The title's a question. It's the one I asked myself when I saw the proposed changes, would I even want to go there now? I never said America is the scariest country in the world. When I went looking, what I found was different, an alliance between five countries that's been running for nearly 80 years, and by the end of the piece I say the title's question stopped being the real one.

You're welcome to read it again, because most of what you've raised is already in there. The line about the social media rule not being in effect goes on to say visa applicants, students, workers and immigrants have had to hand theirs over since 2019, and the proposal would extend that to everyone. It's still on the table, and if it goes through as written it won't be a 0.02% chance, it'll be every one of the 14.5 million people a year who come in on an ESTA.

The 50,922 are the searches that needed no suspicion at all, out of 55,318 in a year, and in the article they sit right next to Canada searching 1,108 devices in the whole of 2024. I looked at North Korea, China and Russia too, and I said they're worse once you're inside, in every way that matters. None of them ask for five years of your social media or your family's details before you get there, though.

So yeah, perspective matters. It's just hard to get much of it from one line and one number.>

FineCoatMummy @sh.itjust.works English 50,922 phone searches at the border in a single year

There are about 257 million people traveling to the US to or from other countries each year. That means less than 0.02% of those encounter a device search. The article itself also notes that the social media reporting system is not even in effect.

Is the situation is worse than in the past? Absolutely! Is it still deteriorating? Yes. Do we need to improve it? Yes! But perspective matters too. Your chance of a device search upon entering the US is really small. There are many countries around the world where dev searches happen, and some even have criminal penalties for refusing.

I would say the US is scary-ER than in the past. But the scary-EST? Social media doesn’t do nuance, and everything is either the very best or the very worst thing ever…

That means less than 0.02% of those encounter a device search.

Grok, how does the Panopticon work?