Like the idea of adding the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a Facebook friend?
No? Well, it’s interested in finding out about you, and to do that, it’s looking for permission to ask for social media account names when people enter the country.
The new data field would be optional, according to the DHS’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, which posted its request to the Federal Register on Thursday.
The social media account names are to “vet” travelers, the agency said, as well as to augment contact information:
It will be an optional data field to request social media identifiers to be used for vetting purposes, as well as applicant contact information.
Obtaining social media information on those travelling will also help it to investigate them better, the CBP said (irony alert: because of course “nefarious” people share their cunning plans on social media and want to make sure DHS can find out all about them):
Collecting social media data will enhance the existing investigative process and provide DHS greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity and connections by providing an additional tool set which analysts and investigators may use to better analyze and investigate the case.
The CBP is proposing that a data field asking travelers to “Please enter information associated with your online presence – Provider/Platform – Social media identifier” be added to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) and to the CBP Form I-94W (Nonimmigrant Visa Waiver Arrival/Departure).
The public, as well as affected agencies, are being given the opportunity to comment on the proposed change. The CBP will be accepting comments up until 22 August.
Make that written comments. The agency hasn’t put up an online form to get anybody’s input.
Rather, you’ll have to express your distaste or enthusiasm for sharing social media account names with the DHS by writing them down and sending via snail mail to this address.
…an exquisitely ironic address, mind you, given that you’ll be sending those written comments to the attention of the Paperwork Reduction Act Officer.
Zeljka Zorz, managing editor of HelpNet Security, brought up a good point: besides the inconvenient fact that nothing would stop evil-doers from lying about their social media presences, there lies the possibility of people providing fake account names. Would innocent people suddenly find the feds at their door because CBP has “evidence” connecting their social media accounts with illegal acts?
Then too, there’s always the possibility that a fake account can be created by somebody impersonating the person in question.
One example: actor/director Vincent Gallo recently sued Facebook over somebody’s having set up a fake Facebook profile in Gallo’s name and allegedly using it to friend Gallo’s friends and acquaintances, to engage in online sex chats, and to lure Los Angeles women to meet him in person.
Here’s Zorz with another good point about the CBP’s claim that collecting our social media account details will be “optional”:
Government agencies (but not only them) usually don’t even mention that some of the information they request is optional even if it is, and I expect the same to happen here.
Finally, the question, if the request passes, is optional—for now. [But it’s] the perfect stepping stone for making answering that question mandatory in the future.
Don’t like the idea? Now’s the time to type up your thoughts on the matter, purchase the stamp and package it all up for the CBP.
what if i don’t have any social media presence on the internet outside of my ISP email and work email? do i get banned from traveling? what a wonderful world of crazies we live in today.
Yeah I haven’t had facebook in 4 years… not ever going back either.
I’d guess that many travelers will be too intimidated by the Custom form’s weight of authority not to divulge their social media name(s) on said form, even if the form includes an Optional disclaimer. Travelers may fear they risk making themselves a target for TSA harassment if they fail to complete the form in full. How many ordinary citizens anywhere really know their rights?
Also, some customs agents (due to ignorance or to sadism) may tell travelers they MUST fill out every part of the form or else the traveler MAY be subject to further scrutiny. Authority figures very well know that vague threats can effectively coerce people to submit because they do, in fact, have the power to carry out their threats.
Finally, some travelers to the U.S. come from countries in which Optional may in practice mean Mandatory if they want to stay out of prison or worse, so they submit without being specifically threatened.
Lisa- Since I do not and will not have a social media account (No Facebook, No Twitter, and most certainly NEVER Linked In) Customs, like Dept of Homeland INSECUIRTY in the land of Obamastan, can go ;whiz’ up a rope.
So now I can’t travel unless I’m part of Facebook?! w.t.f. What if I have no “online social presence”?
They say it’s optional at present, so what if they change their mind and make it compulsory? Not everyone has a ‘social media’ account so what will they do then? I don’t use any form of social media and see no need of such, but I do travel around, including to the USA, but have never had any problems with ESTAs, etc. If I don’t have a ‘social media’ account anywhere I can’t give them what they seek as it doesn’t exist.
Is this another assumption that ‘everyone’ has such an account? If so, it’s a serious error.
United States CBP: United States Customs and Blog Perusal?
This is another example of “Scope Creep,” expanding the list of tasks under the purview of some agency so that the gummint will be able to justify adding more bodies to the payroll, thus buying more votes in the next election. And woe be unto a future Administration that rolls-back the agency expansion and kicks the new hires out of their cushy new jobs; those potential votes are gone forever! I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to learn that the idiot who thought up this cockamamie scheme gets a big promotion or huge bonus for coming up with a semi-plausible way of guaranteeing votes for “The Party in Power” while, at the same time, eroding citizen rights even further.
If this comes to pass, travellers would be well advised NOT to enter fake social media account names – it’s a felony to lie to a federal official.
There are always exceptions. Google ‘Mohammed Rehman’; he’s just been send down for planning terrorist acts in the UK. He used the tag ‘Silent Bomber’ online and asked twitter to choose his target. Unfortunately they are not all that stupid.
poop. since I’ve been bashing hilldog since my FB profile was created, when she finishes buying the election I won’t even be able to get a taxi………
Welcome to the New World Order
I’ve always been happy not having a social media presence, it’s quite liberating actually, and not changing anytime soon. Is it like this traveling everywhere or just to the USA? Maybe there are other places to go that are happy to have us visit. We should go there instead, and leave the states to their delusional state sponsored paranoia.
Many countries have “special conditions for search and seizure” at their frontiers, including the power to require you to decrypt data. As far as I know, the UK has had this on the books for several years already.