Re:U.S. now can ask travelers for Facebook, Twitter handles
by dguaraglia on Friday June 02, 2017 @01:02PM
(#14471472)
That's kind of the "gotcha" question they ask you when getting a passport in an overseas office: "have you ever been affiliated with a terrorist organization or performed terrorist acts in another country?" At face value the question is ridiculous, but they put it there just to make sure they've got you on record lying to a government official if you are ever found out to have lied.
Now, the problem with the Facebook/Twitter thing is that the really bad guys are not going to be stupid enough to have Facebook and Twitter accounts where they say they'll be committing terrorist acts, and they won't worry about being caught lying later on. So all in all, this sounds like posturing for posturing sake.
Re:U.S. now can ask travelers for Facebook, Twitter handles
by mattnewton on Friday June 02, 2017 @01:04PM
(#14471494)
Yeah sounds like a way to entrap some stupid but ultimately harmless teenagers for the crime of speech supporting organizations the United States consideres terrorists.
At least for those who lie, it adds a punishable offense that can potentially be used for prosecution at a later date, if and when the evidence emerges.
So, for example, let's say a foreign national living in the US is found later on to be apparently plotting a terror attack, but they haven't yet followed through with it, so there is nothing to prosecute them with.
The authorities could dredge up deportation-worthy crimes by going back and doing a detailed look at the person and finding that they had committed the crime of providing false or incomplete information.