Slashdot Mirror
Australia Air Travelers' Laptops To Be Searched For Porn
bluetoad writes "Australian customs officers have been given the power to search incoming travelers' laptops and mobile phones for porn. Passengers must declare whether they are carrying pornography on their Incoming Passenger Card. The Australian government is also planning to implement an Internet filter. Once these powers are in places, who knows how they will be used."
So they can search for porn. What can they do if they find it? Is porn illegal in Australia now?
.
Well there goes my plans to smuggle porn into Australia and use it in a terrorist attack.
Well, I hope the guards are really desensitized because once they search my laptop they will most likely vomit.
Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.
In the US this kind of thing would usually be blamed on politicians pandering to the Christian right. Are there really a lot of fundies in Australia too? I always thought it was a very laid back sort of country.
Always remember that all this fascist measures is for our own good. Politicians are intelligent people that know better than us and, if you disagree, you are probably a criminal.
Dear
Everyone should start carrying an SD card filled with variations on goatse and 2 girls 1 cup
Twinstiq, game news
Censorship is not only morally wrong, it is ineffective. You chase your tail wasting time and money often to accomplish nothing.
When will people learn?
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
What is it with these nutcases and pornography? ...but sending your own people to an obscure war on the other side of the world to involve them in shooting at civilians, that's okay?
"Eeeeeeek, a woman showing a naked boobie! How horrifying!"
Free PC version of ChipWits at http://www.breueronline.de/klaus/chipwits/
What's that you say skippy?
The porn is trapped in the free world!
Back to dream time.
What if my laptop is encrypted because of PCI compliance? What if it is against the law in my country for me to compromise confidential information, but now Australia demands to see it? Does this mean American businessmen can't travel ao Australia with company laptops?
Or will Australia not search encrypted laptops?
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
When travelling to Australia, remember to use drive-level encryption and turn off my laptop before passing through customs. I could also keep a LiveCD in the CD drive to keep customs happy since they'll have something to search.
With the new filter, they need to get their porn somehow. This was the best option.
Well, Australia just came off my honeymoon list.
How bored the rent-a-cops at airports are? I still remember the two idiots who deliberately attempted to make me miss my flight .. somehow I don't think that type of person is the most qualified to make judgement calls.
.. welcome to 1984!
And what exactly is this hoping to achieve anyway? If someone wanted to smuggle illegal porn into Australia a laptop isn't exactly the most efficient means, just use public email systems and some basic encryption. Unless the government is going to demand that all home PCs have monitoring software enforced there's no way that stopping the 'smuggling' of software can even be considered.
Or maybe that's actually what they want
And change your wallpaper to goatse.cx.
You'll be really embarrassed after they find your stash.
Not being Australian, I have to ask, "What does the Australian government have against business and tourism?"
Now just define 'porn' for me.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
The mostly likely 'reason' is that the vast majority of porn s probably captured and snippets (who has time to watch the entire plot of the production) and tends to be a violation of copyright. If you cannot prove that you own the copyright , then you can probably be charged with that 'crime' until it is proven that you do have a legit copy, Even if you have the DVD with you, that fact that it is one your computer probably means you violated some standard or assumed to be present licensing agreement. So unless you starred in the production yourself, they will probably use that angle to charge you with something.
Cave, wreck, and deep diver.
Ahh, if you have linux and use that window with the text you must be worth investigating. That'll be fun.
Better tell people to wait a few more hours after arrival to pick me up.
.
A special adults only episode...
Scenario 1:
You have a drive full of happy family pictures, with your 2yo running around naked on the beach.
Scernario 2:
You lend your laptop to your 14-15yo something teen for homework or an assignment, who ends up collecting sexy pictures of current love-interest or webcamfling, or whatever. You walk through security with a confident smile because you don't look at pron (on that laptop).
You're jolly entering Australia for a nice warm vacation or business, but you did not get in because you're now in jail for childpornography.
"Sir, did you leave your laptop unguarded? Did you pack your laptop yourself?"
Australia, it could happen to you!
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
Gives a new meaning to the words: Do you come to a land down under? Where women glow and men plunder? Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover.
HRH The Duke of Windsor
Are there really a lot of fundies in Australia too? I always thought it was a very laid back sort of country.
There may not be a lot of them there, but they are loud and have money. See: Rupert Murdoch.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Is Australia _that_ short of porn that they need to resort to this? Surely there must be an easier way.
