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New US visa requires applicants for social media handles from the last 5 years
- CM30 9y agoHmm, this is worrying. Certainly makes it less appealing to move to the US any time soon. Though I also wonder whether you can avoid this by simply having two accounts, one with a fake name and details that the controversial stuff goes on and one with your real name that's mostly squeaky clean. How much do they research this stuff?
- ocschwar 9y agoLying on these forms is what they WANT you to do. That way they can have a pretext for nabbing you whenever convenient.
- tdb7893 9y agoI'm pretty sure they don't want you to lie. Arresting you and deporting you would be expensive and doesn't seem like much of a gain over just rejecting you at the border.
- danmaz74 9y agoThe relevant part is "whenever convenient". Of course they don't want to arrest and deport too many people, but with this kind of things they can easily find you at fault "whenever convenient".
- astrodust 9y ago> How much do they research this stuff? It probably depends on how subjectively "suspicious" you seem, which is to say, how non-white you sound or look. Something tells me actual threats Like Jeremy Christian probably won't be given a second glance.
- tempay 9y agoThe problem then is that you've made a knowily declared false information which itself is a crime a could reasonably be used to investigate further. If you wish to visit the US these are the rules you have to accept. Personally I've decided to not attend conferences in the US or visit for the foreseeable future.
- rjsw 9y agoThis isn't really a new problem though. I haven't been to the US for a long time but whenever I did in the past I had to make a false declaration on the visa form, as did anyone else with strong crypto software on their laptop.
- cm2187 9y agoFor me it is the accumulation of all these annoyances together, not each individually, which makes a trip to the US now really unappealing. Long queues for passports on arrival, long queues at the security, laptop & tablet ban (some planes are still using VCR based flight entertainment, and most movies suck), this attitude that airports, airlines and law enforcement have of ending each interaction with their customers with a threat. Now this. Some people actually like to spend their holidays in some boot camp where they will be shouted at and get their ass kicked. I myself don't enjoy that.
- tdb7893 9y agoYou might be able to but it's probably not a good idea unless you really have bad stuff on the other account. Lying to border patrol is a great way to be detained or even rejected at the border.
- razzaj 9y agoWhat is really worrying though is the normalization of privacy devaluation. Soon the uk will follow suite and then others. And sooner than later we ll be "back" to 1984
- heisenbit 9y agoThe US destined travel is down since October and the trend downwards is consistent. Square who should have fairly up-to-date stats recently published their stats: https://medium.com/foursquare-direct/coming-to-america-528312934221 https://medium.com/foursquare-direct/coming-to-america-52831... At one point these trends will be impacting main street but by then it will be too late.
- lotsofpulp 9y agoIt already has in NYC. Look up hotel room rates tonight for Manhattan, they're in the $150s even for full service hotels. In my experience, for a sunny summer Saturday night in Manhattan, a lot of hotels used to have minimum 2 night stay restrictions, and only Sat nights would be $300+ per night. There were tons of more rooms built, but still, demand was not expected to drop this quickly this much.
- misiti3780 9y agohow do you know the low rates are not the result of competition from Airbnb ?
- wayn3 9y agopeople who stay in $300+ rooms dont stay in airbnb just because its available. airbnb rooms of comparable luxury are rarely cheaper than hotels.
- lotsofpulp 9y agoI work in the space, and while I can't conclusively state that it isn't, industry reports indicated a downturn in demand or increase in supply mostly towards the end of last year (via reduced occupancy percentages and average daily rate). Airbnb has been around for a while in NYC, and if anything, per news reports, I would expect their listings to actually be fewer or holding steady based on the local governments restrictions. Even if it was increased supply, there seems to be a more sudden drop in average daily rate in the past 6 to 9 months than before.
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- k-mcgrady 9y agoSocial media companies need to fight this. If they don't and it becomes widespread all my SM accounts will be deleted and I'm sure I won't be the only one. I'm not wasting time having two accounts or taking chances lying. I'm just going to delete the accounts. Global travel + my privacy is more important to me.
- Neliquat 9y agoAny damage to the social media ecosystem seems like a happy side effect to me, and a long term win for privacy. A system will come along shortly designed around these current issues, adoption will be de-facto. Which will just launch a new set of issues. Tech is fun.
- scarlac 9y agoI don't like it but honestly, how would social media companies fight it?
- tajen 9y agoA good donation to EFF for a freedom campaign would go a long way at coordinating the fight. And boost their image.
- steve371 9y agoThank god. They don't want my HN account.
- tajen 9y agoEspecially our HN accounts where we say the NSA/TSA/FBI are threats to our safety (depending on context) and we use false names with burner phone-based authentication on Facebook. Honest question, I still wonder what is so bad that I'm now using the same protections as criminals, apart from hiding that I don't want to be tracked.
- danieltillett 9y agoAs someone who has to travel to the USA for business I welcome all this activity - it is so much more enjoyable to have the seat next to you empty when you fly. I do wonder how long the airlines can continue to fly on half load.
- msl09 9y agoDoes this affect the process for all visas? Including tourism?
