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Australian Border Force searched phones of 10k travellers in past two years

theguardian.com

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Re: Australian Border Force searched phones of 10k travellers in past two years

#101

Post by Hizonner »

alisonatwork wrote: post #57
nucleardog wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any time I travel out of country, a week or two beforehand, I pull an old phone out of a drawer, factory reset it, and move my SIM card over. I don’t sign it in to any cloud services. I’ll install a few apps (browser, news reader, YouTube, maps, stuff like that) but nothing of any real substance. For the couple weeks until I travel I carry both phones, collecting a bit of data, the odd text message from my mom, snap…

The stupid thing about this whole security charade is that this is exactly what any serious actor would do if they actually had sinister motives for entering the country, so the policy is only punishing ordinary people who were no threat in the first place or occasionally by accident catching a dumb criminal who probably would've been caught eventually anyway.

A serious actor would have a cover phone that was their main phone and had truly been used for everything they did, other than eee-ville, for months or years. Either that or they'd be a completely in-character business traveller with a blank corporate loaner phone in accordance with the actual policy of some company they actually worked for. Whatever best matched who they claimed to be.

Their eee-ville devices would stay at home. If they needed ee-ville data, they'd download from the cloud, probably into a new device, after passing the border.

Re: Australian Border Force searched phones of 10k travellers in past two years

#102

Post by queuebert »

peutetre wrote: post #2

> The department data reveals that close to 94% of the time people freely revealed their phone passcode to officers, despite there being no legal requirement to do so. There really needs to be better education in civics. It's so important to know your rights, especially when someone in a position of authority tries to abuse that authority.

Knowing your rights is not the same thing as asserting your rights against a gun-toting, uniformed agent of the state who threatens you with detention, confiscation, and violence if you don't self incriminate.

Re: Australian Border Force searched phones of 10k travellers in past two years

#103

Post by queuebert »

Hizonner wrote: post #100
sebzim4500 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think proving the laptop turns on is an unreasonable request. You just have to show them a log-in screen to prove it isn't a bomb.

It would be easy to build a bomb that could show a login screen.

It's amazing how much security policy relies on the bad guys being dumb.

Re: Australian Border Force searched phones of 10k travellers in past two years

#104

Post by alexey-salmin »

grecy wrote: post #65
alexey-salmin wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can refuse entry at any time, and legally speaking it's not punishment

No country can refuse entry to it's own citizen. They must admit a citizen, but they can then arrest them immediately.

Right, but this subtree was specifically about non-citizens.

> Does it apply to non-citizens?

Re: Australian Border Force searched phones of 10k travellers in past two years

#105

Post by op00to »

gwbas1c wrote: post #74
op00to wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My company requires us to use a "burner" phone and laptop when we travel internationally. I can helpfully print out the policy from the employee handbook and show it to the border guard. I'm not sure that's considered as suspicious as you think absent any other suspicious behaviors.

I think saying something like "I bought a cheap phone for the trip because I don't want to lose my good one." should be good enough?

Simpler is better for these types of situations, so I agree!

Re: Australian Border Force searched phones of 10k travellers in past two years

#106

Post by GJim »

dazc wrote: post #70
grecy wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried not bringing a phone? I'd be really interested in their response when you tell them you don't have one on you.

Seems like a good case for having a basic Nokia just for travel purposes.

As I said earlier....

Most companies of any size, and civil servants, have policies to travel with burner phones/laptops when crossing (even benign) international boarders; including into Australia and "the land of the free"

Frankly, it is so commonplace, it is not remotely unusual or suspicious to travel with a burner phone.

Re: Australian Border Force searched phones of 10k travellers in past two years

#107

Post by bloomingeek »

tamimio wrote: post #75
bloomingeek wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I couldn't agree more! Hypothetical: I wonder how they would react, on looking at my cell, if before leaving home I removed all my pictures and contacts, erased my internet history and removed all files? Would they think I'm hiding something or just being careful with my private data? Instead of, "Don't leave home without it!", leave home without data on phone. :)

> on looking at my cell, if before leaving home I removed all my pictures and contacts, erased my internet history and removed all files? They take a whole dump for future forensic if needed, and that includes the ability to restore what you have deleted.

Hypothetical 2: leave your cell at home and just carry your sim card. After leaving airport, purchase a usable phone and insert sim card. Remove card and ditch phone when leaving country. Would they detain and harass this person?

Re: Australian Border Force searched phones of 10k travellers in past two years

#108

Post by stephenr »

zensavona wrote: post #47
jl6 wrote: post #14

10,000 phone searches in the last two years. 3.3m visitors in March 2024 alone. So something like 0.01% of travellers get their phones searched. How are those 0.01% selected? > The agency does not provide information on the success rate for searches, but has said a phone would only be seized where officers suspected it had “special forfeited goods” such as “illegal pornography, terrorism-related material and media th…

Also consider Australians who travel and return home. I have personally had my phone searched 3 times. I know many people who also have the same experience. One time I refused and let them keep the phone, just bought a new iPhone and restored it. Since then I was searched almost every time I went through the airport. After refusing to hand over the code (Politely... I explained that no, there is no terrorism material…

> I have personally had my phone searched 3 times.

I think it's safe to say the first time got you on a shit list.

So what triggered the first time?

Where were you flying from? Are there any other factors that while not at all indicators of guilt, might make them [suspect] you?

It could have been simple racial profiling or it might be context (ie a lone 60 year old dude travelling from Thailand or the Philippines). Like I said neither of these is a sign of guilt but they may cause/contribute to suspicion.

Re: Australian Border Force searched phones of 10k travellers in past two years

#109

Post by oska »

tflol wrote: post #81
Rinzler89 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah shit, comments like these and the videos from Boy Boy and Friendly Jordies makes me want to avoid traveling to Australia when I see how easily law enforcement there just violates people's rights using some legal loophole.

In my case, wandering male Sydney Funnel-web Spiders make me want to avoid Australia

On the assumption (perhaps misplaced) that this comment is serious and not a joke, such a sentiment indicates extremely poor risk assessment. Native Australian fauna represents such an extremely small risk to tourists that it is not worth considering. (But obviously if you do encounter any dangerous looking fauna you should treat it with respect.)

But I do agree with the grandparent comment that this extreme level of airport search intrusiveness does legitimately make Australia a much less attractive tourist destination. And btw, as an Australian, I feel somewhat the same way towards the USA and its intrusive airport searches (which is what we are slavishly copying).

Re: Australian Border Force searched phones of 10k travellers in past two years

#110

Post by [deleted] »

estebank wrote: post #59
Garvi wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly like the travel advisories to the US for EU firms. If it bothers you this much, why this Don Quixote act, why not do something about it where you actually can? Otherwise it's just bashing the Chinese for internet happy points. Just like reddit.

As someone who's more affected by the US behavior than the Chinese behavior, and very critical of it, what you're doing is whataboutism.

[deleted]
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