The Big Tech Show: Scrub your social media and texts - a lawyer advises how to get through US border control
The immigration attorney started by stating categorically that a person's social media posts can stop them from gaining entry into the US. Immigration officials at ports of entry to the US have the right to request access to a person's electronic devices.
You can listen to the full episode here on the Irish Independent website or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Irish Independent
Letters: The camera and the pen bear witness to genocidal regimes
During this summer of 2025, I read a piece shared on Facebook in which the French foreign minister urged Israel to allow foreign press into the Gaza Strip. The words 'Bear witness' stare out at me from my screen. We have all seen images and documentary evidence of Gaza and the horrors that are being inflicted on the Palestinian people. I have had fear and concern about sharing images and reports, not because of the shock and dismay this brings into our comfortable homes (I believe we should be awake and informed), but because I worried that sharing these images and reports might mean that reporters are targeted – which, by all accounts and most recent attacks, suggest they are. If the answer to Medb Ruane's question was 'no', then reporters and photographers from outside would have the freedom to do their job in safety. I believe the answer to her question is most definitely 'yes', because exposure through the power of the lens and pen is something that a genocidal regime would have obvious fears about. Margaret O'Brien, Nenagh, Co Tipperary US needs to take control of its own future and stop playing the short game Looking at what is happening in the US isn't politics as we used to know it. It's more like a card game in which the players are spending money they don't have, knowing they'll be gone before the bill arrives. Leaders grab what they can today and leave the mess for someone else tomorrow. Take the latest in Washington DC. Donald Trump declares crime is out of control, sending federal agents and National Guard troops to 'stop violent crime' and pushing to charge teenagers as young as 14 as adults ('Donald Trump claims crime in Washington DC is out of control. Here's what the data shows', Irish Independent, August 12). Yet official data show juvenile arrests in DC are down nearly 20pc this year, violent crime is falling and homicide rates are at multi-decade lows nationally. ADVERTISEMENT The 'out of control' narrative is largely a political performance that obscures the reality, but that doesn't mean serious problems don't exist. Bit by bit, the US government is being hollowed out, markets are left to run wild and ordinary people are left with fewer tools to deal with big problems like climate change and disappearing jobs. People end up tired, distracted and too busy to look ahead. If nothing changes, America will split in two. One side will be wealthy and mobile, taking advantage of new technology and global markets, while the other will be stuck with climate disasters, fewer jobs and crumbling services. The gap will grow until each side might as well be living in a different country. Ireland has learnt the hard way that if you don't take control of your own future, someone else will – and they won't do it for your benefit. America has to decide soon whether to keep playing the short game or start building something that lasts. Enda Cullen, Tullysaran Road, Armagh Fair play, Charlie Weston, for highlighting forever rising cost of electricity Charlie Weston is doing us all some service with his persistence in highlighting the excessive cost of electricity and the dreadful misery being inflicted on many households as a consequence ('Fears of arrears crisis as record number of families are three months or more behind on energy bills', August 12) But it seems that no one in the Government is listening, and certainly no one seems to want to discuss the elephant in the room – the negative impact on charges that the decision to transform this natural monopoly into an artificial, competitive market has had. As pointed out before, when electricity was generated and supplied by a single semi-state entity, the ESB, Ireland enjoyed the lowest electricity charges in Europe. The reason is very simple: in the privatised scenario, householders are not only having to pay the cost of generation and supply as they did under the semi-state ESB, but on top of that they now must fund the profit margin, the multiple CEOs and duplicated management structures and, by far the most outrageous, the cost of all the advertising we see every night on our TVs as the various entities now sitting between the customer and access to electricity compete for our attention at our expense. Surely with such a vital social good, such a waste is indefensible. The failure to properly debate the decision to outsource this vital service at the time meant that citizens were essentially in the dark. Jim O'Sullivan, Rathedmond False promises of more gardaí on beat when there aren't enough in the force My motorbike was stolen last evening outside my work premises in Artane. Many of us have experienced that dreaded feeling of walking out and discovering that your car or motorbike has been taken and, most likely, burnt out or otherwise destroyed. The gardaí were brilliant and did everything in their power to get it back, but, unfortunately, when dealing with stolen bikes their hands are tied. The political lip service is to get more gardaí on the streets while knowing there aren't enough officers to patrol the country as a whole. I can understand why young people don't want to join the force when every action is scrutinised and videoed. On a recent trip to Cardiff on my motorbike, I noted that it is a very safe city to walk around as they have employed city wardens, akin to the security people on the Dart, who wear hi-vis jackets and patrol the city centre in small groups during the day and on Friday and Saturday evenings, helping tourists and dealing with anti-social behaviour. Basically, they are a step down from the gardaí, but bring a feeling of security. Aidan Hampson, Artane, Dublin Why am I always 12th in the telephone queue when calling our state services? It is amusing that when you ring any of our state services, the first thing you hear is that 'we are experiencing an unusually high volume of calls'. I phoned a public body at 1.30pm on Monday and was told I was 12th in the queue, so I rang off. I rang again at 4pm to again be told I was still in 12th place. That 11th caller must be some yapper. Tom Gilsenan, Beaumont, Dublin 9
