[kergonath]

> We do not want to become that kind of scary country to travel to

It is too late for this. The common policy for researchers going to the US for conferences is to use a burner laptop with nothing but a PowerPoint file. That is the official requirements for public research institutions (which this person should have followed). Just like we do for China and we used to do for Russia. It does not make headlines every time, but a lot of us know a couple of people whose laptops were taken away for searching it. Personally I have also been using a burner phone for a few years (I should say that I had been, because all my scheduled trips to the US this year were cancelled).

> especially not the kind of shithole country where you have to be afraid not to offend dear leader

Before, providing social media handles was a nuisance (and I was never questioned about them). Now it’s scary.

Same for the questions about terrorism. It used to be funny and over the top, but if liking a post about Luigi Mangione is terrorism then it puts the whole thing in a quite different light.