USA wants your social media history.

TallPaul1878 · 2 Apr 2018 at 10:41

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...-14-million-us-visitors-social-media-history/

Want to visit the USA then you better hand over your social media profiles. Plan being proposed for visitors from non visa waiver/ESTA countries.

"Your profiles please!"

IronWarrior · 2 Apr 2018 at 11:37

Yeah.... only thing they ever get is this especially prepared social account that I made a long time ago.

But welcome to 1984.

ikillbears · 2 Apr 2018 at 11:38

"Plan being proposed for visitors from non visa waiver/ESTA countries."

You're fine

kitfit1 · 2 Apr 2018 at 11:39

Mmmmmmm, just about the best and most thorough way for the American Administration to kill the American tourist industry. To expect a tourist that might be going to Florida for a couple of weeks to hand over that amount of data is fanciful at best. They will just choose another country to holiday in.

Efour · 2 Apr 2018 at 11:44

kitfit1 said:
Mmmmmmm, just about the best and most thorough way for the American Administration to kill the American tourist industry. To expect a tourist that might be going to Florida for a couple of weeks to hand over that amount of data is fanciful at best. They will just choose another country to holiday in.

No they wont. Very few people really care, or even comprehend what you Perceive as a threat.
Yes this is a Tech forum so its going to misrepresent caring, a hell of a lot.

Adam · 2 Apr 2018 at 12:17

I have nothing to hide which I imagine is true for 99% of the population.

Nasher · 2 Apr 2018 at 12:19

Surely you can just tell them you don't use social media (true in my case)?

How would they know otherwise? They wouldn't be asking for it if they could find out on their own.

kitfit1 · 2 Apr 2018 at 12:19

Efour said:
No they wont. Very few people really care, or even comprehend what you Perceive as a threat.
Yes this is a Tech forum so its going to misrepresent caring, a hell of a lot.

Did i say I perceive it as threat ? No, i didn't. Because it's not a threat to us in the UK, we are exempt.
Peeps that might want to holiday in USA that are not exempt may well take a different view. Your average man/woman in China for instance, like most of us, probably can't even remember the passwords to all the sites they belong to. Rather than spending hours trawling through sites to find passwords to put on a visa application, they are more likely to say "Stuff it, we'll go to Europe this year". This affects 14million, that's one hell of a lot of tourists that won't be spending money in the USA.

Nasher · 2 Apr 2018 at 12:25

Africa has it hardest by far I think. About 50% of Visa applications to the US are refused.

Deleted member 77746 · 2 Apr 2018 at 12:39

If you say you don’t use social media what they going to do search for you?

Really not sure this will do anything. Why don’t they just close all social media sites down and have done with it. It was much safer with MSN chat rooms for crying out loud.

Efour · 2 Apr 2018 at 13:04

I'm pretty sure they don't need to access UK accounts because they can already just check all our data fr3ely.

It's more for picking up middle Eastern and African people that like and share Isis crap so they can decline them on those grounds and still hold face.

Deleted member 77746 · 2 Apr 2018 at 13:11

I’ve always said if you have nothing to hide then there’s no problem with handing accounts over.

People say it like it’s a privacy thing, which it is but “Got nothing to hide - no problem” scenario.

Efour · 2 Apr 2018 at 13:13

If "these people" have nothing to hide they will apply for a visa. It's a complete non issue.

Deleted member 77746 · 2 Apr 2018 at 13:14

Efour said:
If "these people" have nothing to hide they will apply for a visa. It's a complete non issue.

Exactly!

TheVoice · 2 Apr 2018 at 13:19

Efour said:
If "these people" have nothing to hide they will apply for a visa. It's a complete non issue.

As long as you haven't said anything negative about Trump on Twitter, that is.

Puzzled · 2 Apr 2018 at 13:46

Tbh the only social media I used was facebook and I got rid of that a few weeks ago.

I can see though in future that not having them could make you seem suspicious, hell even today you get questioned about it. Friend of ours was stopped by the police and didn't have any ID on him so they wanted to see his facebook profile, he doesn't have one as he's just not into it and they wouldn't believe it due to him having a smartphone.

Considering his age I would have thought it was easily believable that he wouldn't use it but he took a bit of a grilling over it. I'd imagine anyone applying for a visa who says they don't use them will have their applications thoroughly looked in to.

Delvis · 2 Apr 2018 at 13:59

MonkeyMan said:
Tbh the only social media I used was facebook and I got rid of that a few weeks ago.

I can see though in future that not having them could make you seem suspicious, hell even today you get questioned about it. Friend of ours was stopped by the police and didn't have any ID on him so they wanted to see his facebook profile, he doesn't have one as he's just not into it and they wouldn't believe it due to him having a smartphone.

Considering his age I would have thought it was easily believable that he wouldn't use it but he took a bit of a grilling over it. I'd imagine anyone applying for a visa who says they don't use them will have their applications thoroughly looked in to.

Not to be rude your friends a bit thick, why wouldn't he carry ID? assuming he was on holiday for a start why wouldn't you? If you loved there anyway you're even more daft

stopper · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:07

Adam said:
I have nothing to hide which I imagine is true for 99% of the population.

The birth of fascism right there.

I don't even have a social media account of any kind, I'm not daft enough to put my personal life on the internet.
Guess that means I'm not allowed a holiday in the states, no big loss there

Puzzled · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:12

Delvis said:
Not to be rude your friends a bit thick, why wouldn't he carry ID? assuming he was on holiday for a start why wouldn't you? If you loved there anyway you're even more daft

It was in this country, he was on his own and just happened to not have his wallet on him, not that strange. Was all a misunderstanding in the end but being judged for not using social media is already happening.

BowdonUK · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:22

How would a person go about compiling his/her social media information over that many years?