We knew this was coming, but now the clock is running.
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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.
The Trump Administration wants your DNA and social media
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).
Privacy International (www.privacyinternational.org)
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
It's OK for me.
The only reason I'd go to USA is if my company forces me to do so.
Now I can say "no" also in that case, on the legal basis that I don't want to give up my privacy rights.
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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 @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.
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@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.
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@briankrebs right about now, no one should be going to the USA, the only language the 🟠 understands is money, he really doesn't care about people, no matter who they are.
As fast as he's devaluing the dollar, I don't think he understands money.
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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.
The Trump Administration wants your DNA and social media
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).
Privacy International (www.privacyinternational.org)
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 fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuck
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@briankrebs don't they have like a World Cup and Olympics coming up soon? Who's gonna wanna go through all that?
I too was a frequent visitor - business and pleasure.
No more. Just having to decide whether to swap to a burner phone is enough. It tells you all really.
Whereas I feel more comfortable and secure visiting any 'degenerate' EU state.
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@AAKL @briankrebs If the German football federation decides to either boycott the WC entirely or boycott matches in the US the rest of Europe will do the same. Mexico and Canada can handle the extra matches and tourists. FIFA can adjust quickly to cut the US out. The US matches will have low ranked teams playing in near empty stadiums.
@BLTpizza @briankrebs That's right. The doofus who made this deal doesn't care about the implications: they are not his cross to bear. But what is the criteria that will be used? Who will be banned from entry? Who will be punished? Based on what? Gender? Immigration? Opinion? Are visitors seriously considering handing over their DNA and entire family, email, and social media history for a decade to the people who just murdered another civilian in cold blood?
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@briankrebs J1 visa applicants already have to make all their social media accounts public for State Dept inspection. I guess the US is extending the requirement to tourist visas. Who would want to come here under these circumstances?
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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.
The Trump Administration wants your DNA and social media
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).
Privacy International (www.privacyinternational.org)
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 The business emails sure make for a neat way to identify high value targets
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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 Yup. Destroying the tourism business in the US. Or finishing destroying it.
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@masek @briankrebs Who even knows all of the profiles, phone numbers, emails etc their relatives use? Like you, I wouldn't even be able to provide my own even if I wanted to.
This seems like it's only meant to stifle free speech/ intimidate and to create probable cause if you want to go after someone. Because nobody will be able to fully comply
@coatilex @masek @briankrebs
Such a strangely specific thing especially since there are plenty of families with estranged members. And also even if folk are not estranged you cannot compel relatives to give you details you may not readily have. -
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.)
White, British and Trans with friends and family in the US and UK. I would not feel!safe in either country now, and haven't been in the US ever, or the UK since 2022.
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@f800gecko @briankrebs I assume they will sample the DNA by amputating a toe? Will this be introduced in time for the World Cup?
The EU has introduced biometric checks on entry last year, but this goes up a level.
10 visit max (they'll sample each time to avoid DNA spoofing!)
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@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.
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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.
The Trump Administration wants your DNA and social media
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).
Privacy International (www.privacyinternational.org)
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
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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.
The Trump Administration wants your DNA and social media
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).
Privacy International (www.privacyinternational.org)
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
That's fucking insane.
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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.
The Trump Administration wants your DNA and social media
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).
Privacy International (www.privacyinternational.org)
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 A couple of thoughts:
1. Other countries may, and I think probably, will impose similar requirements on US people trying to enter those counties. In other words, the US would approach becoming a closed kingdom, like N. Korea.
2. Just wait until someone remembers Little Bobby Tables (image below).
3. The data will leak (or more likely, be sold.)
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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.
The Trump Administration wants your DNA and social media
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).
Privacy International (www.privacyinternational.org)
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 I have never travelled to the US and never will. I wouldn't know what to do in a fascist country.
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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.
The Trump Administration wants your DNA and social media
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).
Privacy International (www.privacyinternational.org)
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 In EU countries, it wouldn't be legal to give out family members' details if they didn't consent I think.
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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.
The Trump Administration wants your DNA and social media
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).
Privacy International (www.privacyinternational.org)
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
This is populating the databases and a govt subsidy to Big Tech. No doubt, Big Tech promised that its new, improved, sudsier AI can troll through that information in less time than it takes Trump to eat a Big Mac, and reveal...reveal who the big bad guys are.
It will do nothing of the kind. Its false positives and negatives will go through the roof, but they'll make billions. Meanwhile, the millions of visitors to the US will have their privacy destroyed.