... Works for Drugs right? Oh, wait... Well at least they'll see a drop in imported pornography and, err, people visiting Australia.
heya,
As an Australian, I have to say...what the? This is the first I've heard of this, but it sounds bloody ridiculous.
I mean, seriously, this would be the same Labor party that say....just had their road/transport minister resign for visiting gay s*x clubs?
http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1&cf=all&ncl=dm89TYq5QNgdQeMwGfI6gmxCykKlM&topic=h
Now, I don't support chlid pornography any more than the next person, but this just sounds like some more ridiculous pandering to the religious right, and stupid government posturing that will only waste our (taxpayer's) money. I mean, yes, I know we Christians have a reputation to maintain, of being all show and bluster, and nothing more, but this is getting absurd.
Firstly, what idiot carrying actual child pornography is going to tick yes on the form, then brazenly hand over his laptop? It'll be encrypted, for crying out loud, or they'll just sent it over the damn network, why on earth would they store it in the clear on their laptop. And yes, say they are completely retarded and didn't know how to go to www.truecrypt.org, at the very least bury it deep within the filesystem, it's not exactly going to be on their desktop in a folder entitled "CHILD PORNOGRAPHY - CUSTOM OFFICIALS, DO NOT LOOK HERE" is it, now?
If you look at this SMH article (as a background, SMH is a fairly left-wing paper, normally)
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/travellers-to-be-searched-for-porn-20100520-vh09.html
they ask the very good question of why the heck does it say "pornography", as opposed to "child pornography"? It's like they wanted to make it intentionally vague, and catch out people who were not carrying illegal material as well. Seriously, pornography may be a terrible evil and all, but it's hardly your right to impose your own moral values on the public to this level.
And if you read the comments, one apt observers notes it'll probably be the customs officials themselves who'll make a copy of and distribute this stuff ("normal" pornography), that is. Seriously, if you know the sort of people that work these jobs...probably a bit like those clowns at the TSA, who beat each other up, over jokes about the size of their you-know-whats...
This is nearly as hypocritical, and pathetically absurd as say, Thailand's whole two-faced "we're prudes" on the one hand, yet we allow a thriving s*x industry on the other. I mean, they make pornography illegal (http://www.thaipulse.com/cautions/laws-against-pornography-and-indecency/), and then basically have legallised child prostitution? These people are a joke. It's nearly as bad as their whole barbaric Lèse majesté laws - all bluster and face, and no real substance underneath.
Have any Australians actually encountered this policy? Experiences? Next time I fly, if it weren't for their rumoured lack of a sense of humour, even if I don't actually possess any pornography, I'd be sorely tempted to write something vaguely amusing on the form, or possibly boot up my laptop, and play one of those indecent scat videos. I'm sure the Slashdot community would be happy to suggest things to play here...lol.
Cheers,
Victor
I don't see how this is feasible by any means. There is so much ambiguity involved... For example: Does looking at porn online and not clearing my cookies or browser data constitute as porn? If the porn is in a temp folder does that count because as soon as I turn of my computer then the will no longer be there. If I delete the porn it's still recoverable with some tools... does that count?
I can also see this being bad for geeks. What happens if they doubt me and force me to turn on my laptop and it boots to a CLI? They'd probably confiscate it and tear it appart to find out what sort of commy-porn-smuggeling-system I'm using...
What if I have the porn stored in a vm on my machine? Do those guys even know what a vm is? What if I have a totally unsuspecting laptop and I'm actually trying to smuggle porn by store in on a disc partition and clearing the disc information from fstab (or windows equivalent so as not to be suspicious)?
There is so much grey area, and like so many of you said this will be a giant waste of time. I believe the most this will do is infuriate many of us who use unfamiliar systems and get them confiscated because of it.
I just want to know where I can sign up for that Australian Sex Party mentioned in TFA...
I don't even live in Australia, but I'm going if the party is still on.
My poetry site welcomes the unusual.
ASCII PORN...
Am I splitting hairs here, or is this the exact *opposite* of online rights? These are offline, traditional rights that are being violated/reneged on.
Guess the customs workers need more porn eh? Figure they'll work just like some of the IT people do right? (Copy what you find?) But in all seriousness, what happens if someone says they don't have any? Are they then going to then spend hours and hours looking?
brickspeed.net for your old Volvo performance addiction
Customs Officer: "Anything to declare, mate?"
