<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/14/australian-man-says-border-force-made-him-hand-over-phone-passcode-by-threatening-to-keep-device-indefinitely>
"Australian Border Force officials forced an Australian-US dual national to
hand over his passcodes to his phone by threatening to keep the device
indefinitely and then searched it out of his view, the man has alleged.
Chris*, an Australian tech entrepreneur who lives in the US with his wife and
children, said he has been held up at Sydney airport for hours three times in
the past year during trips to visit his family, including most recently just
over a week ago.
In a complaint to border force about his treatment, seen by Guardian Australia,
Chris said he was told each time he was selected randomly.
Australian Border Force personnel are seen at the airport
Australian border force searched more than 40,000 mobile devices in five years,
data shows
Read more
“In all three cases, I was required to hand over passwords to personal
electronic devices despite objecting to this invasion of my privacy, and with
all three cases personal devices were searched out of my view for extended
periods,” he said.
“In the first case, I was informed that the officer had the power to compel me
to divulge passwords despite this not legally being true. In the third case, I
was informed that if I did not provide my phone passcode the device, which I
communicated [to them] I depend on travel [for] my livelihood and to run my
business, could be kept indefinitely [for] forensic examination.”
Australian Border Force officials have powers to examine people’s devices
without a warrant when they visit or return to Australia through customs.
Guardian Australia reported in 2022 that more than 40,000 devices had been
searched in the five previous years.
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, ABF explained to the Senate and in
guidebooks provided to officers.
There is no limit on how long the devices can be held, but the agency said the
policy was to keep devices for no longer than 14 days unless it would take
longer to examine them."
I no longer travel internationally unless I have to, but when I do I never take
electronic devices unless they are erased to “factory reset” before travelling.
I can restore my data once I arrive.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
