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New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

radionz.co.nz

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Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#2
Not that I ever had are reason to go there, but we can officially strike NZ of the list of places I'll be visiting.

I hope this sort of malarkey doesn't become the norm. This seems rife for abuse. If you have good enough information to demand to rifle though someone's phone or computer, you have good enough information for a damn warrant.

Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#4
It's troubling to watch one of the most amazing places on earth transform itself into a totalitarian purgatory.

Access to physical phone/laptop is only the first step -- mark my words. Big Brother's bureaucrats are never satiated. Next, we will have demands for passwords and unrestricted access to : email, facebook, photo sharing, hacker news posts, social media, etc.

I see sudden spike in the market for burner phones. ANd a long-term opportunity for a company that can create a "burner" social media profile.

Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#5
> We're not going into 'the cloud'. We'll examine your phone while it's on flight mode

This law isn't too bad as far as a compromise bill goes. The problem is a lack of accountability. Three fixes and I'd be okay with it:

1) Officials must document their reasons for finding a "reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing";

2) Travellers should be able to challenge the search in a court proceeding to occur no later than close of business the next day (traveller must surrender their phone to the court in the interim, but is free to leave the airport after that); and

3) Searchers cannot (a) copy data from the phone while searching, (b) turn off airplane mode or (c) take more than [2] hours to conduct their search.

Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#7
Privacy Commissioner John Edwards had some influence over the drafting of the legislation and said he was "pretty comfortable" with where the law stood... "You know when you come into the country that you can be asked to open your suitcase and that a Customs officer can look at everything in there."

Evidently, severe brain damage is no hindrance to securing a commissioner's appointment in New Zealand.

Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#9

> We're not going into 'the cloud'. We'll examine your phone while it's on flight mode This law isn't too bad as far as a compromise bill goes. The problem is a lack of accountability. Three fixes and I'd be okay with it: 1) Officials must document their reasons for finding a "reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing"; 2) Travellers should be able to challenge the search in a court proceeding to occur no later than close o…

Not saying I agree with your "not too bad" assessment. But your list is incomplete without considering the violations of third parties who have shared items in confidence that are now on the local device.

So:

4) All third parties (meaning people other than the traveler) who have their privacy violated in the process must be informed immediately of the full details of the privacy violation. Which communications, pictures, etc. were viewed and or copied and by whom, and how to follow up on these violations.

Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#10
post #8

Is there a SaaS provider specializing in storing encrypted images of phones? The idea being that before you travel, you upload the encrypted image and wipe the phone, then after passing through customs you restore.

> before you travel, you upload the encrypted image and wipe the phone, then after passing through customs you restore

That sounds like willfully evading customs, which is a serious crime.

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