Stop asking people for their passwords, rights warriors yell at US Homeland Security Civil and digital rights groups are leading a campaign to stop the US Department of Homeland Security's demanding access to foreigners' social media accounts when entering America. In an open letter to DHS secretary John Kelly, the group argues that by forcing travelers from some countries to give border patrol agents free …
While I do agree with the sentiment of Our Alien Overlord, the problem is that Americans don't travel overseas as much as other Western type people.
The ones who do tend to be of the more liberal, educated variety who are (possibly) less likely to vote for Mr. Trump, so that sort of policy, while being satisfying would probably just confirm their view.
"The ones who do tend to be of the more liberal, educated variety who are (possibly) less likely to vote for Mr. Trump"
Well let the freshly wet & lubed up liberals go home with a sore arse and get there shit together then,
i.e. do less bullshitting than the other party (and mean it - really) and they might get somewhere - not holding my breath to
no win either way,
"i.e. do less bullshitting than the other party (and mean it - really) and they might get somewhere - not holding my breath to"
I'd argue they need to do MORE bullshitting if they want to ever have a majority again. The Republicans win because they're better bullshitters and willing to rig the system. The Dems need to catch on that you don't get extra points for telling the truth, that bending the rules is how the game is played, and obstructionism doesn't cost anything when people go to the ballot box.
@ Orv - I really have to say I pity you and other Americans if your actual opinion is that you want your Opposition politicians to become more corrupt, more partisan and frankly more useless. In most cultures, the idea is that you replace a group of useless or corrupt politicians with a less useless/non-corrupt group, and hope that leads to better and better politics.
It doesnt work that way very often admittedly, but it is certainly the aim of most Democracies to vote for the best group to lead. A race to the bottom of the corruption bowl is not usually something to look forward to...
"I really have to say I pity you and other Americans if your actual opinion is that you want your Opposition politicians to become more corrupt, more partisan and frankly more useless."
It's the only way I can see to stop the country from continuing to be pulled to the right. The Democrats constantly bring knives to gun fights, and as long as they continue to do so they will lose. We are perilously close to a situation where Republicans can re-engineer our election laws to guarantee themselves a permanent majority.
I wish both parties were more honest and honorable, but unilateral disarmament doesn't work.
"We desperately need a Trump icon. I feel it could well be used often !!!!"
Considering the ever increasing number of Idiots In Office™ polluting Governments worldwide this century, how about an icon showing a character with an open mouth (inserted shoe optional), and a large vacant hole between the ears.
That should cover most cringe worthy politicians.
Considering the ever increasing number of Idiots In Office™ polluting Governments worldwide this century
We've got the politicians we deserve. If more and more Idiots are elected, it tells a lot about the evolution of the average intellectual level of the standard voters.
The mindlessness of the average CommentLeftTard in here is simply incredible!
It now seems to include almost all of the Authors...
What happened to the humorist, intelligent ElReg I used to know, years ago, gently nibbling away at the posterior of the PHB???
Just going the same way as the rest of the "Press".
I blame the Internet:
Internet = noise = everything turned up to 11.
humans + internet = brain overheat = vote left = armageddon = peace
Ahhhh, at LAST!......
I remember when USA introduced a "processing fee" on Russian visa applications circa 1999. In less than 3 months they were facing each other at 500$ if memory serves me right. USA started at 100. Russians reciprocated, Americans got offended that someone else dares do what they do and replied to put it at $300, Russians set it at 300$ a day later and so on.
The issue is - the USAisian politicians have the mentality of an overweight toddler playground bully. Same mentality, demeanor, approach and looks like the character out of Ant Bully.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEyO4C5NMJM
"I am BIG and YOU ARE SMALL" - as American as it can get.
If you reply in kind to them in their currency alone you get a wedgie, a bigger wedgie, and if necessary a bomb-into-stone-age wedgie. The only way to deal with that is the Ant Bully method - have them face a gang. They will back off. It is actually good for them - better that than ending up running into an Ender (that will not be good for the playground, err... Planet).
"I hope all countries follow the US policy and impose it on Americans."
Depending on your source, only somewhere between 3% and 30% of American citizens hold passports. Ergo, it probably wouldn't impinge on the average US citizen in any way.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbender/2012/01/30/record-number-of-americans-now-hold-passports/#529150c2f97e
So, we all setup a "common profile" that we know the "password" for and everybody refers to it. You might need to make up one for each gender, but we could all refer to it.
