....here is my answer.

Go fuck yourself, you narcissistic sack of shit.

Good, now hopefully Im barred from the USA.

Canada, still love you guys.

Does El-Reg count as social media ? I have always thought of it as a techies forum where we occasionally stray into other areas, not social media.

I do not do farcebook, instagram, etc so I suspect that me putting "None" would immediately flag me as suspicious.

Email addresses: I have hundreds, I usually trivially generate one every time I buy something on-line or register something like their-company-name@a-domain-of-mine.

If they do trawl friends with gmail, microsoft, etc addresses they will see my derision of Trump and support of Palestine -- either of which would probably make me persona non grata.

> Email addresses: I have hundreds

Those of us whose internet presence sports a mailer that accepts anything @domainname.TLD could legitimately claim to have a nearly infinite number of email addresses. I wonder if they require hard copies of each one, or just a few TB of data?

> Does El-Reg count as social media ? I have always thought of it as a techies forum where we occasionally stray into other areas, not social media.

Such as fapping off over Donald Trump or Elon Musk %

> Does El-Reg count as social media ?

Well it's now a US company so I imagine if they were asked if we had an account, El Reg might not have a lot of say in the matter.

Fortunately there's a few Alain Williams around, and we in the Cupboard family are legion.

It is worth mentioning that Trump, as a convicted felon, would most likely not be allowed entry into the USA if he was not an American citizen. We should block him throughout Europe. Keep criminals out.

When the US sends its government, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with them. They’re bringing far-right Nazism, they’re bringing corruption, they’re rapists, and none, we can safely assume, are good people.

> Canada, still love you guys.

Well, when you fly to Canada be sure to take a direct flight. I know of someone who was "deported" from the US without even arriving, technically - while flying from Auckland to Vancouver, in transit at LAX. That was a over a decade ago - pre trump, pre Obama even.

Oh and make sure your flight doesn't have engine trouble too, because I know of someone else with schizophrenia who had to make a forced stop in Saudia Arabia while en-route from UK to Australia. I think this one was in the news in Oz, he was in jail for some time.

Actually, best make sure you're not even crossing their airspace, in case Trump decides to take a page from Putin's playbook: [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryanair_Flight_4978 .

And although that's all pretty awful, consider how much worse it would be trying to take the boat from Venezuala.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryanair_Flight_4978

There was a case that got pretty good publicity this fall about a woman transiting from Mexico to Canada at LAX. La Migra arrested her and kept her in one of their dungeons for a while before pressure got her let out. Their excuse was that they didn't think she was really in transit and planned to work illegally in California. You know, arrest on pre-crime, even though she had a ticket out.

FWIW, Trump's real esnake career was failing and he got famous again when Mark Burnett cast him as the tycoon on The Apprentice (Warren Buffett wasn't interested). Burnett had struck it rich pitching a version of Europe's Robinson Island to US TV, who called it Survivor. Burnett was English. He had vacationed in Mexico and had a transit stop in Los Angeles. He didn't get on the plane home, and snuck out and found work in LA even though he was an "illegal alien". But he was white so he wasn't deported. And come to think of it, Malaria herself was working illegally in the US when Trump picked her to replace Marla.

It depends on the airport and the country.

In Europe, I am aware of Copenhagen Airport where they required a transit visa because of the way the airport is laid out (you can't actually get from one side of the airport to another gate unless you enter the country/airport). I don't know whether that has changed in the last 15 years, but at the time it caused absolute drama because the Danish border police were not amused by the fact that they had to now babysit someone until the departing flight was ready to close doors. Only then did the airport people send a car for a gate-to-aircraft door transfer that was officially airside.

In LAX, Air New Zealand, when they moved from Terminal 2 (where they provided the Koru Lounge to Virgin Atlantic passengers etc) to the Tom Bradley international terminal (the massive one where all A380s end up), notified passengers that there was no sterile 'airside' space/lounge, and that those flying to/from NZ to/from LHR would be required to enter the US for transit processing. That pretty much killed ANZ for me, especially because they'd stopped their AKL-HKG-LHR flight a few years before, so you *had* to go via LAX. :-/

In South Africa, you had a similar thing - The flights done for BA by Comair went from the domestic terminal, not the international one. That meant you had to officially enter South Africa too, despite being just a transit passenger from [insert departure airport] to [ultimate destination airport in other country] because Johannesburg was *the* hub airport in Southern Africa and everyone flew there.

