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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

#31

Post by DowagerDave »

McDyver wrote: post #10
edward28 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While you are legally required to hand over the passcode, they can confiscate the device for two weeks or more, which is probably a large deterrent for most people.

That's the point the article makes, you are _not_ legally required to hand over the password. > Officers routinely ask travellers to provide their passcode or password to devices so they can be examined, but they do not have the power to compel passengers to hand over their passcodes,

but they can take your device - then what do you do?

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

#32

Post by nucleardog »

geocrasher wrote: post #8

Easy solution: Travel with a burner phone.

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 a few photos, receive an assortment of spam calls, get a few destinations in the maps history, etc. Anything important still happens on my main device (can always tether through the old phone).

By the time I hit the border there’s enough data to not be an immediate red flag, but nothing that really matters. If anyone compromises the phone while I’m away, it’s at least reasonably limited to only collecting data on me until I get back and throw the thing back in a drawer.

It’s not foolproof, but it’s a reasonable balance for me between risk/effort/expense travelling to places like China.

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

#33

Post by Hizonner »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #25
Hizonner wrote: post #15

Before any international travel: 1. Wipe phone 2. Install goatse wallpaper

3. Get arrested for bringing "indecent material" or whatever they call that into the country.

Well, yeah, given that it's Australia.

Slaughterhouse waste wallpaper should be OK though.

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

#34

Post by jkaplowitz »

LimeLimestone wrote: post #3
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.

Does it apply to non-citizens? As far as I know, in the US you can politely decline a phone search if you are a US citizen. If you're a foreign tourist your only choice is either to allow the search or be denied entry to the Land of Freedom™ How does it work in Australia?

At the US international border, no, even US citizens can’t prevent the phone search regardless of whether or not they consent. They can however usually decline to give a PIN, passcode, or password or to assist in unlocking the phone by entering such a credential, and they can’t be refused entry to the US. However, CBP can then temporarily seize the phone to perform a more comprehensive attempt at searching it. Getting the phone back later may be a hassle.

Additionally, pissing off CBP may lead to extended delays, luggage searching, and questioning to see if they can find another legally valid reason to punish you for annoying them. And maybe they might revoke trusted traveler program membership due to no longer seeing you as a low-risk traveler. But indeed, they will not finally refuse entry to a citizen.

There are rarer cases where the US government can insist on your cooperation in getting past a PIN, passcode, or password, such as if you show them that an incriminating document exists on your phone and then lock the phone before they can collect the evidence.

And while the exact boundary of the constitutional protections regarding face or fingerprint unlock is not authoritatively settled nationwide in the courts, it’s very likely weaker than for information you hold in your mind like a password.

I strongly suspect CBP can constitutionally require a US citizen entering at an international port of entry to assist with fingerprint or face unlock, though I admit I don’t know how physically they can force the matter if the person refuses. It wouldn’t surprise me if that would be grounds for arrest under at least some circumstances (maybe not all).

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

#36

Post by alexey-salmin »

karaterobot wrote: post #26
LimeLimestone wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it apply to non-citizens? As far as I know, in the US you can politely decline a phone search if you are a US citizen. If you're a foreign tourist your only choice is either to allow the search or be denied entry to the Land of Freedom™ How does it work in Australia?

As the article states, they can take your phone and try to hack it, but they can't otherwise punish you for refusing to give them your password.

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

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

#37

Post by coldtea »

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.

It's also important to not get boged down in the airport or denied entry out of spite though...

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

#38

Post by DowagerDave »

geocrasher wrote: post #23
williamdclt wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very loose definition of "easy"

Use whatever word you like better. Straightforward, Simple, uncomplicated not difficult. Seriously, set up a new phone, new number, new Gmail account, new IG/FB accounts, use them a week before you leave- tell your friends "Follow me here for my trip!" and have your phone number forwawrded. Put a few contacts in it. Done. Not a big deal at all for most technically competent people. That's us, right?

This is ridiculous. Put aside the idea of purchasing a new phone for a trip, you then suggest setting up all new accounts and then "telling your friends" - how exactly? contact everyone from your "real" accounts and say add my fake account? What about when you come back - tell them "ok delete my fake account and add my real one"? which is which now, oh and how do you access all your real contacts, credentials, payment, etc that you needed during your trip? And I do this everytime I travel?

You seem to focus on the technical aspects but really gloss over the entire "create a duplicate online life every time you travel"

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

#39

Post by codetrotter »

cletus wrote: post #27

Story time: when I worked at Google we had a specific policy for traveling to and from China. IIRC it went something like this: 1. You absolutely aren't allowed to take your regular phone and laptop; 2. You will be given loaner devices to take into China; 3. If you're asked to open such devices on entry, comply and then, when you can, inform IT; 4. Once you got back, I'm not sure what happened to those devices. I bel…

> it does seem prudent to wipe your device and restore when you land. Then again, border officials can also deny you entry with very little justification so who knows?

For example, if they instruct you to turn on the device, and they see the setup screen or even just that it has no photos, no messages, nothing, might raise suspicion I would imagine.

Good luck trying to argue with them that absence of data should be considered normal and not a reason for them to harass you :(

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

#40

Post by coldtea »

karaterobot wrote: post #26
LimeLimestone wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it apply to non-citizens? As far as I know, in the US you can politely decline a phone search if you are a US citizen. If you're a foreign tourist your only choice is either to allow the search or be denied entry to the Land of Freedom™ How does it work in Australia?

As the article states, they can take your phone and try to hack it, but they can't otherwise punish you for refusing to give them your password.

>they can't otherwise punish you for refusing to give them your password.

Except of course by denying you entry, marking you in some "no fly" blacklist, and other ways that are not oficially "punishments", but are very much so in practice...

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