6 ms·

also, "lack of a social media profile could prompt US visa denial" source https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/study/now-lack-of-a-social-media-profile-cou

by angst 1y ago

also, "lack of a social media profile could prompt US visa denial" source https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/study/now-lack-of-a-social-media-profile-could-prompt-us-visa-denial/articleshow/121561981.cms https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/study/now-lack-of-a...

koakuma-chan 1y ago
What? And which social medias am I required to have a profile on?
- Havoc 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - koakuma-chan 1y ago
    > this is too insane to be reality Is reality supposed to be less insane than this? Is this even insane in the first place?
    - krapp 1y ago
      Yes, and yes.
      - koakuma-chan 1y ago
        Well, the guy was elected democratically, and democracy is supposed to work, right? Where did things go wrong? Why do people elect someone and then complain the person is bad? How do people choose who to vote for? What is even the point of complaining, what are you going to do? Elect someone else next time, so that the same thing happens? Revolt? Good luck with that. What makes you think the world has ever been sane? Tell me what I'm missing, please.
        mcphage 1y ago
        I’m not sure the logic that “he was elected democratically, therefore everything he does is fine and is what people wanted” is sound. I’m not sure why you do.
        koakuma-chan 1y ago
        I'm only saying that, could it be that democracy doesn't actually work? It's not the first time Trump is the president, so he must have done really well for people to elect him again, right? He definitely was not impeached two times, right? As a voter, who are you supposed to vote for?
        mschoch 1y ago
        [dead]
        mschoch 1y ago
        [dead]
        mcphage 1y ago
        > could it be that democracy doesn't actually work? Clearly it doesn’t work all of the time, but… uh… what does?
        koakuma-chan 1y ago
        It's unclear how it was supposed to work in the first place as there is no basis upon which I can decide who to vote for given a number of strangers I don't know anything about. I also know next to nothing about history, politics, economy, law, et cetera. Candidates usually promise things that are easy to understand of course, but as we've seen time and time again there is no consequences for not following through.
        krapp 1y ago
        Democracy does "work" in the sense that there is some causal, albeit not direct, relationship between votes cast and representatives elected, vis-a-vis voting for said representatives. Trump supporters voted for him, and his agenda, and are getting what they voted for. And under the American electoral system neither majority support per capita nor even a popular vote beyond a margin of error are required for success, because states and state electoral votes (which are biased to favor rural, conservative politics) determine the outcome. The problem here is not democracy per se so much as the inherent biases in the American system which allow a minority of voters to hijack the process so long as they live in the correct states, and American culture in which the apathy and disgust towards government and politicians is so toxic that people literally cannot see a difference between any one politician and any other. As for who to vote for, I mean, I'm not a huge fan of Kamala Harris or the Democrats but I don't think she would be doing half of the heinous shit that Trump currently is, so I would posit the apparently controversial thesis that y'all should have not fucking voted for Donald Trump. This was one of the rare elections in which there was a right choice and a wrong choice. Or, if you can't accept that, a greater evil and lesser evil. But Americans chose the greater evil. Barring some revelation of electoral fraud, Trump was America's choice, fairly and legitimately elected within the rules of the system. Democracy worked as intended. This is the government Americans wanted. Now Americans just have to deal with it.
- wombatpm 1y ago
  Truth Social
colinbartlett 1y ago
Absolutely insane. Until recently, I had none. Now I at least have a LinkedIn account. My mother has no social media at all.
- Alupis 1y ago
  So you have no HN account? No YouTube Account? No Reddit Account? These are all forms of Social Media.
  - fc417fc802 1y ago
    Speaking for myself I have an HN account but why would I want those other two? And I certainly don't have any "social" accounts under my legal name. I'm not even comfortable with ICANN based DNS given that the identity requirements amount to an impressum. That's fine for business dealings but interpersonal communications (including the metadata) should be private from outside observers.
  - energywut 1y ago
    I create and delete HN accounts every... 80-200 karma. I don't have a youtube account. I don't have a reddit account. Why is it so difficult to believe that there are people here who view social media as a harmful thing they try to mostly avoid?
