts, and therefore legally list no accounts.

Maintaining a largely un-used social under your legal name with some cute photos of your pets which you can cite if need be is also a strategy many have used.

> I encourage you to delete or suspend your accounts, and therefore legally list no accounts.

I should have clarified: They also require you to list deleted accounts.

> Maintaining a largely un-used social under your legal name with some cute photos of your pets which you can cite if need be is also a strategy many have used.

People that have successfully gotten a visa?

Anecdotally, yes.

It's hostile and assessments will be ideologically driven, but it's also a visa application. If I ask for that type of information for you to be able attend my summer camp or to come to my party, that's really my prerogative. You're asking to be a guest.

Americans are having a problem where they are guaranteed a certain set of rights as citizens, and guaranteed a certain process by which it is determined that those rights apply or whether they were applied. Those things are being routinely violated. Having any visitors at all (unless part of a treaty) is optional.

America colonized a lot of the world's dreams, but that doesn't obligate America to help you live them. We should want to, but we can't even protect ourselves. Americans are being harassed at the border. If we can't even get into our own country without unreasonable searches and seizures, there's no "outrage" left for the sake of other countries' elites. Most Americans can't afford to travel.

> America colonized a lot of the world's dreams, but that doesn't obligate America to help you live them.

I never said that. And I also don't have any intentions whatsoever to relocate to the US to live the "American dream" or any other dream. I'm pretty fine where I am. Except that the visa situation is a nightmare and my circumstances are not so simple that I could just decide to cancel my, say, summer vacation in the US. Heck, even if you're just transiting in the US, without leaving the international terminal, and not even planning on entering the country, you already need a visa.

The only thing I'm asking for is that I be treated as a human being, with the same inalienable human rights (at least on paper) as everywhere else in the western world.

There's many a story/legend/fairy tale about what happens to people who violate the sacred traditions of hospitality.

Zeus Xenios didn't just punish badly behaved guests!

For some reason the gods haven't come down off Mount Olympus to punish our transgressions ... yet.

But Neither the USA nor the EU are covering themselves in much glory at the moment.

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