
My social media account?
I'm on Twitter as the real Donald Trump. Does that mean I can get my visa now?
The US State Department is being sued over its policy of crawling the social media accounts of people applying for entry visas. A complaint [PDF] filed to the Washington DC US District Court alleges that Uncle Sam's policy "violates the expressive and associational rights of visa applicants by compelling them to facilitate the …
They wanted to see my ID card for "security reasons" - without actually doing any "security check" if I were a dangerous person or not - just looking that the information they were collecting for tracking, marketing and advertising were real.
I can understand the x-ray checks - even if big knives were actually sold without problems at the fair itself in the previous years... sure, not being USA no firearms on sale without any check, and checking for bombs can be OK, given how people are there. But i were a suicide bomber I would have no problem to show you my ID card, and then explode with it in my hand.
Their privacy policy is a joke, a good example how to attempt to twist GDPR against citizens: https://pass.artigianoinfiera.it/therms.html (enjoy the bad English - the Italian is no better, anyway - don't know where they copied and pasted from, and how many automatic translators were used).
"the Data Subject may revoke their consent at any time, assuming the consequences"
"request the cancellation of redundant data, but not that required by law by the Data Controller"
(Bold mine)
you may ask what "redundant data" are, what "consequences" follow revoking, and what law requires a fair organization to keep data about visitors - the same organization that happen to run an online store. But hinting some menaces was probably thought a good way to stop people revoking consent or asking data deletion.
I refused, sent them to hell, and went elsewhere. I wonder what they will ask next.
Between surveillance capitalism, security theatre, and both companies and governments eager to track everybody everywhere.
China could find one day they just became amateurs.
Well, that includes me.
While 'Dear Leader Donald' is in the Whitehouse pretending to 'drain the swamp' I have no intention of visiting the USofA.
I suspect that he'll be declaring himself 'President for Life' like his pal Putin. Constitution? What Constitution... The only constitution he understands is the short walk between his golf buggy and the ball.
Just made me think - was the "Orange King" a prediction in Disney's take of Jungle Book as King Louie
I wouldn't worry. If you've made negative comments about a French company, you can be sure that there are many, many of my countrymen who have made even worse comments.
It's in our nature to complain. When it's hot, it's always too hot. When it's cold, it's not hot anymore. When there's sunshine, we'd like rain. When it's raining, we're fed up with rain.
It's called being Gaulois. It's the reason why no invader will ever stay - we'll drive them nuts because we drive ourselves nuts already. Vive la France !
"It's in our nature to complain. When it's hot, it's always too hot. When it's cold, it's not hot anymore. When there's sunshine, we'd like rain. When it's raining, we're fed up with rain."
Not to put a crimp in your flag waiving arm, that sounds suspiciously like most of the UK citizenry!
God Save The Queen!
that sounds suspiciously like most of the UK citizenry
Well, you can't be best frenemies for 1500-ish years (with the emphasis on the 'enemy' bit for most of that time - up to 1970-ish) without gaining a fair number of shared characteristics..
And the Bretons are just the Cornish who could swim :-)
(Kernow bys vikken!)
I can't see the case going far as it affects those who aren't American Citizens and are beyond Constitutional protection.
I've never wanted to visit the dystopian, failed state, shithole country of America, And guess I never will be allowed to.
At least these days I only have to write this. Much easier than joining the Communist Party to get turned away at the border.
"I can't see the case going far as it affects those who aren't American Citizens and are beyond Constitutional protection."
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution:
The Equal Protection Clause requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to all people, including all non-citizens, within its jurisdiction.
(Yes, yes, it's from Wikipedia, I know...)
The Equal Protection Clause requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to all people, including all non-citizens, within its jurisdiction.
But those filthy forrunners aren't within its jurisdiction yet, they wish to get in (or not as the case may be, but that isn't a real problem).
"But those filthy forrunners aren't within its jurisdiction yet, they wish to get in "
US border control claims jurisdiction 100 miles from any point of entry. By the time you reach border/passport control, you are already inside. If your flight from a one non-US country/territory to another non-US country/territory passes through their airspace, then your data will be passed to them.
>I've never wanted to visit the dystopian, failed state, shithole country of America,
That's a little harsh. America is actually 50 countries, all different from each other. We have a Federal government which tends to be a bit of a busybody, its supposed to ensure free interstate commerce, uniform(ish) laws, manage our defense and so on but like all bureaucracies it tends to expand over time like an unwelcome fungus. If you can bring yourself to run the gauntlet of the Feds at the border you might find individual states quite pleasant, full of normal people living normal lives. States like the one I live in -- California -- are physically and economically on a par with the UK, they tend to be progressive and are certainly not dystopian. (Other states....well, it depends.....) We're about as far removed from the D.C reality bubble as Europe is.
"........... to submit a list of their social media accounts, both those under their real name and those operated under an alias."
So if you don't tell them about any posted under an alias how will they know?
Make sure phone / laptop doesn't have any shortcuts / favourites / apps installed,clear history and cookies and they'll never know. They're hardly going to check your IP history with your ISP to see where you've been browsing. Are they????
It another law that has been brought in without any real thought. No terrorist is going to give out their social media accounts that show them posting 'Death to American on it' . If they wanted to go to the US to commit harm they could easily create some fake Twitter, Facebook, Instagram account with pro American and neutral posts well in advance of their application to give their application more credibility. Heck you can buy aged social media accounts online from some forums so its easy enough to get one that had lots of posts already on there so you don't have to go to the effort yourself.
So many people publish the worst about themselves on SM, that it's a great place to get information on them and likely much faster than something like an Interpol check. If you are posting to SM that you plan to go somewhere to protest something, chances are that the country would rather you stay at home. In fact, if you read the fine print, every country prohibits foreign visitors from participating in protests, movements, politics, etc. The last thing they want is to have to deal with is foreigners in their jails. Language can be an issue, but the person may have no clue how the legal system works in the country and they will have no money to pay bonds, fines or lawyers.
Who wants to bet money against governments having direct access to databases of the major SM companies? They likely have an internal department that does nothing by liaison work with government agencies.