Mastodawn

BrianKrebs Jan 26

We knew this was coming, but now the clock is running. From Privacy International:

"Yesterday the Trump Administration announced a proposed change in policy for travellers to the U.S. It applies to the powers of data collection by the Customs and Border Police (CBP)."

"If the proposed changes are adopted after the 60-day consultation, then millions of travellers to the U.S. will be forced to use a U.S. government mobile phone app, submit their social media from the last five years and email addresses used in the last ten years, including of family members. They’re also proposing the collection of DNA."

PI linked to and summarized a Federal Register entry describing the proposed requirements:

-All visitors must submit ‘their social media from the last 5 years’

-ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) applications will include ‘high value data fields’, ‘when feasible’
‘telephone numbers used in the last five years’
-‘email addresses used in the last ten years’
-‘family number telephone numbers (sic) used in the last five years’
-biometrics – face, fingerprint, DNA, and iris
-business telephone numbers used in the last five years
-business email addresses used in the last ten years.

https://www.privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/5713/trump-administration-wants-your-dna-and-social-media

The Federal Register entry says comments are encouraged and
must be submitted (no later than February 9, 2026) to be assured of consideration.

Federal Register entry: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-12-10/pdf/2025-22461.pdf

BrianKrebs Jan 26

I feel for anyone in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries, which make up ~ 10M jobs and ~ 3 percent of the nation's GDP. From the U.S. International Trade Administration (trade.gov)

"Inbound international travel to the United States plays a vital role in the Nation’s economy and promotes cultural exchange and understanding. Travel and tourism is the largest single services export for the United States, accounting for 22 percent of the country’s services exports and 7 percent of all exports in 2023. The travel and tourism industry contributed $2.3 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2022 (2.97 percent of the country’s GDP), supporting 9.5 million jobs."

I'm British, white, male, aged 60-ish.

Prior to February 2016 I typically visited the USA 3 times a year for up to six weeks.

Since February 2016 I have visited the USA twice in a decade, for a total of 10 days.

Entering the USA as a foreigner, with a Republican POTUS in the White House, *never* felt safe, but under Trump it looks diabolically dangerous. (And to a glance I resemble "one of them": I'm not female or dark-skinned.)

Joe Brockmeier Jan 26

@cstross @briankrebs Living here is not a walk in the park at this point...

I'd never ask anybody to travel here now. I'm glad I'm no longer in the events-organizing part of tech -- I couldn't host anything anywhere in the U.S. if it required people to come from outside.

Not our largest problem right now, but it's a fairly nasty symptom.

@jzb @cstross @briankrebs Agreed. No one should visit the States now. It's not safe here.

Michael Newton Jan 26

@[email protected] @[email protected] it doesn't just look dangerous, it looks actually impossible (legally) for many of us if that goes through. I don't have access to all of the information they're asking for even if I did want to give it to them (which I don't).

Charlie Stross (@[email protected])

47.8K Posts, 1.64K Following, 28.1K Followers · Scottish resident SF/F author (he/him/they/them). Three times Hugo Award winner, 30+ novels in print. Does not play well with Nazis. Abolish the monarchy! Born in a world with 320ppm atmospheric CO2, 3.3 billion people. @cstross.bsky.social on Bluesky blog at: https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/ FOLLOW REQUESTS: don't expect a reciprocal follow. And I will reject requests from folks with no profile and/or no tooting history.

The Wandering Shop

robcornelius Jan 26

@cstross @briankrebs

When I go to visit my Canadian in laws I can see the Olympic Peninsula and Mount Baker across the Juan de Fuca Straight. That's plenty close enough for me.

After what I called The Orange Emperor on his racist friend's hellsite they won't let me in anyway.

Bytebro 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 🇬🇱Jan 26

It's a beautiful country.

Visited a couple of times in the 90s, and did long road trips which were amazing. Still have a few friends over there that have yet to assume room temperature (I'm a little older than you) and with whom I still correspond.

Cannot and will not go back there until this crap-storm is over. So sad..

@cstross
My spouse, a US citizen, went home to visit family last year, and found themselves distinctly uncomfortable at the border. I don't think I've been back since we were married, also in 2016.
@briankrebs

Darwin Woodka Jan 26

@hypostase @cstross @briankrebs

I have NEVER been given a hard time traveling to another country. It's always coming back to the states some asshole gives me a hard time. It's just insane. I LOVED getting global entry and not having to deal with the assholes anymore.

Charlie Stross Jan 26

@darwinwoodka @hypostase @briankrebs

I remember reading a discussion on Reddit a decade or two ago in which a British business traveller explained that immigration at Imam Khomenei Airport, Tehran, was *welcoming and friendly* compared to JFK—and the USA (under Bush II) was about as pleasant to enter as Moscow during the Brezhnev years.

By all accounts it is now much, much worse.

@cstross
My dad was in a plane crash in Moscow in the 70s, due to refueling, and we visited in the 80s.

Even then I wondered why it wasn't safe to put a visa stamp directly in the passport. Nowadays if I did ever have to visit the US, I think I'd want a clean passport to do so with.

It's been increasingly difficult to see the difference, unless you are part of the ruling classes, or can fake it for just long enough.

@darwinwoodka @briankrebs

PaddyTech 👾Jan 26

@cstross @briankrebs yeah. So I had to take my pale male ass over to Florida last November for work. Not comfortable for one moment. For comparison I’ve done 30+ trips to the US, since the late 90’s. Never felt that bad before.

@cstross @briankrebs Honestly even returning from international travel as a US citizen doesn’t feel safe if you don’t check the right boxes in your personal profile. If I absolutely had to enter the US right now I’d pre-clear in somewhere like Dublin, but the whole thing feels like a crapshoot.

thief_of_fire Feb 9

@cstross @briankrebs @complexmath could you tell me more about what the return process is like and what is requested for US citizens? I haven't travelled internationally in 20 years and my company is requesting I travel out of the country to meet international team members who (understandably) don't want to travel to the US right now. But I'm also feeling uncomfortable just leaving and coming back.

rk: it’s hyphen-minus actually Feb 9

@cstross @briankrebs

As a middle-aged white American I worry about coming back from out of the country; I have started considering taking burner devices. That’s where we’re at now. I shudder to think what it’s like for people who don’t have my privileges.