A law firm with a major office in Bristol has warned its staff travelling to the US to be wary of handing over details of their social media accounts and phone data to border officials.
Clarke Willmott fears complying with this voluntary part of the US’s visa waiver programme could break data protection regulations and client confidentiality obligations. 
It has advised its own lawyers not to agree to take part in the scheme, which was introduced just before Christmas.
And in the light of newly elected President Trump’s highly controversial tough travel bans on Syrian refugees and people from seven predominantly Muslim countries, there are fears that what is now voluntary could soon become compulsory for everyone arriving at US entry points.
Clarke Willmott partner Susan Hall, pictured, said: “From December 20, the online system which allows visitors to the US from countries which benefit from the visa waiver system, which includes the UK, has included a new question.
“It reads: ‘Social Media (optional) please enter information associated with your online presence.’ This invites the applicant to fill in details of the social media platforms used by the applicant and their user names associated with those platforms.”
She said reports coming out of the US say that President Donald Trump has asked for this to be made compulsory and extended to cover website browsing history.
Susan, an IT and data protection specialist, said the informal arrangement was already producing complex social and legal dilemmas.
“After a six-hour flight to the US it is very difficult for a person to resist giving information if called into a room and asked why they did not fill in a particular part of an entry requirement,” she said.
“The USA reserve the right to turn people away at the border, but the practicalities of that mean that someone could be stuck at an airport with little support and feel pressured into giving information.
“Many people use different aspects of social media for different parts of their lives. They might use LinkedIn for business but Facebook for interacting with friends.”
Revealing all the links would make it possible for a third party to put different parts together and gain access to confidential information.
“There is growing concern about how this information might be used or stored,” said Susan.
“There is also concern about what exactly border officials are looking for. Are they checking a person’s political affiliation? Their religion? Cross-checking information already obtained from other sources?
“Since nobody carries out social media in a vacuum, by handing over your own details to somebody you will also be handing over access to your friends, work colleagues and associates. This gives rise to real data protection concerns. Just because something has been shared on social media doesn’t stop it being personal data, and the combination of social media data with other data in unexpected ways gives rise to a real risk of breach of the data protection act.
“Given the speed with which the first week of the Trump administration rewrote the political landscape and the use of executive orders to do so, this is a dynamic area, and one where anyone proposing to travel to the US needs to be aware of might be required.”
Susan said businesses needed to be particularly vigilant about keeping data confidential as their browsing history and social media contacts could provide information that could be useful to commercial rivals.
“We are setting out revised guidelines for our own lawyers to follow with respect to social media, to ensure people are aware of the issues of data protection and client confidentiality compliance which developments like this cover,” she said.
Clarke Willmott has seven offices across the country including Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton and Taunton.