Border guy: "This looks like the last one I saw".
Guy entering: "Yup. That's the name I use online."
"I was advised to remove all corporate and personal information from my smartphone and obey the Border Guards."
and don't use social media, either. problem solved.
(I'd probably need to do the same kind of thing going outside of the USA, so there ya go)
A simple slab costs less than $50. change the PW to "TSA sucks" and have a nice laugh. One for travel, and something else for REAL work. No history on the travel device. A throwaway google e-mail address would do nicely.
"Hidden in plain sight"
I don't get the requirement for a login password to access the visitor's social media accounts. Don't the border people have Internet access?
Border Patrol: Hey, schmuck, as I watch you, send me a link to your MySpace page!
Schmuck: Done.
That was easy, wasn't it?
Just, why the need for a password?
Control... Intimidation... Harassment... Just Because They Can... pick one or all.
The fun part is, even if the traveler is completely compliant, the Bordies still can refuse to let them in based on what they see on someone's profile. Giving them discretion like this will surely be a huge success, much like the TSA's "attempts" at racial behavioral profiling, keeping people from accidentally bringing dangerous things onto planes, strip searching terror watch list babies, and basically everything they do.
Just quote that dumbass US Senator who said People dont HAVE to use the Internet. If it's a good enough excuse for a Senator, surely it must be a good enough excuse for TSA?
I'm split between the Troll Icon, the Joke Icon, and the Face Palm Icon. Sometimes the world is just too stupid...
complete outraged idiots and psychopaths have routinely bragged about their sh*t on open platforms. Of course its only *after* they commit evil that everyone who isn't sympathetic to their particular cause finally notices years of hate and propaganda.
Before I flushed FB down the loo, there were dozens of ranting anti-gun, anti-politician-responsibility "liberals" suddenly thinking the Letter of the Law was Sacrosanct and actually looking where to get illegal guns off the books and even silencers. As a known 2A advocate, I got a few dozen such requests from people I'd gone to school with, or relatives of friends who I watched like one witnesses train wrecks, going from "America is so violent and lawless you can get machine guns easier than library books and all gun owners are crazy!" to "do you know where I can get a silencer or off the books pistol?" after November.
Rights Warriors get real quiet when the Dems are in charge. Like all the anti war camps that simply go away. then they come right back when the Party changes. Its almost like "rights" only exist when Their Party isn't around taking them away...
.. would be the Silicon Vally lot realising that people are actively cancelling asocial media accounts if they have to cross the US border.
I reckon that amount of screeching *would* be heard in Washington.
Human Rights? Nah. Less income for a US company? Oh My Gawd, they won't be able to change the laws fast enough..
".. would be the Silicon Vally lot realising that people are actively cancelling asocial media accounts if they have to cross the US border.
I reckon that amount of screeching *would* be heard in Washington."
Not sure there would be much point in the screeching as Silicon Valley will have already collected all the info they need to spamvertise the users and their online acquaintances. :(
"Errm. Cancelled accounts?"
The information they have already collected has plenty of value to folks like recruitment agencies, or intrusive HR teams for example. The current world political agenda appears to be very firmly weighted in favour of corporations over people at the moment so I would expect the market for that kind of data to expand rapidly over the next few years.
and you just hit the nail on the head.
the entire issue here is how it affects the Big Social Media platforms' bottom line.
Facebook is worried that this will work like negative press and affect current and new memberships
so Facebook "trends" the Outrage Machine and Gets People Talking
Which then becomes Tech News and something the Privacy Groups now "care" about.
If this privacy concern either did not affect Social Media investors' income, or somehow INCREASED their profit, the whole discussion would fade away in a matter of days and no groups of Rights Watchdogs would be investing any effort, or reported on by Tech Media
Q: Is the sole purpose of your visit to bring down the US government?
A: No, I'm also going to do some shopping
And then there's the question still on the immigration cards along the lines of "were you involved with the Nazi party 1939-1945" when an increasing amount of people going to the US wheren't even born then.
A more interesting aspect of this is to give them access details for a Europe based service. When they use the login details they are then committing an offence as they are not an authorised user (note that typical sites specifically state in their contract that you cannot authorise a third party to access on your behalf). The tit for tat then is to issue a John Doe extradition warrant and ask the US authorities to investigate the IP address being used to commit the offence. It does put USA extradition requests for persons illegally accessing their websites in a new light.