Educated liberal-minded international traveller: "Why, as Oscar Wilde once said: 'I have nothing to declare except my genius!'"
Customs Officer: "OSCAR WILDE?? He's a slim-hipped pillow of a pommie quincie bastard! Get 'im!"
Traveller is beaten, tasered and dragged off to a sideroom by six large men.
Customs Officer: (Glaring at a line of nervous children) "Awright, who's next? Any of you little ankle biters carrying computer games, eh?"
TrueCrypt detection software is used :) .... 5 years later ...
Decrypt or its 5 years for not giving a password.
In 5 years, your asked again
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
1. Why not just setup a dual boot system. Hide the offending partition and boot into a clean OS. They're not CS majors and most won't have a clue anyways.
2. What if I have bath shots of my kids on my laptop. You know, blackmail for when they are in their teens or getting married. Many of my customers have swapped over to laptops from desktops and keep this kind of material on them. Are they instantly child porn offenders when they walk in the country?
3. As far as encrypting the drive goes, that may be counterproductive. I'm sure the minute they see a drive that is encrypted, they pull you aside and get a manager involved. Flip side is like I said with #1, they're not CS majors and may figure the drive is blank.
Well, if I ever go to Australia, I'll have to remember downloading 1000+ pictures from icanhascheezburger.com, answer "yes" on the pornography question and claim to have a huge furry fetish. I would probably get fined, but it would totally be worth it :D
Australia is like the Arkansas of the world
heya,
Huh, which politican said this? You don't mean Tony "mad monk" Abbott, do you?
And yeah, I agree, if you need a filter to protect your children from "finding" child pornography, something in your household is seriously stuffed up. It's not our fault you're a lazy/incompetent parent).
You don't "accidetanlly" find this stuff, ok (although with Australia's dodgy definition of child porn, I can see this changing - heck, I've seen friends with joke emails filled with naked Simpsons characters, that would apparently now count as child pornography - gross, and poor taste, but illegal? I mean, really...).
cheers,
Victor
Yes because it is just so easy to move to another country. Countries all over the world just issue you permanent residence visas without ANY reason or justification... /sarcasm
It's VERY difficult to (permanently) move to another (first world) country unless you have family there or your employer is willing to sponsor you.
It sounds like there's an excellent market for a backup app that just sucks all data off a mobile PC, stores it on someone's home PC, then wipes the mobile PC and installs an empty, quickly searchable OS and storage. Then later, the mobile PC hits a website that redirects to the home PC, from which the mobile PC is restored intact. Network transfers all encrypted.
Business and other travelers would backup before leaving, then restore when arriving. No way for customs to mess with that. And it would give backups for restoring anyway. Like if you want to leave your mobile PC at home entirely, and just get a temporary one in the place you're going. Or if your mobile PC is damaged, or lost in luggage transfer, or stolen...
This kind of stupid privacy invasion, that anyone who's really a threat to a country can easily evade with cruder tools doing what I described, ought not to be a worry. SW is stronger than the government here.
--
make install -not war
http://www.portlandmercury.com/columns/savage-love/Content?oid=25486
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Have they worked out a good, legal definition of what constitutes 'porn'? If they haven't then you;d better not take *any* gadget into Australia.
No sig today...
so i can only bring 0.03% of my porn collection to australia?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
That's exactly the way we do it. We send people to France with some regularity and it's illegal to take an encrypted device into that country. Thus, we wipe the machine and put a base, unencrypted image on it. User flies to France. Once inside, an encypted blob of user data is VPN'd to the local IT guy who puts it on the laptop. User does his job. Before flying out, local IT guy wipes the machine.
If Australia is going to start insisting on poking around in our machines, we'll have to do the same for employees going there.
Of course, if it's optional I imagine our folks won't be subjected to it. Those red passports open a lot of doors. :-)
(Actually, I've never seen one of our "official business only" passports. International travelers have their official passports stored in a safe in Washington D.C. and only get them issued right before departure. So I'm not sure they're red but that's what I've been told.)
The point of this is for politicians to claim to be doing something.
The only argument is whether that 'something' is 'making an idiot of themselves', because hardly any voters will vote for them afterward.
