US to require would-be immigrants to turn over social media handles

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

3 minutes ago, Mina90 said:

My Alexa is used mostly for playing lullabies. The thing is though, it's not just the Alexa/Google Home things that can get hacked, it's mostly our laptops/computers with webcams/mics that get hacked, even if you have it turned off, it can be remotely accessed to view you/hear you when you are least aware. My husband works for DHS and he always tells me to keep the laptop webcam covered.

I do work for the Feds but not in DHS. But I have my BS in Information Security and I try to keep abreast as much as possible in what's going on with everything. I do want to work for DHS and hopefully they hire me for a job that I applied to.

[AnonIndia 58]

2 minutes ago, Orangesapples said:

What the NSA is doing is wrong. They shouldn't be allowed to spy on people like that. 

 

To all of you justifying government intrusion by saying that you can be fired for what you post on social media - does your employer ask you for 5 years worth of all kinds of social media accounts? No? Should they? They can only fire you for things that are easily googable that the government should have no issue accessing anyway. And employers shouldn't be allowed to just fire people for trivial reasons. 

 

And FYI, immigrants, both legal and illegal, are less likely to commit crimes, so guess what, the current screening is already effective enough. Domestic crime and domestic terrorism (like school shootings, a very American thing), as well as the widening inequality is what efforts should be focused on. 

Yes. Let's make everyone Equal™. That will solve everything. 

[Orangesapples 1,954]

29 minutes ago, Mina90 said:

Anyone remember Snowden? Shows you there is no thing as "privacy", especially not on the internet.

And is that right? Should we just accept that that's the way things are? I don't think we should be complacent. Everyone deserves privacy and we as society should defend it, not just accept the massive intrusion. If nothing else, at the very government shouldn't be allowed access to our personal devices, accounts and messages without a warrant. 

[Orangesapples 1,954]

2 minutes ago, AnonIndia said:

Yes. Let's make everyone Equal™. That will solve everything. 

Are you saying that making everyone equal is not a goal worth pursuing? 

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

1 minute ago, Orangesapples said:

Are you saying that making everyone equal is not a goal worth pursuing? 

You seem like a very idealistic person and not actually set anywhere close to reality.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

3 minutes ago, Orangesapples said:

And is that right? Should we just accept that that's the way things are? I don't think we should be complacent. Everyone deserves privacy and we as society should defend it, not just accept the massive intrusion. If nothing else, at the very government shouldn't be allowed access to our personal devices, accounts and messages without a warrant. 

But you are acting like the US government is the only one doing these things. When in reality ANY half-wit government intelligence agency around the world is doing the SAME EXACT THING.

[pauli 49]

This is an interesting topic and I see benefits to scouring social media, however...

 

People who want to harm U.S. are simply not going to list their "terrorist" social media accounts, but would just submit separate social media accounts that make them seem normal.  They are not going to list email addresses that they've used for nefarious purposes.  Etc.  Bad actors are always one step ahead.

 

Thus, this just potentially creates more wait time and potential problems for the rest of us.  

 

And if they haven't already started, the next step could be to request access to social media accounts, etc. of the U.S. petitioner.  And then require access to internet browsing data from beneficiary and petitioner.

 

And those who support the current White House administration should keep in mind that it will eventually change and at some point there will certainly be a more liberal administration that might not think kindly of some of your social media posts.  I'm a bit surprised that so many of you have so much faith in the government handling this info.

 

This is not to say that I'm totally against this policy, but I think it's not so clear cut.

[AnonIndia 58]

Just now, Orangesapples said:

Are you saying that making everyone equal is not a goal worth pursuing? 

Equality is a false god. There will never be equality. It is unnatural. Did you know that in the US top 20% of income earners pay 80% of all taxes? Some people are better than others. Most of the time through their own actions or the actions of their ancestors. That's the truth. There should only be equal opportunity. Not equal outcome. 

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

7 minutes ago, Jaquelly said:

When I say that it is turned off I mean that they are plugged into sockets that are controlled by light switches. My entire bedroom gets switched off, as does the TV/Google Assistant in my living room. I kill the power. I'm actually more paranoid about fires in my shoddy apartment than I should be.

 

AND HEY we put it on a domain! If anyone wants to look at a sleeping golden retriever all day, that's their business. I'm not walking around on them. Forget that.

