The world's preeminent cryptographers can't get visas to speak at US conferences

[doctorow]

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/17/denying-cryptographers-problem.html

…

[Cunk]

It’s a bit ironic when you consider how different the United States’ role in the development of information theory and early computing technology would have been if it hadn’t welcomed refugee scientists from Europe.

[Keith_McClary]

Trump says new immigration proposal will prioritize ‘brilliant’ people

EDIT: Does Trump’s base want immigrants who will mow their lawns for cheap, or immigrants who are better qualified than most Americans and so will get all the high-paying jobs?

[bazilisk]

This is how the US will become a cultural and technological backwater. (Obviously it was already that for draconian, nonsensical, and cruel public policies).

[Scientist]

This isn’t limited to cryptographers or security researchers. In the past 2 years it has become harder for all sorts of experts to get visas to present at conferences if they are from countries or studying subjects that the Trumpettes don’t like.

[hecep]

@bazilisk

This is how the US will become a cultural and technological backwater.

Cryptography. I smell Putin.

[Buddykat]

@doctorow

the World Science Fiction Convention is likely to be held offshore for the foreseeable future, thanks in large part to the inability of global fandom to attend US-based events in the age of “extreme vetting.”

I’m sure that’s news to the members of Dublin 2019 who will be voting on where to hold the 2021 Worldcon. Especially considering that the only bid on the ballot is for Washington DC. And Chicago is currently unopposed for 2022.

[caitifty1]

For those of us in the HIV research field, welcome to our world since 1982… Until Obama you couldn’t get a visa to come to the US if you had HIV (introduced by Reagan), and you still can’t get a visa if you have a drug record… So having a conference where you need people with and at risk for HIV to attend means you can’t have it in the US. There’s a reason the main International HIV/AIDS conference has never been held in the US, despite the leading role of US-based researchers in the field.

[jgs]

It is not a coincidence that the IETF has had zero meetings in the USA since Trump took office, and doesn’t plan to have another there until 2021. There are 3 meetings per year, with pre-Trump meetings being in the USA about 1 out of 4 times in recent years (estimate, just eyeballing the list) so one might otherwise have expected 3 or so.

[gadgetphile]

It’s in their best interests to have these conventions, so is there anything host cities can do to help gain visa clearance for speakers?

I mean, if capitalism is so great, can’t it be used in cases like this?

[anon72705028]

more on ww2 by cunk

[tor_camp]

Collision Conference has moved from New Orleans to Toronto for the next 3 years. Billed as “where the giants of the web assemble” and “the anti-CES”. It has lofty goals. The fact they chose Toronto rather than an American city says a lot about the tech eco system in Toronto but even more about the barriers that keep increasing in the U.S.