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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

#111

Post by oska »

cletus wrote: post #56
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.

Unauthorized access by Chinese state actors is not a hypothetical [1]. [1]: https://www.computerworld.com/article/1600064/hackers-used-i...

You are referencing something orthoganol to the subject at hand here (searches of devices while going through customs, which garvi is right to point out occurs in a range of countries).

(Not only that but it was a very poor reference, with almost no detail given in the linked article of China's alleged involvement in the hacks.)

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

#112

Post by Garvi »

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.

What you are doing is proving my point.

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

#113

Post by Garvi »

nvy wrote: post #96
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.

>Otherwise it's just bashing the Chinese for internet happy points. Just like reddit. Not every criticism of China is xenophobia.

You've lost all objectivity on this.

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

#114

Post by stephenr »

tamimio wrote: post #69

If you are using an iPhone, make sure to enable pair locking (1). Additionally, I recommend storing your photos (or your phone backup) on a LUKS-encrypted Linux laptop. Do not trust corporate encryption software; it’s better to use a new phone while traveling if you don’t want to bother with that. (1) https://arkadiyt.com/2019/10/07/pair-locking-your-iphone-wit...

Thanks for the heads up on pair locking. I saw a comment somewhere (without much to back it up, admittedly) that suggested "Lockdown mode" would also prevent similar attacks (which apparently prevents connections of any kind when locked).

It definitely sounds like pair locking is a more reliable method, but lockdown mode can be done a few minutes before getting to a border, it doesn't require access to a laptop/desktop to run Configurator.

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

#115

Post by stephenr »

verticalscaler wrote: post #93
stephenr wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an Australian citizen. Almost all my friends are Australian citizens. What fucking "lived experience" are you waffling on like a pork chop about?

My apologies, I don't have a waffling permit. Yourself and all your friends are pleased with everything that happened during that time period? My mistake. I can only take you at your word, that's what I mean by lived experience. If you're happy, I'm happy. The Australians I met stuck abroad at the time were... not. You might also look upthread. Maybe their opinions don't count or something.

Pleased? No. A bunch of people died because a small minority of people wanted to be selfish fuck-holes.

But again - as has been pointed out to you already, the policy in discussion is 100% unrelated to COVID, or lockdowns for that matter.

You might as well claim that Australia has strict biosecurity rules and doesn't let you bring in a banana because of COVID lockdowns.

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

#116

Post by defrost »

verticalscaler wrote: post #93
stephenr wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an Australian citizen. Almost all my friends are Australian citizens. What fucking "lived experience" are you waffling on like a pork chop about?

My apologies, I don't have a waffling permit. Yourself and all your friends are pleased with everything that happened during that time period? My mistake. I can only take you at your word, that's what I mean by lived experience. If you're happy, I'm happy. The Australians I met stuck abroad at the time were... not. You might also look upthread. Maybe their opinions don't count or something.

> The Australians I met stuck abroad at the time were... not.

Of course not - they were stuck outside of Australia during a global pandemic and were unable to return home due to airlines limiting flights and cruiseships being floating cesspools of cross infection.

There was also a very vocal minority that strongly objected to restrictions on social gatherings and to various lockdowns when infection appeared that occurred in some of the Australian cities.

The vast majority of Australians (I'm one) were mostly pretty hapy with how the situation was handled in Australia with a few exceptions, the Federal Government failing to secure an early volume of vaccines being one of those failiings.

Yes, you can go online and find some very vocal Australians complaining very loudly about how it was a total shitshow that trampled their rights, referring to quarantine sites as internment camps, etc.

You can also compare that to vastly larger majority than understood the issues, the dangers, and supported the balance struck and measures taken.

There is no universe in which a spread of opinion did not exist.

Australia had early COVID cases, thanks to fairly uniform measures these were contained and overall the country had a very low death rate by global standards and maintained a strong economy during the pandemic.

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

#117

Post by [deleted] »

defrost wrote: post #116
verticalscaler wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My apologies, I don't have a waffling permit. Yourself and all your friends are pleased with everything that happened during that time period? My mistake. I can only take you at your word, that's what I mean by lived experience. If you're happy, I'm happy. The Australians I met stuck abroad at the time were... not. You might also look upthread. Maybe their opinions don't count or something.

