Trump administration approves social media checks for Visa applicants

[Boiler 45,467]

1 minute ago, mexigrl said:

That still isn't true. This new rule applies to ALL visa applicants period. I have no faith that this law-breaking administration will not use our personal comments to each other as fodder to deny a visa, especially those that don't agree with their views. Have you not seen what is going on with asylum seekers right now? There is no justice or concern for privacy anymore.

Lets see 80% plus have no valid case.

 

30% of children have no DNA connection with the alleged family.

 

Personally I do not have any negativity to the people trying it on, they did not set the rules.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

13 minutes ago, mexigrl said:

That still isn't true. This new rule applies to ALL visa applicants period. I have no faith that this law-breaking administration will not use our personal comments to each other as fodder to deny a visa, especially those that don't agree with their views. Have you not seen what is going on with asylum seekers right now? There is no justice or concern for privacy anymore.

Ok and? The point of the matter is that they have been doing this for many years now. So they are just expanding this practice to everyone now. 

 

The asylum seekers is a whole other issue anyway. So what do you think is going on with them? Because the way I see it is that they are coming here under false pretenses or not true asylum claims, and the vast majority are having their cases denied when they are processed. 

[Randyandyuni 2,682]

52 minutes ago, mexigrl said:

This is truly an invasion of privacy, do we have to consent to a bug being put inside our homes next while we wait out the process? I'm not even sure that my new husband would agree to giving over private accounts and personal messages like that. This could really affect us and our options. I understand flagging terrorist countries, or specific people but to ask everyone to allow the US government to be privy to their private conversations is beyond acceptable. We have spent the last few years talking about immigration, moving, getting married before a minor child turns 18 etc. Also lots of anti- Trump memes. Will that preclude him from getting a visa? It's just all ridiculous and confusing.

 

Mexigrl

Making it a common hurdle for ALL applicants to pass actually makes it less subjective less focused on certain individuals. You are fine with others being scrutinized, just not you.

[TBoneTX 45,267]

5 hours ago, Randyandyuni said:

Making it a common hurdle for ALL applicants to pass actually makes it less subjective less focused on certain individuals.

This policy is probably the outgrowth of many long discussions among multiple Federal agencies about how to maximize security in general.

[Shiran 1,134]

It certainly raises questions as to how social information will be used. They do not ask for passwords, obviously. So, what will they do to account set to "private?" Put in a call to NSA? Not all of those services are US based. What about deleted accounts? Google+ for example has been retired in its entirety for private individuals. There is a staggering dearth of transparency as to HOW this information will be used. It seems like flailing attempt to adjust to modern way the young ones communicate with each other, but somehow I doubt it will lead to any sort of efficient screaming of undesirables. 

[millefleur 5,046]

12 hours ago, Shiran said:

It certainly raises questions as to how social information will be used. They do not ask for passwords, obviously. So, what will they do to account set to "private?" Put in a call to NSA? Not all of those services are US based. What about deleted accounts? Google+ for example has been retired in its entirety for private individuals. There is a staggering dearth of transparency as to HOW this information will be used. It seems like flailing attempt to adjust to modern way the young ones communicate with each other, but somehow I doubt it will lead to any sort of efficient screaming of undesirables. 

The NSA will be able to access all deleted Google+ info no doubt. The NSA and Google are the best of friends!

 

They can probably see private accounts as well as long as they are US based accounts. My guess is that if for some reason an application triggers suspicion, they will call in the NSA to dig deeper. 

 

The problem with all of this is, even looking through social media messages and info can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. There may be some info in someone's account that is the key to showing the danger they present, but it could be buried under memes, goofy family photos and other frivolous posts. So...best of luck to them trying to find that info. I assume they create some kind of algorithm or crawler to search for suspicious terms/photos because it would take human eyeballs way too long to sift through.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

48 minutes ago, millefleur said:

The NSA will be able to access all deleted Google+ info no doubt. The NSA and Google are the best of friends!

 

They can probably see private accounts as well as long as they are US based accounts. My guess is that if for some reason an application triggers suspicion, they will call in the NSA to dig deeper. 

 

The problem with all of this is, even looking through social media messages and info can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. There may be some info in someone's account that is the key to showing the danger they present, but it could be buried under memes, goofy family photos and other frivolous posts. So...best of luck to them trying to find that info. I assume they create some kind of algorithm or crawler to search for suspicious terms/photos because it would take human eyeballs way too long to sift through.

