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| Screenshot of the online form that asks tourists to profile their profile on social networks. (US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION) |
According to the Politico website, foreign tourists applying for a visa waiver are asked to fill in their accounts on social networks in the online form. However, the information is optional.
"Please provide information about your presence on the internet." Since 20 December, the US demand for foreign tourists to indicate their accounts on social networks, says the website Politico (article) . This request, made in an online form , concerns for the moment that the online form of the visa waiver program, open to 39 countries, including France.
The form proposes a line of social networks, from the most known -Facebook, Twitter- to the most confidential -Google +, JustPaste.it. The tourist is then asked to fill in his username. Unlike other information -profession, date of birth, nationality, etc.-, this information is optional.
A polemical measure
Why such a curiosity? To identify possible terrorist threats, Politico said. Announced a few months ago, this measure had sparked a controversy among Internet privacy advocates. "There are no rules on how the information is collected and shared among government agencies," laments on Politico Michael W. Macleod-Ball, the Amercian Civil Liberties Union.
Others fear that this measure creates a dangerous precedent and inspires countries where freedom of expression does not exist. "Democratic and non-democratic countries will now feel more legitimate to request such information", notes Abigail Slater, Internet Association, still in Politico. Critics have not prevented this measure from entering discreetly into force. | francetvinfo
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