Britons travelling to the US may be asked for social media usernames and passwords and their phone’s address book under new border checks being considered at US airports. British Asians travelling to the US for work and pleasure are now worried that they will be prone to extra questioning, forced to hand over their personal details to the US authority, because of the new border law being considered.
The Wall Street journal reported that the Trump administration is considering “extreme vetting” scenarios in which even tourists from US allies such as the UK, France and Germany are subject to intense security checks. While google and facebook have refused to hand over encrypted information and messages to security officials, this security check is posing a threat to a man's basic right to private life.
“We will do it when we think there’s a reason to do it,” US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told a US Senate committee hearing last week. “The vast majority of people will not be questioned in that way.” However, he did not elaborate on the plans.
Donald Trump, who was elected on a promise to strengthen US borders, has already overseen tighter controls since taking office. They include a temporary ban on travellers from six majority Muslim countries without visas, which has been blocked, and a ban on laptops and other large electronic devices as carry-ons from certain countries, which has been followed by the UK.
According to a Daily Telegraph report, Mr Kelly previously floated the prospect of asking for passwords in February. “We want to say for instance, ‘What sites do you visit? And give us your passwords,’ so that we can see what they do on the internet. If they don’t want to give us that information then they don’t come,” he told the congressional Homeland Security Committee.
Border officials have the ability to refuse entry if tourists do not comply, and it is unclear what recourse those who do not want to hand over their details have.
While those who have had to hand over their details could take measures such as changing their password, or turning on two-factor authentication, which requires a code on a mobile phone to log in, this could simply lead to heightened suspicion.
Anjali Rego-Dsouza, an Indian citizen living in the UK told Asian Voice, “This invasion of privacy is worrying and I would avoid traveling to USA as people of colour will be targeted first. I feel USA is being paranoid and inquisitive in the name of national security. I'm due to travel this year and I plan to leave my laptop at home but I will take my iPhone with me. I plan to erase the whole phone and will take a cloud back up. I will restore the backup after I cross security. I don't mind going through this little inconvenience to prevent them from invading my privacy snooping into my life which is none of their business.”
Puloma Chatterjee, told the newspaper, “There's no doubt people of colour will be targeted more and people with "certain" names even further. Also what happens if I handover my password etc and then my identity gets stolen or in this day and age of mobile banking, myaccount gets hacked? Will the Homeland security be accountable for all the trouble that I'll have to go through then? This will definitely deter me from travelling to the US.”
Karan Morjaria, a City worker told AV, “I travel to the US for work. My phone belongs to the office and there is data that I cannot let anyone snoop on. How can I handover such information to the US officials? This is not acceptable.”
