US immigration agencies read visa applicant's social media
US immigration agencies read visa applicant's social media
Two thumbs down as ACLU lawsuit yields uncomfortable results
Its not your ex ;)
In general, I see no problem with law enforcement reading information someone posts publicly on social media and using it against them if it constitutes evidence of a crime or intent to commit a crime. I do, however see some issues with this.
One of them, not mentioned in the article is that the US government is demanding that visa applicants tell the government about all their social media accounts. Being forced to reveal a pseudonymous account is a privacy issue. In addition, the software is looking for '"derogatory" comments about the nation', which is a free speech issue.
It's especially a problem to explain that you don't have any particular popular social media account.
As I understand it, 1st amendment protections don't extend to non citizens who have not established legal residency in the US already. So I think the free speech point is moot when we're discussing people attempting to get a visa to come to the US.
I mentioned the concept rather than the constitutional amendment because they can be different.
I believe some of the legal protections do apply to visa applicants. For example, the government may not discriminate on the basis of religion as Trump attempted to do early in his presidency. It probably can refuse a visa for a history of social media posts indicating support for terrorism, and most people would probably find that justified.
What I wouldn't find justified is denying a visa for a history of criticizing US government policy, which could certainly fall under "derogatory comments".
Everyone would be mad if they didn't do this and they let someone immigrate that ended up doing something dumb---only to find out they'd be posting about it on their Facebook page for years.
If they're fine with mass shooting #837292, then they can put up with this
I mean if you're sharing your whole life out there for everyone to see under your real identity, then I can't really get mad at anyone for looking at it. I mean it's just there for anyone to see whether on Facebook or Mastodon.
Privacy is half the way governments and companies behave, and half you as an individual take precautions to protect yourself.
real identity
That doesn't matter though, cause you have to provide all your social media identifiers - so it doesn't matter if your handle is real or fake. You can choose to say "none", but then you'd be asked about that by a visa interview officer, and they could reject your application for being suspicious. On the other hand, if you really had an account on a mainstream social media site, and you used your real device fingerprint to access it at some stage, they could find out and you'd never be allowed into the country.
Source: https://t.ly/uBxvt
You’re not wrong about individual agency and privacy. If you post information to a public platform and cry foul about privacy when someone asks if it’s yours, that’s on you as an individual.
Since we, in the US, have no codified right to general privacy, it’s on us as much as possible to protect it and be aware of what we put out in public spaces. You never know when someone in power might choose to abuse the expectation of privacy, whether it’s an elected government or a private corp.
I mean… sure? If you’re moving to another country be prepared to have your life scrutinized.
I think the biggest issue is how nearly certain this is to be used on citizens as well (if it isn’t already). I think it’s pretty short hops from ‘something they don’t like posted’ -> search or confiscate phone every time you cross international border -> ???
And none of this requires probable cause or a warrant.
Not surprising, but its not clear if its public or private data. I used to post privately extensively for a reason.
Public or private, it makes no difference to them.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has used an AI-powered data-scanning tool called Giant Oak Search Technology (GOST) to scour social media looking for post containing "derogatory" comments about the nation.
Immigration agencies and service providers have apparently been using the data in enforcement actions, according to an The American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and first reported by 404 Media.
"The Biden administration has been quietly deploying and expanding programs that surveil what people say on social media, often without any suspicion whatsoever," Shaiba Rather, a Nadine Strossen Fellow with ACLU's National Security Project, told The Register.
"These programs chill people from speaking freely online and transform social media into a platform for constant government scrutiny."
The firm says its AI-based system allows government agencies and law enforcement to "identify bad actors by behavioral pattern rather than identity labels," using information found on the open and deep web.
DHS has reportedly used GOST since 2014, according to documents obtained by 404 Media, and ICE has paid Giant Oak more than $10 million for the system since 2017.
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