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Australia Air Travelers' Laptops To Be Searched For Porn

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the all-real-problems-solved dept.

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."

33 of 647 comments (clear)

  1. So... by epiphani · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So they can search for porn. What can they do if they find it? Is porn illegal in Australia now?

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    1. Re:So... by houstonbofh · · Score: 5, Funny

      Who knows, but if you thought the lines were long now... On most geek laptops, this could take a while.

    2. Re:So... by Spazztastic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Is porn illegal in Australia now?

      Nope. FTFA:

      Patten said if the question was designed to stop child pornography being smuggled into the country then the question should have been asked about "child pornography", without encompassing regular porn.

      Because you totally need to bring a hard drive into the country to bring along CP, you can't use those newfangled technologies like encrypted network connections and proxies to get around it.

      What a giant circle jerk of pretending they are helping the victims.

      --
      Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.
    3. Re:So... by Spazztastic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What can they do if they find it?

      I dunno. Download it? Maybe they want to make sure your porn is on the up-and-up?

      Maybe the guy who pushed this rule is actually addicted to porn and wants to create a giant archive of it all, print it out and then roll around in the pages. Who knows? Often these people who are so hellbent on getting rid of "offensive things" turn out to be even more deviant than the ones they are attacking.

      --
      Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.
    4. Re:So... by Shakrai · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What a giant circle jerk of pretending they are helping the victims.

      Now how can you say that? They are ASKING you if you have porn on your computer. Surely no self respecting kiddie porn pervert would disgrace himself by LYING, would he?

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    5. Re:So... by dncsky1530 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This is only the latest in a string of censorship proposals that the government claims are targeted towards protecting people from child pornography.

      As the article says, if child porn is the issue then why not just limit it to that? The same question has been asked about the proposed internet filter, which the government also claims is for protecting people from child porn but has been extended to cover all refused classification material.

      Just as filtering the internet as has been proposed isn't really feasible (at least with little impact on speed), I highly doubt customs agents would or can search the tons of laptops and phones coming into Australia. All it would take is one person with 10GB of porn to keep them busy for a couple hours.

    6. Re:So... by commodore64_love · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I imagine this could have serious consequences for Japanese and other Asian travelers were images of child porn (i.e. anime and manga) are perfectly legal. In Australia such drawings are outlawed, even though there's NO victim in this so-called crime. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

      I don't know why our Aussie cousins put up with such nonsense, and do not demand repeal of these laws that infringe upon the individual rights of both artists and users of the art. Freedom of expression is given to us by our Creator (god or nature) and no government has legitimate authority to take away that right, anymore than it has a right to cut off our hands or gouge-out our eyes.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    7. Re:So... by MrZilla · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or just use TrueCryp and create a hidden partition.

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      mov ax, 4c00h
      int 21h
    8. Re:So... by Shakrai · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I imagine this could have serious consequences for Japanese and other Asian travelers were images of child porn (i.e. anime and manga) are perfectly legal.

      Tough shit. My handgun is completely legal the United States. If I take it into another country where it's not legal I'm going to be charged. Maybe the Japanese should leave their kiddie porn at home when they travel to the West?

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    9. Re:So... by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Anime and manga should be legal. They're cartoons; Fictional representations of a fabricated encounter, often between entities which do not even exist outside of a person's imagination.

      Or do you think there really are impossibly proportioned cartoon people in the real world, with emotions other than those that the artist has attributed to them at the exact time being pictured? Do they have a family history? Are they going to grow up in later life and abuse other cartoon people?

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    10. Re:So... by AHuxley · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The third one will have a line out to the tarmac.
      Yes the real question is in the "declare" part.
      If you say "no" in good faith and they find you with "anything", things can get legally interesting as you lied on your paperwork.
      Citizen journalist, authors, speakers, protesters with story time limits can all face a long time wasting legal choke point.
      Sitting in detention as they appeal the fine point of "declare" and the material found on their computers.
      Days later they are released with a no comment due to privacy laws from the federal gov. Their story/work lost and reputations damaged.
      Buy a new HD/ssd before entering Australia and install only productivity apps.
      Encrypt anything in/out while networking in Australia and buy a new HD/ssd on exiting.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    11. Re:So... by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Insightful

      a gun is dangerous

      A gun is no more dangerous than a motor vehicle, but that's rather beside the point that I was trying to make. If you visit a foreign country you have to abide by the laws of that jurisdiction. I don't happen to agree with Saudi Arabia's laws regarding women but I wouldn't suggest that my sister fly there and try to rent a car as an act of civil disobedience.....

