Slashdot Mirror
New Zealand Travelers Refusing Digital Search Now Face $5000 Customs Fine (msn.com)
Travelers in New Zealand who refuse to hand over their phone or laptop passwords to Customs officials can now be slapped with a $5000 fine. From a report: The Customs and Excise Act 2018 -- which comes into effect today -- sets guidelines around how Customs can carry out "digital strip-searches." Previously, Customs could stop anyone at the border and demand to see their electronic devices. However, the law did not specify that people had to also provide a password. The updated law makes clear that travelers must provide access -- whether that be a password, pin-code or fingerprint -- but officials would need to have a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. "It is a file-by-file [search] on your phone. We're not going into 'the cloud.' We'll examine your phone while it's on flight mode," Customs spokesperson Terry Brown said. If people refused to comply, they could be fined up to $5000 and their device would be seized and forensically searched. Mr Brown said the law struck the "delicate balance" between a person's right to privacy and Customs' law enforcement responsibilities. "I personally have an e-device and it maintains all my records -- banking data, et cetera, et cetera -- so we understand the importance and significance of it."
Don't bring personal/business electronics across borders. It's that simple.
It's even simpler than that. Don't go to New Zealand.
Or America, or pretty much anywhere, since pretty much all border agents have the legal authority to search your stuff, including your phone.
It's not like New Zealand is the only place where this applies.
Hell, in America since the "border" is now arbitrarily within 100 miles of the actual border, that is most of the population. And the US Border Patrol have already set up checkpoints in random places and demanded ID.
So, if you live in the US, don't go getting all high and mighty.
So which law trumps the other one?
I don't see a conflict.
You'll already lose your job (and worse) if you travel to a country like North Korea or Iran.
Just add New Zealand to that list. Do not go to New Zealand, or you may lose your job and possibly go to prison for the rest of your life. Or if you do go there with your devices on an official government business, you better make sure you have diplomatic immunity.
All this does is disrupt legitimate travellers who have genuine need to carry such devices.
Any serious criminal is going to be prepared for this... they will travel with devices containing nothing but a fresh install and download any data they want over an encrypted channel using the first internet connection they gain access to.
Also, what assurances do you have that the government will be able to keep your data secure and not leak it somehow?
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
One method which privacy protestors sometimes favor is wiping their phone prior to entering the airport terminal, and restoring it to normal after leaving... and with the ubiquity of encryption on smart phones, that makes it extremely likely that a forensic search would be entirely fruitless, regardless of the methods employed. So how long will it take for airport authorities to decide that a wiped phone qualifies as a refusal to comply?
"Mr Brown said the law struck the 'delicate balance' between a person's right to privacy and Customs' law enforcement responsibilities."
Yes. A "delicate balance" wherein customs officials can do whatever they want to your device and slap you with a $5000 fine if you refuse to comply and you have no recourse if you think they're acting in bad faith.
In so far as dropping an anvil on one side of the scale is a "delicate balance," I suppose that's true.
wanna bet those numbers increase?
- js.
Nicely put about the US but... Have you ever been to Mexico or Argentina? I've never seen a bomb detector in a McDonald's in my life. Mexico's said to be dangerous near the border, but in Mexico City I saw nothing like what you describe, not even in Acapulco. Also, Mexico's violence is predominantly related to drug traffic and plain old crime (kidnappings too).
Your description of Argentina is totally inaccurate too. Even though there were two terrorist incidents in the last 30 years to Jewish/Israeli targets, the only sign you can see of that is pylons outside of synagogues and Jewish countries. The terrorist threat is non existent.