Department of Homeland Security says collecting social media data will “provide greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity”

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 6-29-2016

File this under Another Unsettling Development: People who want to travel to the United States may soon have their Facebook profiles and other social media accounts “vetted” by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) before entering.

A proposed change to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) and to Form I-94W posted to the government’s Federal Register last week suggests adding the following question: “Please enter information associated with your online presence—Provider/Platform—Social media identifier.” Continue reading →