Read the full summary of the notice here!

Note:

The Department of Homeland Security, therefore, is updating the “Department of Homeland Security/U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection-001 Alien File, Index, and National File Tracking System of Records notice to:

[…]

(5) expand the categories of records to include the following: country of nationality; country of residence; the USCIS Online Account Number; social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search results; and the Department of Justice (DOJ), Executive Office for Immigration Review and Board of Immigration Appeals proceedings information

(11) update record source categories to include publicly available information obtained from the internet, public records, public institutions, interviewees, commercial data providers, and information obtained and disclosed pursuant to information sharing agreements;

And for those of you who could care less about what’s done to us and our families:

This would also affect all US citizens who communicate with immigrants, Schwartz said, who could self censor out of fear that information they exchange with someone overseas could be misconstrued and used against them. 

NOW - more than fucking ever - do we need to have the fucking conversation about your digital privacy

DO NOT MISTAKE ME:

*ANY* website / social media platform under U.S. territory can have their records searched and seized without YOUR NOTICE, in fact, it is illegal for those platforms to notify you of this happening.

What does this mean?
This means no amount of privacy settings can stop DHS from getting the records they want. You will be none the wiser. If it is posted and hosted on U.S. territory, it is up for grabs.

If you interact with known people who immigrants, you too will be under surveillance.

I don’t know how to organize to stop this motion but here are more resources:

Another article:
https://gizmodo.com/us-homeland-security-will-start-collecting-social-media-1818777094

The policy direct from the Federal Register:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/09/18/2017-19365/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records

Why you should give a damn about your privacy:
https://www.privacytools.io

IF YOU HAVE MORE INFORMATION PLEASE COMMENT

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sorry to comment, but can someone please translate this into some simpler form of english not riddled by jargon, and can someone explain as to whether or not this would affect immigrants who have become citizens of the united states?

UPDATE: i found where naturalization is mentioned, but the notice is too dense and jargon-heavy that i don’t know what the full context is.

Okay so the simplest answer is that the Department of Homeland Security essentially changed the rules. Next month, a new rule will go into effect that they just introduced to the Federal Register. You can read that here, but it is very confusing and wordy. But here’s the best explanation:

The update is largely to note that certain government electronic documents are also part of immigrants’ official records as the DHS “moves to conducting more immigrant actions in an electronic environment.” However, the DHS is also adding new categories to official records including “social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search results.” And the collection of social media information isn’t limited to new immigrants but will apply to all immigrants including permanent residents and naturalized citizens.

I’d read that whole article this is taken from, by the way. It offers more information about how this came about. 

ALSO, if you do go to the Federal Register, it allows public comment and will be open until this goes into effect on October 18th.