The power dynamic at US immigration is very unbalanced and they generally treat people terribly. If you "opt out" of providing this highly personal information they will no doubt send you to secondary where you will be required to provide it anyway.
It is just normalising an invasion of privacy, and by the very nature of it they're already hinting that they might enter those social media accounts and pull apart your life. They already read diaries and look through your files, and anything that they find they'll use against you no matter how vague or what context it is said (e.g. don't even think about making jokes in private, they will ignore context like their life depended on it).
Your choice when travelling to the US is:
- Provide real ones (and risk getting bounced for something taken out of context and your privacy invaded).
- Don't provide any (and risk getting bounced for looking suspicious).
- Provide fake ones (and risk getting bounced for not providing a thorough record).
They actually asked for feedback when this was first proposed and I wrote to them telling them why it was a bad idea. The problem is that they're asking American citizens for feedback about a proposal that doesn't impact them. I just happen to care because I am a green card holder who has family come in and know how terrible US immigration can be.
The power dynamic at US immigration is very unbalanced and they generally treat people terribly. If you "opt out" of providing this highly personal information they will no doubt send you to secondary where you will be required to provide it anyway.
It is just normalising an invasion of privacy, and by the very nature of it they're already hinting that they might enter those social media accounts and pull apart your life. They already read diaries and look through your files, and anything that they find they'll use against you no matter how vague or what context it is said (e.g. don't even think about making jokes in private, they will ignore context like their life depended on it).
Your choice when travelling to the US is:
- Provide real ones (and risk getting bounced for something taken out of context and your privacy invaded).
- Don't provide any (and risk getting bounced for looking suspicious).
- Provide fake ones (and risk getting bounced for not providing a thorough record).
They actually asked for feedback when this was first proposed and I wrote to them telling them why it was a bad idea. The problem is that they're asking American citizens for feedback about a proposal that doesn't impact them. I just happen to care because I am a green card holder who has family come in and know how terrible US immigration can be.