    - redczar 1y ago
      I’ve been on HN since the beginning. I’m on my 12th or so username. Like you I don’t have a Reddit, Facebook, etc. account. Social Media is a plague on society.
    - ninjin 1y ago
      If the world is heading the way the US is heading, I may be inclined to start doing the same. This is the only "social media" account I have left, but if my freedom of expressing myself will be impaired by governmental stalking like this I will sadly have to "adapt". Losing my ability to help filter and manage by upvoting and flagging blows though.
checker659 1y ago
What’s stopping someone from using LLMs to create a alt account? Imagine a bot that takes stuff from you actual a/c and posts the mirror opposite posts on the alt one.
- koakuma-chan 1y ago
  Don't post pictures of yourself on the internet (and don't let your relatives do that), and you can say it wasn't you.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  > What’s stopping someone from using LLMs to create an alt account? For the applicant? Visa fraud rules. For people fucking with third parties? Absolutely nothing.
  - checker659 1y ago
    How would one prove fraud? I'm trying to understand the logic behind all of this.
- sneak 1y ago
  Most large social networks now require biometric authentication of identity to prevent alts. Even Uber requires facial biometrics for an account now if you try to sign up using a prepaid card and VPN.
grg0 1y ago
That is really sad, especially for people here, because the kind of people who dwell on HN are likely to specifically avoid creating much of a public profile on account of their increased knowledge and perception of these systems. Time to go study in Europe, folks.
- TZubiri 1y ago
  Not even a linkedin? Bluesky,A google maps thingy? Not even an FSF subscription and GNU social account? You have the freedom to be off the grid, but the states have the freedom to reject your entry.
  - riedel 1y ago
    I think nobody is screaming here that this particular action is illegal, as I read the comments. However, there is many things governments can do, that can be considered (under different subjective considerations) unethical, following a hidden agenda or plainly stupid. My personal decision at the moment is that I do not travel to the US. Which means that at times our papers are not presented at US conferences because my PhD students don't get visa (even unrelated to the current ban). I think the US will survive this particular loss though.
    - grg0 1y ago
      That sounds terrible. Do you think the US can recover from this if these policies extend for the full 4-year presidential period?
  - intended 1y ago
    Strawman. No one is saying states don’t have the right. States can go even further. They can decide to exit economic unions, trade agreements, etc. You have sovereignty. Everyone knows you have freedom to play cards as you see fit. Everyone who understands how the game is played, will also make moves accordingly. There’s nothing to be defensive about.
    - 1y ago
pwdisswordfishz 1y ago
But a national ID card is literally Satan?
throwaway2037 1y ago
This looks taken out of context. First, Economic Times is a shitty news source. The original was reported by Bloomberg, a much better news source. (What is their SEO dept doing to get ahead of Bloomberg in Google search results?) The exact quote: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/immigration/rubio-orders-tougher-vetting-for-any-foreign-visitor-to-harvard https://news.bloomberglaw.com/immigration/rubio-orders-tough... > Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday ordered more scrutiny of the social-media profiles of any foreigners seeking to visit Harvard University, telling US consular officers that applicants’ lack of an online presence might be enough evidence to deny a visa. This part is important: "any foreigners seeking to visit Harvard University" Is Rubio's cable sent to US embassies worldwide public? It would be nice to see the full text.
- gopkarthik 1y ago
  > What is their SEO dept doing to get ahead of Bloomberg in Google search results? I thought ET/Hindustan Times etc showed up in Google Search results since I search from the region. But if they show up before Bloomberg/FT/WSJ etc for other regions too, then ET's SEO team is doing something terrific.
  - throwaway2037 1y ago
    It is ridiculous how good is Economic Times' SEO team! The crap they pump out reads like a ChatGPT summary from other major newspapers. Grumble...
- Cipater 1y ago
  There is now a notice on each and every US Embassy website visa home page that says: Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media accounts to ‘public’ to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States under U.S. law. Pick any at random to verify.
  - throwaway2037 1y ago
OrangeMusic 1y ago
Simple solution: create a fake public Facebook account. Post something about the weather.

by angst 1y ago

koakuma-chan 1y ago

What? And which social medias am I required to have a profile on?

