Denying Entrance Visas to Troublemakers

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

At 12:08 AM 2/18/96, Ed Carp wrote:

>Another problem - if you ever want to get into the US, you can kiss that
>chance goodbye.  They might not even let you into the country as a
>visitor.  Stupid.  A fair number of Western countries have laws that say,
>in effect, that if you do something in your country that isn't illegal in
>your country but is in country X, then country X can bar you entry or PR
>status or citizenship based on the fact that is *is* a crome in country X.
>
>Never mind that you may not even be aware that it *is* a crime in another
>country, etc.  I suspect that it's intended to bar war criminals and such,
>but it could just as easily be used against the common immigrant.

Oh, but it is done very, very often. That is, it is not something reserved
for "war criminals" (not that war criminals are excluded, as shown by the
Dayton Accords, and other visits.)

"Denied entry" and "undesirable" are the operative words. The offense may
be writing materials critical of the U.S. (poetry, novels, etc....so far,
not Net stuff). Various flavors of activists, writers, critics, etc. are
often denied visas to enter the U.S.

I don't believe the Net has yet registered on the Richter scale of visa
grantings, but I suspect it will within a couple of years, both because the
Net will become a more important media channel and because it will be so
easy to compile lists of folks who will be denied entrance visas.

(And the same applies in reverse. I have no doubt that I will be denied
visas to enter various countries, including the freedom-loving countries of
the mullahs and sheiks, and that country which sent Pollard to spy on the
U.S. Good thing I don't want to visit any of them, except Iraq.)

--Tim May



Boycott espionage-enabled software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1  | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."