London: US plans for ‘extreme vetting’ of British visitors — which could see travellers forced to hand over mobile phones and social media account details — have received a mixed response from UK nationals.

While most agree that being forced to give up usernames and passwords would be an invasion of privacy, some see it is justifiable if it helps in the fight against international terrorism, while others described such a move as ‘over the top’.

The issue has been raised after media reports stated that America’s Trump administration wants to force tourists and business visitors from the UK and other US allies including Germany and France to reveal personal data, as well as disclose financial information and face detailed ideological questioning on arrival.

Increasing border security has been a priority for President Donald Trump, with his promise to build a wall along the Mexican border a key election pledge, followed by his repeated attempts to ban all travellers from a handful of Middle Eastern countries.

And now it looks like visitors from America’s European allies could be the next to face severe scrutiny, with the US customs and border patrol telling The Guardian: “Keeping America safe and enforcing our nation’s laws in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully examine all materials entering the US.”

But IT consultant Roy Trzeciak-Hicks says being forced to hand over mobile phones and passwords would put him off visiting the US.

“I would not want to give them passwords to my phone,” said the regular transatlantic traveller.

“You could get around it by leaving your phone at home and taking an old phone with no apps loaded, then load them when you get there. Or backup your phone before travelling — copy everything to the cloud so it’s a blank phone when you go. Then you can restore from the cloud, bypass that nosy lot.

“It’s over the top and surely it would be more appropriate to vet before getting on the plane, as most terrorists would be more interested in blowing up the planes themselves.”

Another regular traveller, Etienne Colgate, believes that as long as you know the rules in advance and the measures help prevent terrorism, then it could be acceptable.

“If you know that handing over your phone with your passport is the protocol, then wouldn’t you ensure anything suspect you had is deleted already? You could argue that, if you have nothing to hide, then what’s the issue?” said the managing director of Medicare Colgate, which supplies medical equipment all over the world, including to the US.

“I think if it could prevent terrorism then it’s fair enough. And, if so, we [the UK] should do the same. How would that be a benefit though? Everyone would delete anything dodgy.

“I would also be concerned if it was just data gathering for the government with no benefit in terms of tackling terrorism, but it wouldn’t put me off visiting that country.”

Andrew Barker, MD of luxury travel providers Hurlingham Travel, doubted the security benefits of ‘extreme vetting’ at the border, as all US citizens would be exempt.

“It’s possible that, whatever they [border officers] want, people would just do it — although it could put some people off for sure,” he said. “Some people might argue that if you’ve got nothing to hide it’s fine, but others may say ‘what’s the point?’.

“Security, it seems to me, most of the problems are within the country itself. Most of the incidents are caused by citizens themselves. It’s a tough one — they obviously want information, but I’m not sure this is the right way to go about it.”

There has also been opposition to the plan from within the US, with the Daily Telegraph reporting that a coalition of 131 non-governmental organisations, experts and trade associations have opposed the idea of asking for passwords, saying it “create[s] an intense chilling effect on individuals”.

- The writer is a freelance journalist based in the UK