Obviously they will just ignore it but any country that wants to be a pain can have considerable fun with it.
I suspect that will bounce off the fact that they're wannabe law enforcement and can thus do pretty much what they like as long as they have a good sounding excuse. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea but I suspect you'd be wasting your time.
My preference is to find a way to load up a social media account with enough malware to bring down the NSA but unfortunately the risk of collateral damage is too big. On the plus side, TSA baiting is what Yahoo! email is practically made for - it's not my fault I'm bombarded by every Nigerian prince and FedEx viagra delivery notifications..
if a Clinton was in office demanding this, there'd be almost outrage. it'd be all "common sense" and defenders saying anyone with issues were "bitter paranoid GOP rednecks". Like all the other privacy invading shite from the last Administration.
When Chump fades away and the Dems sweep the White House, all the same privacy invading crap will come through and the silence will be deafening. Except from partisan hacks on the other side anyway, but they're not the ones who own vast electronic social media empires so there's less Outrage being reported.
People are really comfortable with true universal surveillance as revealed by Snowden, there were no mass Outrage-fests, but Chump even blinks and its the Apocalypse. Social media outlets and electronic tech media are more obsessed about things Trump *says* than the Dems have *done*. When everyone with half a brain knows, what Trump says is pretty much negated by the next thing he says. Hell, he claims he's a successfull businessman still.....
Besides, many of you Trump haters are "snack-ist". As a fan of Cheetos type snacks I am offended and Outraged that you compare the two. Cheetos deserve Fairness!
Privacy is not a partisan issue. It won't even be made into one (well, OK, other than as a swiftly forgotten promise) because data sales mean revenue. A LOT of revenue. In my experience, as soon as it is about lots of contributions tax revenue and jobs, either side will bend over backwards to accommodate.
I suspect the howling will be audible all the way into Brussels when the Article 29 working party deems Privacy Shield not renewable exactly because of that.
I'm rather looking forward to that. Already buying popcorn..
"People are really comfortable with true universal surveillance as revealed by Snowden, there were no mass Outrage-fests"
There was quite a lot of outrage, actually. Maybe Fox News just didn't cover it?
GOP reaction was strangely mixed. The libertarian wing of the party generally was concerned about the possible privacy issues, but mainstream Republicans were focused on prosecuting Snowden and the journalists he worked with for revealing what they saw as important intelligence gathering programs.
Since I work for a bank, and messing with bank data is a matter the Secret Service takes seriously, I will need your full name (Homeland Sec agent) and social security number so I can provide it to the SS Agent afterwards, as it is a felony to access others computers systems for malicious intent. Just incase something happens from your accessing the banks property (the phone). This does work both ways :)
I have for the last 20 years used different everything (ie: email, name, phone, dob) for different websites with different combinations for each one of them.
It gets difficult and confusing and I had to create a database to store my hundreds of personalities. I keep it air gaped and with some exceptions I have to be home to do most stuff. Which is cool because I don't trust other networks anyways, after all paranoia is one of the symptoms of multiple personality disorders.
But now the internet has grown to a point that I might have to consolidate my personalities to about a dozen different ones, and keep some of them looking real. Personal for family and friends, personal for acquaintances, personal for important businesses(banks, work..), personal for less important business(Amazon, cell...), personal for trash business, personal for governments(all), generic for active web forums (the reg), generic for trash web forums, anonymous for pornsites, anonymous for political sites (wapo, nyt, the reg?), and a couple more for some future needs. It's going to be difficult to add eight more facebook accounts, they're jerks.
I thought it was OK to do that because that's how businesses operate when they have many different entities under one single umbrella (Alphabet, Chaebols). Businesses are people right? So people should be businesses as well.
The only thing I wish is that I could have a dozen different social security numbers like they have different business licenses. That would make my dissociative disorder more manageable. Welcome to new world.
It's the oldies I feel sorry for. Just as you now can't get a job without paying £80 or wtvr for a passport -- thanks for that, Viscount Rothermere -- soon you won't be able to enter the US unless you're on Facebook and Twitter.
(And thanks to the wonders of federated auth, when you give up those passwords you're giving up access to every third party site with a "login with Facebook" button, too.)
I wonder how they'll handle 2fa?
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