The US government
quietly began requesting that select foreign visitors provide Facebook, Twitter
and other social media accounts upon arriving in the country, a
move designed
to spot potential terrorist threats that drew months of opposition from tech
giants and privacy hawks alike.
Since Tuesday,
foreign travelers arriving in the United States on the visa waiver program have
been presented with an “optional” request to “enter information associated with
your online presence,” a government official confirmed.
The prompt includes
a drop-down menu that lists platforms including Facebook, Google+, Instagram,
LinkedIn and YouTube, as well as a space for users to input their account names
on those sites.
The new policy comes
as Washington tries to improve its ability to spot and deny entry to
individuals who have ties to terrorist groups like the Islamic State. But the
government has faced a barrage of criticism since it first floated the idea
last summer. The Internet Association, which represents companies including
Facebook, Google and Twitter, at the time joined with consumer advocates to
argue the draft policy threatened free expression and posed new privacy and
security risks to foreigners.
Now that it is
final, those opponents are furious the Obama administration ignored their
concerns.
"There are very
few rules about how that information is being collected, maintained [and]
disseminated to other agencies, and there are no guidelines about limiting the
government’s use of that information," said Michael W. Macleod-Ball, chief
of staff for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington office.
"While the government certainly has a right to collect some information
... it would be nice if they would focus on the privacy concerns some advocacy
groups have long expressed."
A spokeswoman for
Customs and Border Protection, who said the government approved the change on
Dec. 19, told POLITICO on Thursday the new policy is meant to “identify
potential threats.” Previously, the agency had said it wouldn't prohibit entry
to foreigners who didn’t provide their social media account information.
The question itself
is included in what’s known as the Electronic System for Travel Authorization,
a process that certain foreign travelers must complete to come to the United
States. ESTA and a related paper form specifically apply to those arriving here
through the visa-waiver program, which allows citizens of 38 countries to
travel and stay in the United States for up to 90 days without a visa.
As soon as the
government unveiled its draft proposal in June, however, consumer protection
advocates expressed outrage. In a letter sent in August, the ACLU, Center for
Democracy and Technology charged it posed immense privacy risks, given that
social media accounts serve as “gateways into an enormous amount of [users’]
online expression and associations, which can reflect highly sensitive
information about that person’s opinions, beliefs, identity and community.” The
groups also predicted the burden would “fall hardest on Arab and Muslim
communities, whose usernames, posts, contacts and social networks will be
exposed to intense scrutiny.”
After the policy
changed, Nathan White, the senior legislative manager of Access Now, again
blasted it as a threat to human rights.
“The choice to hand
over this information is technically voluntary,” he said. “But the process to
enter the U.S. is confusing, and it’s likely that most visitors will fill out
the card completely rather than risk additional questions from intimidating,
uniformed officers — the same officers who will decide which of your jokes are
funny and which ones make you a security risk.”
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