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    12. Re:So... by Vectormatic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A gun is no more dangerous than a motor vehicle

      You try casually walking into a bank with a ford mustang concealed on your person before donning a clown mask and sticking the place up..

      Fact is, a gun's primary (and arguably only real) function is to shoot (at) people, a motor vehicle's primary function isnt running people over..

      --
      People, what a bunch of bastards
    13. Re:So... by Shakrai · · Score: 4, Informative

      You try casually walking into a bank with a ford mustang concealed on your person before donning a clown mask and sticking the place up..

      The actions of a few bad apples does not make the device itself dangerous. I could rob that bank with a knife or baseball bat if I was so inclined. Do you regard those items as dangerous?

      Fact is, a gun's primary (and arguably only real) function is to shoot (at) people

      I guess you've never heard of the shooting sports or hunting?

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    14. Re:So... by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Photos of Iran from before the Islamic revolution of 1979. It's happened before and it could happen again.

    15. Re:So... by techoi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Given all the weird ass'd rules and laws coming out from the Land Down Under, I am not sure we can still keep them in the Westernized Culture Club. Shit, at times I think the USA is aiming to get kicked out as well.

    16. Re:So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is only the latest in a string of censorship proposals that the government claims are targeted towards protecting people from child pornography.

      The whole idea of protecting people from kiddie porn is just ludicrous. The laws are supposed to be about protecting the _kids_ from being exploited, not "protecting" adults from being exploiters (if you consider downloading free stuff from the internet to be "exploitive"... IMHO the exploitation has already happened and anyone downloading the content isn't doing anything to help the exploiters unless they are paying for it).

    17. Re:So... by hey · · Score: 4, Funny

      This post shows good understanding of Linux/Unix symlinks but not of slashes vs. backslashes. Weird.

    18. Re:So... by HungryHobo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So they don't have child porn but by that point nobody likes them and you can send them to jail for having the image from a popup in their temporary internet files.

      fantasic!
      you know what would be easier?
      if we just did away with these court things. they're really just a hassel anyway.

    19. Re:So... by QCompson · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So if I view pirated movies then I am assisting the market and encouraging the creation of more movies? Funny, the MPAA has been saying the exact opposite for years.

      But more to the point, if someone downloads CP from usenet (or similar service) and thus there is no indication to the producer/creator that it was being consumed, how is that encouraging more creation of the product?

    20. Re:So... by the_one(2) · · Score: 5, Informative

      You should never do shit like: "tar -czvf archive.tgz ~/porndir;rm -rf ~/porndir". If the tar command fails (out of space, no permission and so on) you will lose your entire porn collection! Use && instead of ;

  2. Foiled again. by Dyinobal · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well there goes my plans to smuggle porn into Australia and use it in a terrorist attack.

    1. Re:Foiled again. by FreeUser · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well there goes my plans to smuggle porn into Australia and use it in a terrorist attack.

      Gives 'blowjob' a whole new meaning...

      --
      The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
  3. Ok by Spazztastic · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.
    1. Re:Ok by MarkGriz · · Score: 4, Funny

      Damn, where's the "overinformative" mod when you need it

      --
      Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
  4. Censorship by Enderandrew · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.
  5. PCI compliance and encryption by Enderandrew · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
  6. Note to self by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  7. Customs Inspectors by deniable · · Score: 5, Funny

    With the new filter, they need to get their porn somehow. This was the best option.

  8. Wow. by AMSmith42 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not being Australian, I have to ask, "What does the Australian government have against business and tourism?"

  9. Imagine this... by ZeroExistenZ · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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!

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    I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
  10. hey Austrailia, by spidercoz · · Score: 5, Funny

    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
  11. Like some third world countries by cpghost · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

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    cpghost at Cordula's Web.