A lot of these things are historical... bad/outdated airport layouts, opportunities to cash in on transit visas, legal requirements based on old airline/intergovernmental treaty agreements... the list goes on. So yes folks... there are weird and wonderfully wacky combinations that catch you out when you least expect.

"in transit at LAX"

There's no such thing as transit in LAX (or any US airport) anymore. You have to enter the country, go through customs and immigration, then back through the exit process in order to get on your next flight.

So these changes don't just apply to people who want to enter the country for holidays etc

Happy to have a solid excuse never to set foot in Trumpistan. This is a good reason to say 'no' if your kids want to go to Disneyland. Make sure you cover your bases by being rude about Macron too.

I'd say this would put me off going to the land of the unfree but that ship sailed a long long time ago.

It is regrettable, but I have to agree. I have fond memories of previous visits. But I won't be going back.

There is a strand of thinking in the USA that can be summarised as: everyone is an enemy. If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear? I don't think so. The right wing religious crowd are the most un-Christian unforgiving bunch of zealots you could encounter.

American politicians have adopted the mantra of 'the USA or the highway'. Well, I'm taking the highway.

If the American car you're hitching in is travelling to "Shithole Country" anyway, it's probably better to get off sooner rather than later regardless, then catch the next bus to somewhere preferable.

Why would anyone want to visit a country that enshrines the right to get shot in its constitution?

So, what's the message they want to send to would-be-tourists? That they're a country that doesn't want or need them?

Or that they arrogantly take for granted that *everyone* is so desperate to visit the US that they'll be willing to jump through *any* hoops- however unreasonable- and tolerate the risk of deportation from the "Free" World because of some long-forgotten social media comment from several years back saying something the current regime- or power-abusing Trumpist TSA agent- doesn't like and wants to portray as "anti-American"?

Rival destinations should certainly be playing off the (entirely legitimate) fear that even "reasonable" tourists risk being treated that way every time they want to visit the US and exercise the "privilege" of handing over their hard-earned cash to Uncle Sam and his disagreeable mates. Then again, they probably don't need to do so, since that possibility seems to be putting people off already.

Of course, there will always be people who assume they won't be affected, and don't care how shitty the politics or attitudes of the people they're supporting are, so long as they get to visit Disney World or whatever. Until *they* get kicked out anyway because of something they did or didn't say- that they probably didn't even realise was controversial- and there are photos of them with "sad" faces all over the media back home and it eventually starts to seep in with even *those* types that visiting the US isn't worth the risk.

As a Canadian, I only live 35 km from the border. I rather like Washington and Oregon and like to take the train or drive down the coast but will be sitting this out till MAGA is gone.

It's not just political though. Think about it. Under the current circumstances you could easily run afoul of something or another and be turned back. And then you'd have an entry refusal on your US border records which would make any future trips much more problematic, even years past Trump. Including for non-trivial stuff like medical trips or flying anywhere with a layover in the US. So think of it as an investment to protect your travel capabilities, including to the US.

Wonder if El Reg counts for social media?

The Register comments are just articles that are open to comments. Not social media.

You cannot start your own subject by posting a picture of your dinner or a newly decorated Christmas tree. You can’t “friend” or “follow” nor can you build a following.

I have no account on Faecebook, Twatter(X), Insta, TikTok, Snapchat or any of those other things since I closed one about 10 years ago. I do have some information on LinkedIn because some recruiters insist on it, and GitHub of course.

“Oh my gaahhd! You don’t don’t have a Facebook account?”

>> The Register comments are just articles that are open to comments. Not social media.

I am not sure you are correct. By creating comments you are engaging with other people. I have no doubt another regal declaration, AKA executive order, will define social media as: anything on the internet that anybody posts.

It is worth noting the American regime wants your email addresses and so on for the last 10 years. That is how long, at least, they have been hoovering up everything to check you against.

> "I am not sure you are correct [that this forum isn't "social media"]. By creating comments you are engaging with other people."

I've seen this argument made before and I disagree with it. It's technically correct that we're using "media" for somewhat "social" purposes here. But in practice that's not how the term is commonly used, and I don't recall hearing it before the early-to-mid-2000s rise of the newer person-centric style social networking sites it was first associated with and which it was presumably felt necessary to apply a new label to, as distinct from the older, simpler, discussion-centric web forums like the one we're using here.