Havoc 1y ago
[flagged]
- koakuma-chan 1y ago
  > this is too insane to be reality Is reality supposed to be less insane than this? Is this even insane in the first place?
  - krapp 1y ago
    Yes, and yes.
    - koakuma-chan 1y ago
      Well, the guy was elected democratically, and democracy is supposed to work, right? Where did things go wrong? Why do people elect someone and then complain the person is bad? How do people choose who to vote for? What is even the point of complaining, what are you going to do? Elect someone else next time, so that the same thing happens? Revolt? Good luck with that. What makes you think the world has ever been sane? Tell me what I'm missing, please.
      - mcphage 1y ago
        I’m not sure the logic that “he was elected democratically, therefore everything he does is fine and is what people wanted” is sound. I’m not sure why you do.
        koakuma-chan 1y ago
        I'm only saying that, could it be that democracy doesn't actually work? It's not the first time Trump is the president, so he must have done really well for people to elect him again, right? He definitely was not impeached two times, right? As a voter, who are you supposed to vote for?
        mschoch 1y ago
        [dead]
        mschoch 1y ago
        [dead]
        mcphage 1y ago
        > could it be that democracy doesn't actually work? Clearly it doesn’t work all of the time, but… uh… what does?
        koakuma-chan 1y ago
        It's unclear how it was supposed to work in the first place as there is no basis upon which I can decide who to vote for given a number of strangers I don't know anything about. I also know next to nothing about history, politics, economy, law, et cetera. Candidates usually promise things that are easy to understand of course, but as we've seen time and time again there is no consequences for not following through.
        krapp 1y ago
        Democracy does "work" in the sense that there is some causal, albeit not direct, relationship between votes cast and representatives elected, vis-a-vis voting for said representatives. Trump supporters voted for him, and his agenda, and are getting what they voted for. And under the American electoral system neither majority support per capita nor even a popular vote beyond a margin of error are required for success, because states and state electoral votes (which are biased to favor rural, conservative politics) determine the outcome. The problem here is not democracy per se so much as the inherent biases in the American system which allow a minority of voters to hijack the process so long as they live in the correct states, and American culture in which the apathy and disgust towards government and politicians is so toxic that people literally cannot see a difference between any one politician and any other. As for who to vote for, I mean, I'm not a huge fan of Kamala Harris or the Democrats but I don't think she would be doing half of the heinous shit that Trump currently is, so I would posit the apparently controversial thesis that y'all should have not fucking voted for Donald Trump. This was one of the rare elections in which there was a right choice and a wrong choice. Or, if you can't accept that, a greater evil and lesser evil. But Americans chose the greater evil. Barring some revelation of electoral fraud, Trump was America's choice, fairly and legitimately elected within the rules of the system. Democracy worked as intended. This is the government Americans wanted. Now Americans just have to deal with it.
wombatpm 1y ago
Truth Social

colinbartlett 1y ago

Absolutely insane. Until recently, I had none. Now I at least have a LinkedIn account. My mother has no social media at all.

Alupis 1y ago
So you have no HN account? No YouTube Account? No Reddit Account? These are all forms of Social Media.
- fc417fc802 1y ago
  Speaking for myself I have an HN account but why would I want those other two? And I certainly don't have any "social" accounts under my legal name. I'm not even comfortable with ICANN based DNS given that the identity requirements amount to an impressum. That's fine for business dealings but interpersonal communications (including the metadata) should be private from outside observers.
- energywut 1y ago
  I create and delete HN accounts every... 80-200 karma. I don't have a youtube account. I don't have a reddit account. Why is it so difficult to believe that there are people here who view social media as a harmful thing they try to mostly avoid?
  - redczar 1y ago
    I’ve been on HN since the beginning. I’m on my 12th or so username. Like you I don’t have a Reddit, Facebook, etc. account. Social Media is a plague on society.
  - ninjin 1y ago
    If the world is heading the way the US is heading, I may be inclined to start doing the same. This is the only "social media" account I have left, but if my freedom of expressing myself will be impaired by governmental stalking like this I will sadly have to "adapt". Losing my ability to help filter and manage by upvoting and flagging blows though.