- Svip 9y agoYes. It's part of ESTA. I did not fill my social media accounts in - because I don't have any - when made an application, and to my surprise it was approved. Still a question of whether I get to enter the US next week, though.
- chinathrow 9y agoYou do have a HN account though. What's listed within ESTA at the moment?
- Svip 9y agoHN is not one of the sites listed. Although, you could select 'other', but I did not consider HN social media. Maybe my definition of 'social media' is a lot narrower than the US government's. I mean, does being a member of a classic bulletin board count?
- l33tbro 9y agoWhich social media are listed outside of FB, Twitter, and IG? Can't seem to find this. The article mentions it includes email. Is this included?
- wayn3 9y agowhen I did esta 2 weeks ago social media hadnt been mentioned
- nabla9 9y ago>The new questions are reportedly voluntary, but the form says that failure to provide the information may delay or prevent the processing of an individual visa application. What I suspect will happen is that if you are European with typical European name, probably no delay if you don't report. If you are from a Muslim country, visa is denied. This kind of thing is typical for autocratic governments. You make lots of rules and regulations that are typically not enforced. Their sole purpose is to cause difficulties for people rulers don't like. "We just follow the regulations."
- rogerbraun 9y agoIf you are European you're probably part of the visa waiver program anyway.
- danieltillett 9y agoIt is on the non-visa ESTA (the visa you have when you are pretending you don't have a visa).
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- k-mcgrady 9y agoYou still have to apply for visa waiver tho through ESTA so they can still deny you.
- SSLy 9y agoI am an European, and am not part of the program (I have a passport issued by Polish government.)
- highprofit 9y agoIs the US trying to be the most immigrant unfreindly place to discourage new immigrants and there by reduce immigration?
- discombobulate 9y agoAnother example of bullshit from governments. Last time I said something, someone told me to slow my roll. People's freedom is being eroded an inch at a time! (Or ~2.5 cm if you prefer the metric system).
- eddyg 9y agoWhy is everybody blaming this on the current administration? from June 2016: Agency Information Collection Activities: Arrival and Departure Record (Forms I-94 and I-94W) and Electronic System for Travel Authorization [1] Comments were accepted up until August 22, 2016 on the proposed changes. [1] https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/06/23/2016-14848/agency-information-collection-activities-arrival-and-departure-record-forms-i-94-and-i-94w-and https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/06/23/2016-14...
- lotsofpulp 9y agoI think it is a confluence of factors, and the continued strength of the USD compared to other currencies could certainly be playing a role in it, however, it's also true that the current federal government does not portray an inviting image to foreigners, especially of a certain demographic.
- maxerickson 9y agoWhy is everybody blaming this on the current administration? That doesn't seem to be especially true (so far here people are mostly discussing the details of the implementation). In any case, the current administration is responsible for choosing to continue existing policies. That doesn't make the current administration solely responsible for the trajectory of US immigration policy, but it shares the power to change things with Congress and so will of course be a focus of criticism.
- Neliquat 9y agoBecause it is popular to hate on Trump. This is by design, he plays the classic 'heel'. Much like in 'pro wrestling', he plays the bad guy to get attention, and it works amazingly well. All the press, demonstrations, and vitrol he gets only boost his name, and distract the public. He is now the most mentioned person ever to exist. Let that sink in.
- polack 9y agoThis was already "optional" information requested in the ESTA application since at least last year, so what's changed since? That it states more explicit that a failure to enter the information could prevent you from getting approved?
- draugadrotten 9y ago"Consular officials can now request all prior passport numbers, five years of social media handles, email addresses and phone numbers from applicants, as well as addresses, employment and travel history stretching back 15 years" Heck, I don't even keep records of my old passport numbers and much less travel history stretching back 15 years. As I travel weekly or bi-weekly, the list is not easily remembered or reconstructed. Does travel include ferry, boat, car or bike rides or is it just air travel?
- lotsofpulp 9y agoEveryone in the world should enable Google location history tracking, just in case they want to travel to the USA in the future.
- dboreham 9y agoIs it just me or does the headline fail to parse? "requires applicants for..."???
- kzrdude 9y agoDoes this impact citizens from visa waiver countries?
- Havoc 9y agoYeah they need to fill in the ESTA forms which asks for social media. Last time I saw the form it was marked as optional though - unsure whether that part changed
- Keyframe 9y agoAs if they don't know already? Check out Canadian immigration papers as well - same thing.
- merricksb 9y agoPrevious discussion of Reuters story linked from this article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14465534 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14465534 (84 points, 50 comments)
- hobarrera 9y agoNo mention of them requiring a password as well though. I wonder what happens when I don't remember -- I deleted my facebook account over a year ago, and legitimately don't remember my handle. All I can say is that my usual username (hobarrera) was taken.
- maga 9y agoI don't use Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/etc, but ordinary people seldom believe it ("come on, you are a programmer, how come you don't use web?!") and often assume I don't want to share my profile with them. I'm afraid the gov agencies will take the same approach and automatically assume the absence of the social media as an attempt to hide something. Luckily in this case, though, I hope not to have to visit USA anytime soon.