U.S. collects social media information from select visitors - spanglerexan1975

Visitors to the U.S. under a visa waiver political platform are being asked by the Department of Homeland Security for data on their social media accounts, a plan that had drawn criticism from civil rights groups for its potential trespass connected privacy.

The U.S. Customs and Border Auspices unit of the DHS asked for written comments originally this year on its proposal that would add to the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) and to a form named I-94W the tailing entry: "Please come in information associated with your online presence—Provider/Program—Social media identifier," which visitors keister fill optionally.

The agency said in June that collecting social media information would provide extra tools to "enhance the existing investigative process and provide DHS greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity and connections." Although providing the information on social media presence is listed as nonobligatory, critics of the plan have said that failure to fill the information by a visitor could as wel be understood as something that requires scrutiny by the authorities.

The current ESTA form asks for information on the "Provider/Political platform," and for the user-name, handle, screen-name or other identifier associated with the gregarious media visibility.

ESTA form asks for social media information — ESTA form asks for social group media information from visitors to the U.S.

The new field has inherit drive in from Tuesday, according to Politico, which quoted a government official.

The visa-waiver program enables almost citizens or nationals of participating countries to travel to the U.S. for tourism or business for girdle of 90 days or less without first obtaining a visa, if they meet certain conditions.

Organizations comparable the American Civil Liberties Union, Focus for Republic & Technology and Electronic Frontier Foundation had criticized the DHS marriage proposal, stating that people World Health Organization pose a threat to the U.S. are unlikely to volunteer online identifiers that could allow for information that would call down questions about their admissibility to the U.S. The groups warned that the measure would most likely affect people of Arab and Muslim communities, whose usernames, posts, contacts, and social networks volition be open to neighboring scrutiny.

The move away the DHS comes amidst concern that the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump bequeath reduce the scrutiny of entrants into the U.S., with a center on Muslims.

In a document to be published officially connected Friday, the administration of President Barack Obama said it will annul a special registration system for visitors from countries with mainly majority Muslim and Arab populations, identified as NSEERS for National Security Entryway-Exit Registration System.

The dormant computer program, described by the DHS as outdated, could have been reactivated by Horn to "fulfill his forebode to target Muslim immigrants for 'extreme vetting,'" said the American Civil Liberties Unification. A large figure of technical school employees have communicatory a plight not to help work up a database for the government that could be used to target people past race, religion or national origin.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/411427/us-collects-social-media-handles-from-select-visitors.html

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