U.S. Requires Visitors from Visa Waiver Countries to Register on Department of Homeland Security Website Prior to Travel
June 4th, 2008Major red flag.
I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if the U.S. Government is going to use this program to collect millions of IP addresses that they may be able to associate with citizens of U.S. Visa waiver countries. Obviously, there are a lot of unknowns here, but the big question is:
What capability does the NSA have to ID you by your IP address outside of the U.S.? NSA access to all IP traffic in the ECHELON states (U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand) must be assumed, even though this is officially denied in public.
Say, for example, that an air traveler (let’s call him Winston Smith) submitted his information to the DHS on his home computer. What is the U.S. Government going to do with that IP address? Just let it vanish into the ether?
What can the U.S. Government do with that IP address?
Unfortunately, all we can do here is guess about how bad it can be.
Might the U.S. Government Magic 8 Ball wonder why, for example, a computer associated with the same IP address that Winston Smith used for his DHS session, repeatedly visited Cryptogon and other thought criminal sites? Might Winston Smith get the rubber glove treatment when he steps off the plane in the U.S.? Or maybe he wouldn’t be allowed to board the flight in the first place. Or maybe he’d be disappeared into the U.S. gulag system for enemy combatants.
Obviously, the U.S. Government can’t automatically assume that the IP address associated with Winston Smith one day will be the same the next day. Internet service providers often “lease” IPs to users for a finite period of time. So, in order for the U.S. Government to be able to make any sense out of those dynamic IP addresses, in the past or the future, they would have to have access to the ISPs’ lease lists to determine who had which IP, when?
Would they have this information? I don’t know, but here’s a tip: Don’t travel to the U.S.
Oh, you’re going to go anyway, on purpose. Ok, don’t register with the DHS via your home computer. Use a work computer, or some other system that you don’t use to visit thought criminal sites.
I know, the eLiTe of you out there are thinking: “I’ll register using a proxy server or TOR.” That’s probably a dumb move. When you arrive in the U.S., maybe the Nazis would like to have a conversation with you about why you feel the need to use terrorist information warfare tools to mask your real ip address. Hmm? Well?
“Mr. Smith, we see here that you used a proxy server to send in your information to DHS. Please follow the man wearing the rubber gloves. Enjoy your visit to the United States.”
Via: AFP:
Travelers from Japan and Western Europe will face tighter restrictions on coming to the United States beginning in January, according to new rules unveiled Tuesday by the US government.
Tourists and business travelers from the 27 countries currently listed under the visa waiver program will have to register with the US government three days in advance, the Department of Homeland Security said.
The new rules aim to make it more difficult for potential terrorists to enter the United States from places such as France, Germany, Switzerland, Britain, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Singapore, New Zealand, Japan and Australia, the government said.
However, critics have raised concerns about the possibility of reduced tourism and difficulties with last-minute business travel.
“Getting this information in advance enables our frontline personnel to determine whether a visa-free traveler presents a threat, before boarding an aircraft or arriving on our shores,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
“It is a relatively simple and effective way to strengthen our security, and that of international travelers, while helping to preserve an important program for key allies.”
The government will ask for the same information that travelers currently fill out on the I-94 card which is handed out on the plane and turned in to customs on arrival in the United States, a DHS official told AFP.
That includes such information as passport number, country of residence, disclosure of communicable diseases or involvement in terror activities.
“Rather than relying on paper-based procedures, this system will leverage 21st century electronic means to obtain basic information about who is traveling to the US without a visa,” Chertoff said.
Travelers may register with the US government beginning in August, and the information will remain valid for two years so that it is not necessary to repeat the same process in that time period.
Once the regulations become mandatory in January 2009, all US-bound travelers from the countries affected “will need to receive an electronic travel authorization prior to boarding a US-bound airplane or cruise ship,” it said.
The rules do not affect US travelers heading overseas.
The new program, known as the Interim Final Rule for the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), was called for under the “implementing recommendations” of the 9/11 Commission Act in 2007, DHS said.
The 9/11 Commission was a bipartisan panel created by the US government to investigate the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
The visa waiver program was created in 1986 “with the objective of eliminating unnecessary barriers to travel, stimulating the tourism industry,” and allowing the government to “focus consular resources in other areas,” according to the State Department website.
If the U.S. Congress and Senate were concerned they might wake up from the stupor of their lobbyist paid three martini, or marguarita, or whatever the blow they are snorting long enough to put the cuffs on Chertoff and give him a good public hanging. ( a good public hanging is from Blazing Saddles – a good belly laugh)
Chertoff is one dude who is living outside the law, making them up as he goes.
This dude has beem aided by the asleep at the wheel lawmakers.
Maybe Chertoff knows something we don’t. Are the aliens in area 51 stirring in their sleep now that the Vatican has acknowledged that
aliens exist? This is one reality Chertoff can’t control, and so, one might deduce that he must be clamping down on human “aliens” knowing that there is a whole universe out there ready to rock our world.
Must register the aliens.
Good luck Chertoff. Suckaa