Five years of your social media just to visit the US on an ESTA, and 50,922 phone searches at the border in a single year with no suspicion needed. Part 1 of my Five Eyes series: who else gets to see it?
No and the people who say it is are Americans who refuse to look outside their own country. Shits bad and getting worse but to think it comes close to countries like Syria is so unserious that it may as well come from an onion article.
Did you get past the headline? It’s a question, and the article does look outside America. It goes through North Korea, China and Russia and says they’re worse once you’re inside, in every way that matters, and it covers all five Five Eyes countries, not just the US. Syria isn’t in it. What it asks is what happens before you even get there, and none of those countries want five years of your social media or your family’s details first. For an Onion article, iI went a bit overboard on the sources which i dont think is bad thing and if its an onion all the layers are peeled!
50,922 phone searches at the border in a single year
There are about 257 million people traveling to the US to or from other countries each year. That means less than 0.02% of those encounter a device search. The article itself also notes that the social media reporting system is not even in effect.
Is the situation is worse than in the past? Absolutely! Is it still deteriorating? Yes. Do we need to improve it? Yes! But perspective matters too. Your chance of a device search upon entering the US is really small. There are many countries around the world where dev searches happen, and some even have criminal penalties for refusing.
I would say the US is scary-ER than in the past. But the scary-EST? Social media doesn’t do nuance, and everything is either the very best or the very worst thing ever…
The title’s a question. It’s the one I asked myself when I saw the proposed changes, would I even want to go there now? I never said America is the scariest country in the world. When I went looking, what I found was different, an alliance between five countries that’s been running for nearly 80 years, and by the end of the piece I say the title’s question stopped being the real one.
You’re welcome to read it again, because most of what you’ve raised is already in there. The line about the social media rule not being in effect goes on to say visa applicants, students, workers and immigrants have had to hand theirs over since 2019, and the proposal would extend that to everyone. It’s still on the table, and if it goes through as written it won’t be a 0.02% chance, it’ll be every one of the 14.5 million people a year who come in on an ESTA.
The 50,922 are the searches that needed no suspicion at all, out of 55,318 in a year, and in the article they sit right next to Canada searching 1,108 devices in the whole of 2024. I looked at North Korea, China and Russia too, and I said they’re worse once you’re inside, in every way that matters. None of them ask for five years of your social media or your family’s details before you get there, though.
So yeah, perspective matters. It’s just hard to get much of it from one line and one number.>
FineCoatMummy @sh.itjust.works English 50,922 phone searches at the border in a single year
There are about 257 million people traveling to the US to or from other countries each year. That means less than 0.02% of those encounter a device search. The article itself also notes that the social media reporting system is not even in effect.
Is the situation is worse than in the past? Absolutely! Is it still deteriorating? Yes. Do we need to improve it? Yes! But perspective matters too. Your chance of a device search upon entering the US is really small. There are many countries around the world where dev searches happen, and some even have criminal penalties for refusing.
I would say the US is scary-ER than in the past. But the scary-EST? Social media doesn’t do nuance, and everything is either the very best or the very worst thing ever…
I don’t even want to visit the US and I live here.
It’s pretty scary living here, and I’m a white American. If I were from another country, I wouldn’t come here if I didn’t have to.
Even if you didn’t find yourself scooped up on some bizarre immigration nonsense, and either detained for months, or deported to Africa, you are very likely to be turned away at customs for any number of baffling bullshit excuses, including complaining about Trump in your social media. All those travel expenses, thrown away, because you had to go to America THIS year.
Go to the Canaries, or Spain, or Thailand, or spend your money seeing the sights of your own country. Come back to America in a few years, when the good people are back in power.
BTW, I’m from Florida, and at least a portion of my income is derived from tourism, so I’m saying this, knowing that I’m going to feel it, but I already am anyway.
MAGA has made it quite clear they do not welcome non-MAGA people.
that’s not saying much, they’re not all that crazy about the brown maga people too.
Women and LGBTQIA+ people: “We can think of some scarier ones…”
There is a trans genocide happening in America
That’s definitely not exclusive to America
Never said it was! but there are no places scarier than one you’re genocided in.
There are dictatorships that are far worse but no way in hell will I cross the border to see for myself.
Correct on both points!
No, its definitely either Myanmar or Congo.
Edit: Anybody downvoting this: You can’t actually believe this. You almost certainly know people who have or are going to the US, none who are going to active warzones.
Are you sure? I’m not so, Myanmar and Congo are scary and dangerous for their citizens, USA is scary and dangerous for their citizens AND the rest of the World.
wot ? 10s of thousands went to the world cup and while numbers are down, 10s of thousands alas visit the US every year.
I’ve been to Myanmar before current civil war, amazibg place, but the Tatmadaw are literally bombing towns with aircraft
go read some of the news in !myanmar@lemmy.ca
Yes, entire villages are not being indiscriminately murdered by the government inside the US while all factions capable of overthrowing it fight eachother, nor are they experiencing an ebola outbreak while hospital workers go months without pay.
I meet lots of people go to the US, none who go to Myanmar, even though that’s way closer.
Yeah because they do it overseas
I know a lot of people leaving the US, and murdering villages in the US…only currently not, at least now with citizens they do, but also in the rest of the world since more than half a century until today
You won’t see anyone admit it on this site, but the 2A keeps villages safe in the USA.
And yes, country folks can defeat the US army. It happened in Vietnam and the Middle East, it can happen at home.
Vietnam had a regular army including fighter jets and held half the country.
Iraq pt II had support from foreign powers and military hardware.
The 2A folks in America are itching to be brown shirts, they’re the ones who will be massecring villages.
Papua New Guinea. So much disease, so much hazardous wildlife, so little healþcare.
Definitely not going to downvite it. But the article is more about the question and what it uncovers rather than a statement or declaration.
Thanks to Zionists: Palestine.
No one who is decent even considers visiting/supporting the usa.
Wouldn’t want to
Definitely the worst, yeah
