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Brits To Be Forced To Hand Over Passwords at US Border
Friday 7th April 2017 | Christian
British tourists coming to the USA may have to give all their social media passwords to US officials upon entering the country, thanks to new security measures being considered by Trump’s administration. Brits could also be asked for their phone contacts and financial data.
Trump’s administration is working out an ‘extreme vetting’ programme to ramp up border security. Of course, these measures have come straight off the back of Trump’s travel ban affecting Muslim-majority countries.
The possibility of requesting social media passwords was first discussed during Obama’s administration in 2015, but were thankfully scrapped. Now, however, these measures could very soon be a frightening reality.
If these new measures were to be put into place, they would affect some 38 countries including Great Britain.
According to Gene Hamilton, a senior counsellor for Homeland Security secretary John Kelly, the measures would affect someone ‘if there is any doubt about a person’s intentions,’ to work out if they’re coming to America for ‘legitimate reasons.’
The Wall Street journal has claimed visa applicants may be asked about their ‘ideology,’ what they think about honour killings, and the ‘sanctity of life.’
Is it really worth entering a country whose government can freely go through all of your private messages? And if this really is about security, what’s the point of making a society secure if it means the destruction of privacy?