No sig today...
go fuck yourself, but don't film it
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall, re Voltaire
As a practicing Muslim I, of course, support anti-porn actions. But also as a practicing Muslim, I oppose this particular action as an invasion of privacy.
The Prophet Muhammad, sal Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam, said that anyone who peeks throw the hole into somebody's house deserves to be poked in the eye.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
are having intercourse with the teddy ruxpins, while the cabbage patch kids are fellating the my little ponies
the tamagotchi orgy centers on aang the last airbender and spongebob square pants is using the tentacled kate gosselin dildo on adam lambert and dick cheney ...
oh i'm sorry, you meant define porn IN GENERAL, not my specific porn, sorry
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
These days my personal laptop has a copy of my family photo archive. (All perfectly innocent... unless you find sunsets and landscapes arousing...) I'm sure this is true of a LOT of people, perhaps even the majority of people who travel with laptops. I suspect my current archive is smaller than average, a few thousand images, under 5GB if I recall. Skimming quickly through this meagre archive is not a quick exercise
If they really intend to inspect every single image on every single incoming laptop then they had better have lots of employees who are not likely to fall asleep...
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
A friend of mine usually puts a couple of Penthouse mags in his suitcase when traveling to some third world countries (North Africa in this case) on purpose to bribe local customs officers. Works like a charm every time: they "confiscate" the material and wave him through with a big grin without bothering him anymore with his electronic gadgets, netbooks, video cam etc... I guess Australia is finally catching up with those countries.
cpghost at Cordula's Web.
... I'm totally naked under my clothes.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Are they actually looking for porn, or saying they're looking for child porn and actually looking for documents that could end up embarrassing the government?
I am officially gone from
We keep hearing endlessly about everything Australia is doing to combat CP, once a week a new story comes along about them. I'm left to wonder, how bad exactly is their CP problem? It's starting to seem like it's a national epidemic over there.
He is our example, nobody can smooch tarmac like the pope.
Be fair, where else is a celibate nazi pedophile going to get some action?
Burn karma burn
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
This does not apply to iphone or ipad right?
Steve has liberated them from pr0n you know
I would love to have someone organize the absolute sickest (but legal) porn content on a website so that travelers to Australia could inflict this on the customs agents. I'm talking about morbidly obese men being fisted by dwarves in kangaroo outfits, stuff in that league. If you can get enough of these state employees to lose enough lunches, this policy will be reconsidered.
And I suppose all those Jews were just fools for telling the Germans they were Jews? Silly buggers.
Are you REALLY suggesting that a draconian law is okay because you can always attempt to break the law?
Good news everyone, the anti-drug laws are not an issue, just keep your drugs in your pocket when you pass customs.
Bad news for the zoophilia lovers, horses stretch your pockets out.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
porn is in the eye of the beholder. some images of naked people do NOTHING for me. intravenus demilo.
Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
These inspectors should be required to keep their laptops on site, so that I may search their private information whilst they search mine. It's only fair.
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
You seem to be confusing Urology with Proctology...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I hear it is pretty easy to move to Canada if you have $100,000 and agree to keep it in a Canadian bank... I've always thought the US should use that system as well.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Porn in Australia will have to be local.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I would never have guessed the Aussies (of all people) would be as terrified of human sexuality as Steve Jobs.
Really is this that shocking? It's Australia!!! They impose some of the dumbest laws and love to impose on the privacy of their own citizens and visitors as often as they can. Hey I am all for stopping the use of or existence of child porn, but it's just another case of making everyone criminals till proven innocent. The RIAA model to justice.
I know this isn't the US, but similar things happen here, not quite as stupid or overbearing but, when is it that the people will be listened to or at least innocent till proven guilty?
They are just respecting their history as a penal colony. It stands to reason, all visitors will be searched for contraband on entry or exit of the facility.
The moronic thing about this website that you link is that, apart from the goofy Welcome Back Kotter fashions, you could get very similar photos of people in Tehran today. Of course the mullahs are reactionary thugs who control the country with a desperate and paranoid iron fist, but the Iranian people themselves are not so monolithic.
I've been out of Australia for nine years. It is almost impossible to believe it is the same country that I grew up in and lived in for 40 years until 2001. During most of that time - well, since the cultural changes that swung through in the early and mid 1970's (strange - that corresponded to a time of left wing federal government), the puritanical fringe were just that - Fred Nile and his "Festival of Blight" fighting a losing battle against sensible approaches in "live and let live" - what people did in private was their own business.