checker659 1y ago

What’s stopping someone from using LLMs to create a alt account? Imagine a bot that takes stuff from you actual a/c and posts the mirror opposite posts on the alt one.

koakuma-chan 1y ago
Don't post pictures of yourself on the internet (and don't let your relatives do that), and you can say it wasn't you.
JumpCrisscross 1y ago
> What’s stopping someone from using LLMs to create an alt account? For the applicant? Visa fraud rules. For people fucking with third parties? Absolutely nothing.
- checker659 1y ago
  How would one prove fraud? I'm trying to understand the logic behind all of this.
sneak 1y ago
Most large social networks now require biometric authentication of identity to prevent alts. Even Uber requires facial biometrics for an account now if you try to sign up using a prepaid card and VPN.

grg0 1y ago

That is really sad, especially for people here, because the kind of people who dwell on HN are likely to specifically avoid creating much of a public profile on account of their increased knowledge and perception of these systems. Time to go study in Europe, folks.

TZubiri 1y ago
Not even a linkedin? Bluesky,A google maps thingy? Not even an FSF subscription and GNU social account? You have the freedom to be off the grid, but the states have the freedom to reject your entry.
- riedel 1y ago
  I think nobody is screaming here that this particular action is illegal, as I read the comments. However, there is many things governments can do, that can be considered (under different subjective considerations) unethical, following a hidden agenda or plainly stupid. My personal decision at the moment is that I do not travel to the US. Which means that at times our papers are not presented at US conferences because my PhD students don't get visa (even unrelated to the current ban). I think the US will survive this particular loss though.
  - grg0 1y ago
    That sounds terrible. Do you think the US can recover from this if these policies extend for the full 4-year presidential period?
- intended 1y ago
  Strawman. No one is saying states don’t have the right. States can go even further. They can decide to exit economic unions, trade agreements, etc. You have sovereignty. Everyone knows you have freedom to play cards as you see fit. Everyone who understands how the game is played, will also make moves accordingly. There’s nothing to be defensive about.
  - 1y ago

pwdisswordfishz 1y ago

But a national ID card is literally Satan?

throwaway2037 1y ago

This looks taken out of context. First, Economic Times is a shitty news source. The original was reported by Bloomberg, a much better news source. (What is their SEO dept doing to get ahead of Bloomberg in Google search results?) The exact quote: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/immigration/rubio-orders-tougher-vetting-for-any-foreign-visitor-to-harvard https://news.bloomberglaw.com/immigration/rubio-orders-tough... > Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday ordered more scrutiny of the social-media profiles of any foreigners seeking to visit Harvard University, telling US consular officers that applicants’ lack of an online presence might be enough evidence to deny a visa. This part is important: "any foreigners seeking to visit Harvard University" Is Rubio's cable sent to US embassies worldwide public? It would be nice to see the full text.

gopkarthik 1y ago
> What is their SEO dept doing to get ahead of Bloomberg in Google search results? I thought ET/Hindustan Times etc showed up in Google Search results since I search from the region. But if they show up before Bloomberg/FT/WSJ etc for other regions too, then ET's SEO team is doing something terrific.
- throwaway2037 1y ago
  It is ridiculous how good is Economic Times' SEO team! The crap they pump out reads like a ChatGPT summary from other major newspapers. Grumble...
Cipater 1y ago
There is now a notice on each and every US Embassy website visa home page that says: Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media accounts to ‘public’ to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States under U.S. law. Pick any at random to verify.
- throwaway2037 1y ago

OrangeMusic 1y ago

Simple solution: create a fake public Facebook account. Post something about the weather.