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Irish Independent
Letters: The scale of destruction and death by Israeli action is impossible to justify
Many believe the killings are intentional, despite the excuses or lies used by Israel to justify its killings. They regard it as the Israeli state's way of stopping the flow of on-the-ground news that captures the horrifying spectacle we see on our TVs each and every day. How can the intentional targeting of 1,400 medical staff, working in hospitals in Gaza, since the October 7 attacks by Hamas and its proxies, be justified? Where is the justification for the targeted killing of 61,430 people and over 200 who have starved to death, or those who have been killed in the process of trying to get food? While we need to see the end of Hamas and its militant comrades, with the release of hostages, how can America or those who supply weapons to Israel justify so much death and destruction? While we have condemned atrocities on both sides of this conflict, with a hamstrung and ineffective UN Security Council incapable of doing anything to stop this conflict, and an America under Donald Trump a willing participator that supplies weapons to this genocide, who will be held to account when this war is finally over? Christy Galligan, Letterkenny, Co Donegal The Tricolour is a symbol of unity between the green and orange – be proud of it Darragh McManus's piece 'Other countries fly their flags without embarrassment – it's time we did so too' (Irish Independent, August 11) is timely. The original Tricolour, handmade by a group of French-Irish women – descendants of the Irish Wild Geese – was presented to Thomas Francis Meagher in 1848. The tragedy of the Irish Tricolour emanated in 'political' hatred in the aftermath of the Civil War and the 1926 split in Sinn Féin. Post 1922, there was little official teaching of the origins, or symbolism, of the national flag in local museums or libraries. Its description varied according to the tutor, some refusing to accept the 'Orange' – opting for Green, White and 'Yellow'/ 'Gold' due to ingrained misunderstanding of the symbolism. Mr McManus's points out: 'The whole point of our flag's design, after all, was to promote reconciliation, not division: orange and green, the white of peace between them.' Politicians of all parties allowed the Irish national flag to be usurped by the murdering PIRA post 1970, instead of taking ownership of the flag and all it symbolises. We are all proud of the aeons of history of the island of Ireland; it is time every Irish person took complete ownership of a great symbol with pride. To do so would create a genuine reason for a united Ireland; a genuine reason that requires truth, decency and respectful acceptance of each citizen of the four provinces. Declan Foley, Melbourne, Australia A Putin win signals that borders are negotiable if you use enough brutality Your editorial warns of the dangers in sidelining Ukraine in any territorial negotiations ('Throwing Ukraine under the bus is not a legitimate solution', August 11, Irish Independent). History shows us that once a precedent is set, others are quick to exploit it. The world learnt this in 1938, when ceding the Sudetenland to Hitler in the name of peace only emboldened his appetite for conquest. Within a year, Poland was invaded and Europe was engulfed in war. To reward aggression by granting land is to signal to every autocrat that borders are negotiable if you bring enough force to bear. If Ukraine is carved up under diplomatic cover, the next decade will see a rise in opportunistic invasions – not only in Europe, but in regions where old disputes lie dormant, waiting for a signal that the strong may once again take from the weak. Enda Cullen, Tullysaran Road, Co Armagh Presidential hopefuls remember: the office is supposed to be impartial The programme that aired on TG4 last Sunday night discussing president Patrick Hillery's tenure over his two terms in office showed the principles regarding impartially that the next president should uphold. Mr Hillery was asked by taoiseach Garret FitzGerald of Fine Gael to dissolve the Dáil and call a general election in January 1982 when the budget failed to be passed. He refused to speak to several high-ranking politicians within the main opposition party, Fianna Fáil, who wanted to persuade him to not call a general election in order for it to try to form a government. As Mr Hillery was a former Fianna Fáil politician, I am sure he was under severe pressure to speak to his former party members. He showed great respect for the impartially of the office in calling a general election. We will hear a lot over the coming few months regarding the personalities and political ideologies of the citizens looking to become the next president, but once elected the president is bound by the Constitution. Eamonn O'Hara, Manorcunningham, Co Donegal Bureaucracy suffocates democracy and does so at great cost to the taxpayer By definition, 'democracy is a system of government where the power is held by the people'. The reality is that democratic values of public engagement have been replaced in recent years by a complicated maze of bureaucracy. Elected governments have farmed out the role to EU regulations