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The Trump administration has rolled out a new questionnaire for U.S. visa applicants worldwide that asks for social media handles for the last five years and biographical information going back 15 years.
The new questions, part of an effort to tighten vetting of would-be visitors to the United States, was approved on May 23 by the Office of Management and Budget despite criticism from a range of education officials and academic groups during a public comment period.
Critics argued that the new questions would be overly burdensome, lead to long delays in processing and discourage international students and scientists from coming to the United States.
Under the new procedures, consular officials can request all prior passport numbers, five years' worth of social media handles, email addresses and phone numbers and 15 years of biographical information including addresses, employment and travel history.
Officials will request the additional information when they determine "that such information is required to confirm identity or conduct more rigorous national security vetting," a State Department official said on Wednesday.
The State Department said earlier the tighter vetting would apply to visa applicants "who have been determined to warrant additional scrutiny in connection with terrorism or other national security-related visa ineligibilities."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Justin Case on Saturday June 03 2017, @07:57PM (5 children)
Oh, yeah, I've been waiting for this one!
Bottom line: you better get awfully goddamn normal right the fuck now. No forget that, 15 years ago. Otherwise
(say it all together now!)
off to the slammer we go! Yaay, America, Yaay freedom!
(Score: 4, Informative) by Whoever on Saturday June 03 2017, @08:09PM (4 children)
You miss the point.
They won't do more than a cursory check on the these accounts. But, if for some reason, years later, they want to throw you out of the country, even if you later become a citizen, they will dig up some website that you registered an account with but forgot to include on your visa application and say "Ah, hah! You lied on your visa application 20 years ago. This means that all subsequent immigration actions are void and we can throw you out of the country".
(Score: 2) by Justin Case on Saturday June 03 2017, @08:15PM
Yeah, probably right.
In other words, bend over and try to keep a smile on your face. Welcome to amerika.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 03 2017, @08:52PM (2 children)
I doubt this. I think more than likely it will be an AI evaluation that creates an autonomous score based on various factors. For one example it's a given that most government agencies have a sort of 'hot list' of social media accounts that have espoused abnormally radical or threatening views. Most of us are probably going to be connected to these accounts to some degree thanks to a 6 degrees of separation type effect. Your average 'distance' from each of these accounts could be quantified and give an immediate numeric value of your relative tendency towards interacting with extremists or those closely related to extremists.
(Score: 2) by Justin Case on Saturday June 03 2017, @09:07PM (1 child)
And since neural networks can't explain why they reached a frequently-wrong conclusion, you're going to have people randomly singled out for suspicion just because the computer doesn't like them.
What system of justice does this fit within?
Meanwhile the terrorist slips through.
But hey, something must be done, and this is something, so we must do it. Right?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday June 03 2017, @11:25PM
"just because the computer doesn't like them."
Hey, if my dog doesn't like you, you're not coming in the house. My computer is almost as smart as my dog, I'm gonna go with the computer's judgement. /sarcasm