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

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."

@briankrebs

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.)

@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

@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.

@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