Summary
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A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging a rule that requires visa applicants to disclose their social media accounts to the U.S. government.
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The rule, which went into effect in 2019, applies to visa applicants from all countries.
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The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, two U.S.-based documentary film organizations, argued that the rule violated the First Amendment rights of visa applicants.
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It’s unclear if the plaintiffs plan to appeal the ruling.
Additional Details
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The rule requires visa applicants to disclose their social media identifiers, including pseudonymous accounts, for the past five years.
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The plaintiffs argued that the rule would chill free speech and association, as visa applicants would be less likely to express themselves on social media if they knew that the government could see their posts.
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The ruling is a reminder of the challenges faced by people who want to protect their privacy online.
So the same logic permitting enhanced interrogation in Guantanamo Bay, that being unconstitutional is fine as long as it’s not on US soil?
It seems more or less. Have you seen the recent news about US government’s arrangement to have an eastern European country running a platform to collect data on its own citizens to skirt around the warrant law? If citizens are being treated as such, how are non-citizens being treated?
No I haven’t, and that’s extremely alarming. Got a link handy?
Forget eastern Europe, that’s the whole premise of Five Eyes. The UK spies on American citizens and gives it to the NSA, and vice versa.
https://www.404media.co/revealed-the-country-that-secretly-wiretapped-the-world-for-the-fbi/
It’s already behind a paywall. But it was really a sting operation, using fake “secure” phones, to catch criminals, by skirting constitutional requirements.
I used to buy a particular Lithuanian product no longer available here. I need the rest of the story! Thanks. I’ll do some searching at some point.