Of course, regardless, this is all academic and won't cut any ice with the US government or a TSA agent that wants to interpret or define it otherwise, as widely and loosely as possible- which they certainly will.

Particularly if they're fishing for as much as possible to give them an arbitrary excuse to punish someone they don't like. (Which most likely will include any conflating criticism of the current Trump regime or anything resembling support for their political opponents with anti-American views).

... won't cut any ice with the US government or a TSA agent that wants to interpret or define it otherwise ...

No, it will definitely not.

It is my understanding that the chap sitting in the admissions booth has the last say with respect to your entering the US.

Options include getting sent back to where you came from, forcibly moved to a holding cell or subjected to a search of sorts.

The option may well depend on his humour, most particularly if they did not get laid the night before.

No need to risk going through all that shit.

.

I have a problem with this last 10 years thing.

I have definitely created email addresses in the last 10 years that I've forgotten about and no longer use. We're they useful ? Sure I created one specifically for dating and via a site I met my now wife on. I certainly can't accurately remember that email address as it was meant to be a throwaway address because someone had been stalky enough that the police had to get involved (not entirely their fault - they were on medication - and had a condition that made this more likely, but certainly not advertised on their profile).

Not that I've any intention to travel to the land of the (previously) "free" even though I know a good many people there. The current administration has made that basically not worth doing

Here's the thing with your forgotten email address: the fact that you have forgotten it will likely be considered 'being evasive', 'hiding information', 'non-disclosure of required information', or some other reason to 'investigate further'.

Whether you or I like it or not, all of our details are in an American database right now. Every known person in the world. And any new snippet of information that gets discovered will be added to it.

Well it allows people to post and share, so it might get a cash demand from the UKG at some point for not checking our ages and confirming out identities.

My in-laws are Japanese and have been living in Brazil for decades. Every few years, they return to Japan for family visits and (I suspect) binge eating in kaiten-zushi restaurants.

They are eligible for ESTA, but since Trump I they avoid traveling through the USA due to the uncertainty -- they believe _something_ may happen and they won't be able to explain themselves (I am old and Japanese).

I used to visit some colleagues at universities there, but I'll take a reverse-sabbatical. I never had any issues with the law, but what they have there now is not sane -- and I refuse to have a social network, therefore I am suspicious as hell.

> “Oh my gaahhd! You don’t don’t have a Facebook account?”

I do - or rather, did, since FB don't think I'm a real person unless I film my face and head for them (which I wasn't about to do). As a result they sent me an email a few days ago telling me my account is now permanently closed (amusingly, with a "click here to log in to FB" button underneath the message).

You got that too? I didn't do a video, I posted a grainy shot to them with me flashing them the middle finger. AI doesn't do that, neither does a bot ;-)

But yes, Facebook is well on its way out for me too.

According to TFA, this has been brewing across several presidencies. Don't hold your breath on the policy expiring with the current incumbent's term.

I guess you can get television signal from United States at that distance. That might be enough to stay away from United States for the next few years until a new country is established to replace United States.

... but visitors from those nations may soon have to provide five years' worth of their social media history in order to gain entry.

Well that's me stuffed. I have never had any "social media" accounts so I would have to try and prove a negative.

Not that I have any burning desire to visit the US but this sort of nonsense would definitely put me off and, I suspect, it will a lot of people.

Has there been any sign that Russia is going to be treated more leniently that the UK and the EU? Putin definitely seems to be on Trump's Christmas card list.

If I ever made a trip to North America, Canada would be the place I would choose.

If you do not have social media (like many of us here), you must surely be a TERRURRIST or something. If you had nothing to hide, you would spend your days blathering about yourself like any upright citizen, comrade. So best not even try…

That is merely channelling George W. His great priority was The War Against Tourism, when he wasn't busy being proud of being a merkin.

> Welcome to America

Would that be the Federated Capitalist Republic of America or another part of that continent.

(presumably this social media post puts me on the "special" list, now)

Nah, it's the land of the Capitalist Republic American Party

... my flight to Canada isn't diverted.

I called DJT a Cockwomble on Twitter a few years ago so that's me banned from Leftpondia forever.

In the immortal words of Hercule Poirot: Dommage.

10 year of email addresses? I doubt I could remember all of mine. I certainly don't keep a record of them all.