The light switches and IOT vacuum cleaners can be hacked into as well just to mess with you.

[Orangesapples 1,954]

1 minute ago, cyberfx1024 said:

You seem like a very idealistic person and not actually set anywhere close to reality.

Idealistic? For not supporting government intrusion? That's the bare minimum for a free society, not idealism. If nothing else, at least officially the government shouldn't be allowed to spy on people without a warrant. 

[Orangesapples 1,954]

2 minutes ago, AnonIndia said:

Equality is a false god. There will never be equality. It is unnatural. Did you know that in the US top 20% of income earners pay 80% of all taxes? Some people are better than others. Most of the time through their own actions or the actions of their ancestors. That's the truth. There should only be equal opportunity. Not equal outcome. 

The problem is the lack of equal opportunity. 

[AnonIndia 58]

Just now, Orangesapples said:

Idealistic? For not supporting government intrusion? That's the bare minimum for a free society, not idealism. If nothing else, at least officially the government shouldn't be allowed to spy on people without a warrant. 

The US government doesn't discriminate when it comes to privacy infringement. They infringe on both US Citizens' privacy and the privacy of non citizens. I assure you that all your data is backed up in the NSA. Everything is collected at the ISP level. 

[Jaquelly 1,647]

1 minute ago, Orangesapples said:

Idealistic? For not supporting government intrusion? That's the bare minimum for a free society, not idealism. If nothing else, at least officially the government shouldn't be allowed to spy on people without a warrant. 

 

Oh, for goodness sake. Stop acting like it was a right that we ever had. When the internet came around and everyone started signing up for their myspace and angelfire/geocities pages, we started to open ourselves up for a new sort of lifestyle, or world. People use platforms for nefarious purposes. Facebook and Twitter obviously don't have their ducks in a row, as they've not been able to get the misuse under control.

 

Complaining about it on a forum is not the way to change. Use your vote. Use your nouse.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

10 minutes ago, Orangesapples said:

What the NSA is doing is wrong. They shouldn't be allowed to spy on people like that. 

 

To all of you justifying government intrusion by saying that you can be fired for what you post on social media - does your employer ask you for 5 years worth of all kinds of social media accounts? No? Should they? They can only fire you for things that are easily googable that the government should have no issue accessing anyway. And employers shouldn't be allowed to just fire people for trivial reasons. 

 

And FYI, immigrants, both legal and illegal, are less likely to commit crimes, so guess what, the current screening is already effective enough. Domestic crime and domestic terrorism (like school shootings, a very American thing), as well as the widening inequality is what efforts should be focused on. 

Actually Illegal immigrants are more likely to commit crimes than legal ones.

Available evidence suggests that illegals are more likely to commit crimes than the rest of the population. Fox News sorted through myriad "local, state and federal statistics" and found that "illegal immigrants are three times as likely to be convicted of murder as members of the general population and account for far more crimes than their 3.5-percent share of the U.S. population would suggest."

The percentage of illegals committing the number of crimes are as follows, according to Fox News:

• 13.6 percent of those sentenced for all committed crimes in the country
• 12 percent of murder sentences
• 16 percent of trafficking sentences

 

https://www.dailywire.com/news/10155/9-things-you-need-know-about-illegal-immigration-aaron-bandler

[Mina90 134]

Just now, Orangesapples said:

And is that right? Should we just accept that that's the way things are? I don't think we should be complacent. Everyone deserves privacy and we as society should defend it, not just accept the massive intrusion. If nothing else, at the very government shouldn't be allowed access to our personal devices, accounts and messages without a warrant. 

Refer back to my other post. It does not matter about right/wrong, what we want or need. I most certainly don't agree nor am I complacent. You know how I defend myself from this? I don't post things on the internet I don't want people to find, I keep my laptop webcam covered. Simple, really. Much easier than trying to slay the immortal dragon.  

 

If there was truly going to be some kind of anarchy where people want to fight against how the gov't runs, power to those people. I am all for making life as simple and easy as it can be. Every country has its rules, its secrets, its good side and bad side. I am not going to chase after an unattainable cause because I don't like it. Many things are wrong in the world that I do not like nor agree with, but I cannot change everything. I am realistic. What I can do, is try to better myself as a human, be smart and work my way around things (i.e. privacy issues), help those in need, follow the rules of the county I am living in, respect the authority in charge and make life simple for myself and those around me.