United States officials now have permission to collect usernames and other social media information from all immigrants seeking to enter the country.
The new rule went into effect October 18 as an amendment to the U.S. Privacy Act. The Privacy Act establishes policies for how the government can collect and use information about individuals. The measure was enacted in 1974 after Richard M. Nixon resigned from the presidency.
The new amendment gives the Department of Homeland Security permission to collect "social media
handles
,
aliases
, associated identifiable information and search results."
The rule affects both permanent U.S.
residents
and naturalized citizens. The collected information becomes part of the person's immigration records.
The amendment also gives the government rights to
monitor
information on relatives of immigrants and doctors who treat immigrants. It also includes monitoring of law enforcement officials involved in investigations of immigrants, and lawyers and others who help immigrants.
The amendment says the information can be gathered "from the internet, public records, public
institutions
, interviewees or
commercial
data providers."
The Department of Homeland Security, DHS, has yet to announce specific collection or processing methods for personal information from social media.
Joanne Talbot is a spokesperson for DHS. In a statement to media last month, she said the amendment "does not represent a new policy." She said the agency has already been able to "monitor publicly available social media to protect the homeland."
Many privacy groups have criticized the collection of usernames and other social media information by U.S. border agents. They say such questioning fails to follow existing rules and violates the privacy rights of travelers.