and directives to unelected civil servants, who in turn act on the promptings of government-funded NGOs and vested interests who in turn profit from government investment. Local democracy has become redundant. Bureaucracy is the real thief of democracy and taxpayers' money; it creates a multiplicity of laws and regulations, which bamboozles the average citizen. It breaks one of the most basic rules of the law – that 'the law must be clear and precise'. It must be understandable to all who are bound by it. In Ireland's case, the president, who is the last signature on every bill brought into law, should keep this in mind. That would ensure that our courts are not taken up by petty squabbling among barristers and judges as to meaning of laws passed. It's often too costly for the average citizen to challenge any law or get justice, but not for those with deep pockets. Nuala Nolan, Bowling Green, Co Galway
Business Post
6 days ago
- Business Post
What the Papers Say: RTÉ €725 million ‘distorting' bailout; Nvidia gets Trump reprieve; Jaguar boss defends ‘woke' rebrand
10 am - Good morning from the Business Post newsroom. Daniel McConnell here with your Saturday morning round-up of the main stories in Ireland and across the world. RTÉ €725m funding could 'distort' media market, Irish Independent publisher warns Minister Mediahuis, the multinational group that owns the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent newspapers, has warned that the Government's multiyear funding agreement for RTÉ could damage competition, the Irish Times reports. The media company says this is the case because the bailout would help fund enhancements to digital products such as the RTÉ Player and RTÉ News App to the detriment of commercial media companies. The Belgian-Dutch publisher also said it was concerned that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) could compound the existing imbalance in the relationship between Big Tech and commercial media companies in the State. The issues were raised in a May 7th letter, signed by Mediahuis director of legal and public affairs, Fergus Foody, and sent to Minister for Culture, Arts and Communication Patrick O'Donovan. Failure to provide gas storage puts Ireland at risk of major power outages, EY says Power cuts like those seen in Spain and Portugal could be a danger for Ireland if the Government does not provide for storing natural gas, according to a leading industry figure, the Irish Times is reporting. This State has no natural gas storage, or a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, despite relying on the fuel to generate close to half of all electricity. The Republic ultimately risks 'interruptions to supply' of this key energy source if it does not deal with this question sooner rather than later, Sean Casey, industrials and energy industry leader at EY said. Natural gas generates 40 per cent of Irish electricity, Casey noted, with the State importing 80 per cent of its natural gas via the UK. Its only home-grown source of the fuel, the Corrib field, is dwindling. HP Enterprise paid $25m dividend to Irish entity in June One of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise's main Irish units paid a dividend of €21.5 million ($25 million) in June to another of the computing giant's companies registered here after restructuring its balance sheet and cancelling part of its share capital in early 2025, the Irish Times reports. Accounts filed by Hewlett-Packard Galway (HPG), the entity behind the S&P 500-listed computing giant's European research and development (R&D) hub in Ballybrit, also reveal that operating profits at the unit surged by almost 700 per cent last year amid an increase in R&D tax credits. HPG, which employed some 374 people in the Republic last year, reported turnover of $68.9 million for the 12 months to the end of October last year, up by just under 4 per cent on the previous year. US licenses Nvidia to export chips to China after CEO meets Trump The US commerce department has started issuing licences to Nvidia to export H20 chips to China following weeks of inaction, after chief executive Jensen Huang met President Donald Trump at the White House, the Financial Times is reporting. A US official told the Financial Times the bureau of industry and security, the arm of the commerce department that oversees export controls, had begun to issue licences for the H20. Nvidia designed the chip for the Chinese market after the Biden administration imposed export controls on more advanced artificial intelligence chips. In April, the Trump administration appeared to take a tougher line by telling Nvidia it could not sell the H20 to China. Trump reversed course after Huang visited the White House and directly lobbied the president. But Nvidia was frustrated that three weeks after the decision, the administration had not started issuing the licences. Huang visited the White House on Wednesday and held another meeting with the president. Two days after the meeting, the commerce department starting issue the licences, according to people familiar with the decision. New Jaguar boss defends 'woke' rebrand after stinging criticism The new boss of Jaguar has defended the company's 'woke' rebrand, days after Donald Trump labelled it a 'total disaster', the Daily Telegraph reports. PB Balaji, who is due to take over as chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in November, claimed that the carmaker had seen a positive response to its overhaul. The move has seen it ditch its iconic jumping cat logo, embrace a hot pink aesthetic and debut a car design that has been compared to the Thunderbirds' limousine. He told reporters: 'We have put our plans together, the cars are being revealed, they're getting exciting response from the customers on the ground. Therefore, that's what the strategy is.' It comes days after Trump, the US president, claimed Jaguar had been left in 'absolute turmoil' by its rebrand.