Now, we have the these social conservatives / bible thumpers / puritans taking over. I don't think it's my country any more.
Fill one of them new-fangled "terrorbyte" drivers with goatse.jpg HotBlowjob.jpg lemonparty.jpg tubgirl.jpg
Over and over. With randomized names and sizes.
Declare it, give 'em the drive, and a card with the name of a good psychiatrist.
Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
Does your laptop contain porn? Yes? I'm going to have to search this. I'll be back in 10 minutes.
Read what I mean, not what I wrote.
Even with our flirtation with radical conservatism here in the States, we didn't manage to elect people who'd go this far off the reservation. What the hell happened down there? Are we really the only country in the world who believes in ture freedom of speech except for very limited special cases?
No need for them to strip search. They've already got you naked on their 'turrist' backscatter scanner machines.
Reply to That ||
Sure I can understand that child porn is horribly wrong. I can agree also that sexual violence is wrong. But ordinary porn? Who does it hurt? No one is forcing you to watch it or buy it. In fact, these days you have to buy it to see it on the Internet. The whole thing stinks. It is CENSORSHIP plain and simple and goes against everything the 'Net stands for. Governments are always trying to control it and rarely succeed. China does the best, as it is a police state, and controls all the ISP's. But even then, crafty folks have invented ways to get around the filters and access the REAL internet. I agree with some of the other posters. What is up with AU this days?
Don't explain computers to laymen. Simpler to explain sex to a virgin. -- Robert A. Heinlein
You've forgotten at least two other possibilities: they produced it themselves after entry, or they obtained it from someone else who produced it within Australia.
This was only discussed in parliament, like many things that get discussed in parliament nothing at all happened. The actual story is about female ejaculation if you bothered to follow the link.
There fixed that for you. The law relates to depictions. I'm sorry if this doesn't jive with the groupthink but cartoon pornography is still pornography (defined under Australian law as a depiction of a sexual act, hint a naked breast is not a sexual act in Australia, that is just nudity and often falls under the M15 rating). Most Anime that is 18+ in the US is considered 15+ in Australia. As far as pornography goes, in Australia 18 is the limit. An adult actress must be 18 or over in order to be in a pornographic movie or image made in or sold in Australia, no distinction is made between a cartoon or a photograph (because they are both "depictions").
Whaaaa...
Stop the presses, you can be arrested if you posses something illegal.
But AQIS wont be arresting you. They don't have that power, as the AFP proper is required at that point. AQIS however can confiscate anything from your luggage if it is suspect. As I've indicated before, AQIS is not interested in your porn collection, they are more interested in any foreign pests or diseases you might bring to Australia.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
By looking.
Wow, projecting much.
Examine my post history Mr Rabid Foaming at the Snout Fear Monger.
I've admitted to being a sex tourist. Only one of us is frothing at the mouth good sir and it isn't me and nice way of ignoring all the points about Australia being less sexually repressed then the US, a bare naked breast at the AFL grand final will not cause national outcry here, quite the opposite, we'd ask for an encore. Sexually suggestive materiel that is often restricted to 18 yr olds often given the M15 (mature, 15+) rating this includes infrequent nudity, sexual suggestion, sexual references and simulated sexual activity.
Explain that one, I doubt you could have chosen a more appropriate nick. So in no way could the production of pornography be linked to any harm.
The idea is that cartoon pornography is still pornography the same as a cartoon drama is still a drama. Same same but different na? Because the word "pornography" describes the content not the medium.
But then again I live in a nation where a naked breast does not cause national outcry. In fact they are quite common. AQIS will not arrest you for having porn, they don't have that power only the AFP (Australian Federal Police) agents (not the AQIS agent) can arrest you and you have to be charged for that to happen where you have rights under Australian law to a trial and representation. Unlike the US you cant be thrown into a room just for having Thailand and Philippines stamps on your passport.
I'm really sorry if you're having trouble with this concept, and that it upsets you so much but please, get your facts straight and do not project your fears onto other people.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
How exactly do they plan to search through, laptop has like 500 GiB hard drives, and I'd constantly be upgrading to the biggest 2.5" I can get in my machine.
Day is not far when people will have to do something about the sexual organs they are carrying around. I am sure it will be illegal.
"Do you have pornography on your computer" is to reply "Do naked pictures of your mom count?"
cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.