> The Australians I met stuck abroad at the time were... not. Of course not - they were stuck outside of Australia during a global pandemic and were unable to return home due to airlines limiting flights and cruiseships being floating cesspools of cross infection. There was also a very vocal minority that strongly objected to restrictions on social gatherings and to various lockdowns when infection appeared that occu…

[deleted]

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

#118

Post by verticalscaler »

defrost wrote: post #116
verticalscaler wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My apologies, I don't have a waffling permit. Yourself and all your friends are pleased with everything that happened during that time period? My mistake. I can only take you at your word, that's what I mean by lived experience. If you're happy, I'm happy. The Australians I met stuck abroad at the time were... not. You might also look upthread. Maybe their opinions don't count or something.

> The Australians I met stuck abroad at the time were... not. Of course not - they were stuck outside of Australia during a global pandemic and were unable to return home due to airlines limiting flights and cruiseships being floating cesspools of cross infection. There was also a very vocal minority that strongly objected to restrictions on social gatherings and to various lockdowns when infection appeared that occu…

> Yes, you can go online and find some very vocal Australians

Specifically why I wrote lived experience. Which apparently makes me a pork chop.

You can imagine the heartbreaks shared with me. They were not antivaxers by any stretch either.

As for the phone searches and punishment for wrong think I can again only say: hear your fellow citizens out.

If you’re happy, I’m happy. If everyone not happy MUST be a this or a that… I don’t want to visit personally, please understand.

I’m not claiming where the line on authoritarianism should be just that I’m not comfortable.

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

#119

Post by defrost »

verticalscaler wrote: post #118
defrost wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Australians I met stuck abroad at the time were... not. Of course not - they were stuck outside of Australia during a global pandemic and were unable to return home due to airlines limiting flights and cruiseships being floating cesspools of cross infection. There was also a very vocal minority that strongly objected to restrictions on social gatherings and to various lockdowns when infection appeared that occu…

> Yes, you can go online and find some very vocal Australians Specifically why I wrote lived experience. Which apparently makes me a pork chop. You can imagine the heartbreaks shared with me. They were not antivaxers by any stretch either. As for the phone searches and punishment for wrong think I can again only say: hear your fellow citizens out. If you’re happy, I’m happy. If everyone not happy MUST be a this or a…

You opened with:

> Regardless of where you stand on Covid some countries have handled it extremely poorly in terms of civil liberties with Australia near the top of the list.

That makes you a pork chop. At least to the person that used that term. You are holding some strong opinions that raise eyebrows.

> You can imagine the heartbreaks shared with me.

I can, you don't have a monopoly on stories heard and COVID was at the root of many a sad tale.

> As for the phone searches

10K searches in two years when there are more than 3 million transits a month is a very low number - the searches happen in conjunction with other "flags" that prompt deeper inspection of passengers, suspicion of (or actual) smuggling, international flags on various people, suspicious luggage scans, etc.

> and punishment for wrong think

Which punishment for purely what thoughts are you referring to here ?

> If everyone not happy

There are people in Australia that are not happy about { A }, other that are unhappy about { B }, it's not the case that everyone is not happy.

> I don’t want to visit personally, please understand.

That's your choice and you're welcome to it I'm not attempting to persuade you of anything here - you just appear to be holding some odd notions.

> I’m not claiming where the line on authoritarianism should be

I worked some decades mapping the world and scanning for resources, I've been through customs for nigh on two thirds of 190+ countries on the globe - there are far worse countries to visit and even those can be navigated safely enough if not comfortably.

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

#120

Post by verticalscaler »

stephenr wrote: post #115
verticalscaler wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My apologies, I don't have a waffling permit. Yourself and all your friends are pleased with everything that happened during that time period? My mistake. I can only take you at your word, that's what I mean by lived experience. If you're happy, I'm happy. The Australians I met stuck abroad at the time were... not. You might also look upthread. Maybe their opinions don't count or something.

Pleased? No. A bunch of people died because a small minority of people wanted to be selfish fuck-holes. But again - as has been pointed out to you already, the policy in discussion is 100% unrelated to COVID, or lockdowns for that matter. You might as well claim that Australia has strict biosecurity rules and doesn't let you bring in a banana because of COVID lockdowns .

> But again - as has been pointed out to you already, the policy in discussion is 100% unrelated to COVID, or lockdowns for that matter.

Thanks for calling me a pork chop and telling me what is wrongthink. Fire first, ask questions later..

It seems entirely outside your comprehension how such a thing might be abused. Furthermore you aggressively refuse to hear anyone out.

Your country, your rules bud. I sincerely hope they never find you disagreeable - as you do me - for any reason. Hope it all works out.

But personally I would not be comfortable with someone like you as my border guard. Great country otherwise but won’t chance it.

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