What's the intent here? If they arrest you at a later date and spot a mistake on the form you filled din before arrival they have a case to lock you up?

I mean criminals will just break the law. It's only going to inconvenience people who choose to visit America. Fortunately there is plenty of the world out with the USA t visit. I do wonder how many academic conferences will migrate to Canada or elsewhere as people decide they just can't be bothered with all the hoops to jump through.

> 10 year of email addresses? I doubt I could remember all of mine. I certainly don't keep a record of them all.

Guaranteed I can't remember mine.

Since beginning from my first personal 'Net connection with Demon, I've always used catch-all emails with a domain, so every registration, online shop, random interaction has used a different email. But as I didn't get around to buying "my own" domain until very recently, I've lost a few domains over the decade (and others before that) and therefore all of those email addresses. A few of the more useful registrations would be updated for continuity, but on the whole didn't bother (this is at least my fourth El Reg "identity" IIRC). And as there was no point in keeping track of email addresses that were no longer usable...

me buggered.

I'm on farcebork , mostly to stay in contact with friends spread to the 4 corners of the earth (yeah I'm a square earthist*)

And most of them are either centerist or left leaning, even the right leaning guys look at trump and say "what an orange cockwomble"

So now the US government wants to trawl my social media posts in case I've said anything nasty about the current shit shower that claims to be the US government.

I can scream 'first amendment' all I like but as a non US citizen, I dont have those rights unless I'm on US soil.... but my friends ARE US citizens, and its a very nice way to find out which US citizens support the current white house occupant(when hes not tearing half of it down and covering the rest in some fake gold tat) completely infringing their rights under the first amendment.

*flat earth is so yesterday.

To decide whether to downvote you, please let me know if you're a square earthist or a cube earthist . The right number of corners is 8!!

I think maybe they were confused. Surely, insisting on there being four corners would make them a tetrahedral earthist. Handily, this would also mean that there are four sides (faces), thus minimising any confusing use of too many different numbers :-)

/ob But don't mention the edges.

… (when the TSA was established in 2001) is that I'm denied the smugness I'd experience by boycotting in response to this malign stupidity.

Yup. Dommage covers it.

>> social media vetting for 'anti-American activity'

Somewhere, senator McCarthy is looking up from Hell, and smiling.

" vetting for 'anti-American activity' "

Pretty much every president in my lifetime would have condemned that very phrase as being un-American.

Except one.

It certainly is if you judge them by their purported ideals.

But the irony is that the phrase "un-American" itself, and the context in which it was first used- the "House Un-American Activities Committee"- isn't any better in that respect. If anything it sounds even *more* Orwellian and reminiscent of the language used by the type of totalitarian communist regimes they supposedly wanted to define themselves against.

In other words, "un-American" might be just about the most "un-American" expression ever. Or, then again, it may well be unintentionally appropriate.

I live around 10Km from the border, and on my journey to work, I pass a couple of variable message signs which give an indication of delays at the three nearest land border crossings. Prior to the recent White House incumbent taking office, the delays could be typically 20 minutes but often much higher.

I've noticed that since Jan 2025, the delays are NEVER over 5 minutes, so there is (as official statistics prove) a severe downturn in day trips, commercial goods, and holidaymakers going south.

I'd always wanted to do a road trip through BC, The Yukon, and into Alaska to drive to the Arctic ocean along the Dalton Highway. That's on hold indefinitely.

Apparently visits from Canada to the US is down for ten consecutive months; what might that be? And it’s not just Canada.

I doubt that many Canadians, are trying to infiltrate the US, plan terrorist cells, etc. Probably they just want to visit, have a good time, spend money and boost your local economy. Fine!

Except now they are perceived as ‘not welcome, jog on’. I need to double check the reference but apparently the US is the only country in the world to have experience a big decrease in tourism this year. Why?

Canadians used to *love* to visit Florida (snowbird, summer heat, you get the drift) and Vegas.

Florida pretty much saw their Canadian visitors evaporate after Drumf decided to slap tariffs on Canada, and Canada went "FUVM" with their money. So places like the Bahamas, Bermuda, Mexico (especially Mexico after Drumf did the same to them, and Canadians went "you're our people") and Europe saw a big influx in Canadian tourists.

Vegas has also seen a big downturn to the point that the tourism board is trying to persuade Canadians to go back. But they won't. They've been mortally insulted by the orange turd and his weirdoes in the White House.