Aotearoa/New Zealand is now considering to grant the US automated access to their demands for biometric information, police records, but also highly sensitive information about a person's political opinions, trade union memberships, or even sexual life. This is (automated in the background) on top of email addresses from the past decade, five years of phone numbers, personal details of family members, face, fingerprint, DNA, iris and other data they're *requesting from travellers* for the travel authorisation process

In the US, there's currently a "let's grab everything first and ask questions later approach, which is really, really concerning about how that information may end up being used, where it's being stored, the retention period" type of attitude around these things.

And it looks like New Zealand is - unlike countries of the European Union - in no position to demand security and privacy protections.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/587964/government-deciding-whether-us-should-get-access-to-new-zealanders-biometric-data

> Any information handed over to the US may end up with [...] ICE [...], and concerns have been raised about the opaque process, data sovereignity and surveillance overreach.
>
> [...]
>
> [NZ gov] had not stated what information might be shared, what safeguards would apply, or whether parliament or the public would be consulted before any agreement was finalised.
>
> [...] the proposed scheme was much more invasive than existing data-sharing arrangements and officials should consider the Trump administration's approach to immigration during negotiations.

1/2

#NZpol #privacy #murica #travel

The US now needs to be viewed in the same way as e.g. North Korea. A country that must not be trusted. So one should really consider multiple times whether they *really* want to travel there (or even *through*) the US.

https://www.heise.de/en/news/US-algorithms-as-border-guards-automated-judgments-on-EU-travelers-possible-11186708.html

Under a planned new agreement between the EU and the US, to ensure visa-free travel (to the US), the US would gain **extremely** broad access and freedoms to use highly sensitive personal information on travelers. This includes biometric information, but also highly sensitive information about a person's political opinions, trade union memberships, or even sexual life.

But what so much irks me about this agreement, that it is so far against the #GDPR and #AIact, as well as legal principles that it is beyond me how it could be passed. Conflicts would be resolved by a joint committee. Resorting to a national or international tribunal is **explicitly excluded.** This removes the procedure from independent judicial review, which, given the sensitivity of the data and the implications of the decisions for travelers, means a weakening of legal protection.

#murica #travel #eu

The US now needs to be viewed in the same way as e.g. North Korea. A country that must not be trusted. So one should really consider multiple times whether they *really* want to travel there (or even *through*) the US.

https://www.heise.de/en/news/US-algorithms-as-border-guards-automated-judgments-on-EU-travelers-possible-11186708.html

Under a planned new agreement between the EU and the US, to ensure visa-free travel (to the US), the US would gain **extremely** broad access and freedoms to use highly sensitive personal information on travelers. This includes biometric information, but also highly sensitive information about a person's political opinions, trade union memberships, or even sexual life.

But what so much irks me about this agreement, that it is so far against the #GDPR and #AIact, as well as legal principles that it is beyond me how it could be passed. Conflicts would be resolved by a joint committee. Resorting to a national or international tribunal is **explicitly excluded.** This removes the procedure from independent judicial review, which, given the sensitivity of the data and the implications of the decisions for travelers, means a weakening of legal protection.

#murica #travel #eu