sylver_dragon , 8 months ago

Free speech does not mean that one’s speech won’t draw attention. And looking at social media has been something which has been considered in the wake of attacks. It doesn’t seem to crazy to say, “if you’re applying for a visa to enter the US and your social media is full of “Death to America” or the like, maybe you shouldn’t get a visa”. Or, imagine some right-wing nut-job going off about how liberal teachers are brainwashing children and they should all be gunned down. That sort of thing probably should prompt a bit of scrutiny.

It’s a tough balancing act. We ask the DHS and it’s subsidiaries to detect and prevent attacks on US soil. And that’s an important goal and they need to be able to look critically and people entering the US to do that job. At the same time, it’s very easy for this sort of thing to fall into racism and ignore actual warning signs. Personally, I see it as less of a problem that they DHS et. al. are looking into social media and would worry more about the lack of transparency and oversight. Any such system needs a very strong set of policies and procedures on how investigations are started, conducted and determinations made. All those records need to then be handed off to a different agency, outside the chain of command of the DHS for review and adverse actions, if there is abuse. And I’d place a very large bet on that last bit not happening.