 

   Probably harder than that. If I was a legitimate criminal or terrorist, my social media would portray me as the finest, most upstanding person imaginable. I don't think it would be that hard to fake. I think they might trip up some people with this, but it will mostly be the people who like to do asinine things and then post it on facebook. I don't think they will get the hardcore types they are hoping to get. I still approve of the idea in principle, as long as it doesn't start bogging down the mundane applicants who have no obvious issues. There have been several stories over the years of people stuck in immigration limbo for an extended time and I would hate to see this turn into something that adds to the overall burden factor.

[millefleur 5,046]

3 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   Probably harder than that. If I was a legitimate criminal or terrorist, my social media would portray me as the finest, most upstanding person imaginable. I don't think it would be that hard to fake. I think they might trip up some people with this, but it will mostly be the people who like to do asinine things and then post it on facebook. I don't think they will get the hardcore types they are hoping to get. I still approve of the idea in principle, as long as it doesn't start bogging down the mundane applicants who have no obvious issues. There have been several stories over the years of people stuck in immigration limbo for an extended time and I would hate to see this turn into something that adds to the overall burden factor.

People behave differently when they know they are being watched...now that it will be required to submit all social media info, I'm sure the really suspicious folk will retreat to the dark web or lesser known social media sites where they can remain anonymous. And you're right, they could maintain a squeaky clean image on the more official/popular platforms like facebook. People lead double lives online for sure...it usually takes a lot of thorough investigation to bust folks operating on the dark web but who maintain a totally normal life on the surface.

 

So, it does make me wonder what the point of all this is. Maybe Trump is trying to one up China on their "social credit system" that was rolled out recently?

 

It's also confusing because what about anonymous sites such as reddit, where people typically do not post their person info. Does that count? 

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

2 hours ago, millefleur said:

People behave differently when they know they are being watched...now that it will be required to submit all social media info, I'm sure the really suspicious folk will retreat to the dark web or lesser known social media sites where they can remain anonymous. And you're right, they could maintain a squeaky clean image on the more official/popular platforms like facebook. People lead double lives online for sure...it usually takes a lot of thorough investigation to bust folks operating on the dark web but who maintain a totally normal life on the surface.

 

So, it does make me wonder what the point of all this is. Maybe Trump is trying to one up China on their "social credit system" that was rolled out recently?

 

It's also confusing because what about anonymous sites such as reddit, where people typically do not post their person info. Does that count? 

Honestly I like the social credit system they are using because it is helping to curtail some behavior that the Chinese tourists are doing. 

[nightwitch 0]

I initially thought this was a good thing. It weeds out potential criminals and terrorists, people intending to deceive the Consulate during the visa application. But reading further into it it seems many are worried about the potential for abuse of the system and the breach of their right to privacy.

 

As far as I am aware from what I have read they will only be able to see what is publicly shared and may not be able to access deleted accounts. I'm not entirely sure what they will do with old phone numbers and email addresses - perhaps google them? I  think that unless there is a real cause for concern at the time of the application they won't check a majority of applicants social history. The time it would take for them to check every single persons accounts, emails, phone numbers (of which many people have several old ones of each, dating back years) it would cause further delays. Further to that, how many people can remember their phone numbers or email addresses from 10+ years ago? Do you also have to share organisational email addresses, some of which contain sensitive and confidential information? I work for the NHS and feel there could be a conflict there, as well as with many other private companies.

[Crazy Cat 41,836]

4 minutes ago, nightwitch said:

But reading further into it it seems many are worried about the potential for abuse of the system and the breach of their right to privacy

What "right to privacy"?

[Jaquelly 1,647]

1 minute ago, missileman said:

What "right to privacy"?

If anyone thinks they have any right to privacy after using the internet, they're grossly mistaken.

[Crazy Cat 41,836]

Just now, Jaquelly said:

If anyone thinks they have any right to privacy after using the internet, they're grossly mistaken.

Exactly!!!!!

[nightwitch 0]

1 minute ago, missileman said:

What "right to privacy"?

I think they mean more the checking of phone details and private conversations through both that and email. As far as my opinion on social media is concerned, whatever you share on there is public, whether you are set to "private" or not.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

6 hours ago, nightwitch said:

I think they mean more the checking of phone details and private conversations through both that and email. As far as my opinion on social media is concerned, whatever you share on there is public, whether you are set to "private" or not.

Private messages and emails more than likely will not be looked at.