4 ms·

Customs confiscated and scanned our mobile phones in Sydney

44 points by prawn 5y ago

1cvmask 5y ago
Australians definitely seem to have embraced living in an authoritarian and autocratic state. There are way too many examples in recent memory: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/09/australias-world-first-anti-encryption-law-should-be-overhauled-independent-monitor-says https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/09/austr... Threatening journalists for exposing Australian war crimes: https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/jail-threats-hanging-over-journalists-heads-unacceptable-20200812-p55kuk https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/jail-threa... And of course how the Australian government has disavowed Julian Assange. https://jacobinmag.com/2021/12/australia-julian-assange-wikileaks-journalism-extradition-to-united-states https://jacobinmag.com/2021/12/australia-julian-assange-wiki... Dictatorships will be freer for Australians at this rate.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  I wonder how this will play out with the AU/NZ alliance with free travel etc. NZ seems to be getting more progressive while Australia becomes more conservative. Will there be a point where something has to give?
  - arran-nz 5y ago
    Unfortunately, since 2018, New Zealand has a similar law in place [0]. [0]: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2018/0004/latest/DLM7039503.html?search=sw_096be8ed81b47b3d_password_25_se&p=1&sr=0 https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2018/0004/latest/...
- shric 5y ago
  You forgot the time we literally weren't allowed to leave during most of 2020 and 2021. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/australia-drugs-regulator-approves-booster-doses-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-2021-10-26/ https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/...
llampx 5y ago
I also get the impression that Australians don't mind the power and the abuses thereof that they go through. Maybe it's the reddit bubble and the supporters are overrepresented, but someone has to be voting for these policies...
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  We increasingly vote for people and figureheads. Not policies. Who even reads a party programme these days? I'm not Australian but this seems to be a thing in the whole Western world right now. It's more like the X factor these days sadly.
- prawn 5y ago
  Both major parties vote for this sort of thing. And none of it is ever an election issue because there's always some other quibble: boat people, interest rates, mining tax, personality gripes, etc.
jleyank 5y ago
Interesting how people forget all of the talk of using burner phones and cloud backup services when entering the US. Face it, immigration control in pretty much every country "controls the border". Fence with them at your own risk.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  What surprises me more is that people consider the cloud to be a safer option. Snowden showed us otherwise. Most of my cloud stuff is encrypted with Cryptomator, all but the handy to have stuff (documentation, Isos etc). But I don't hear active talking about such precautions. The difference with the cloud is they don't see people walking off with their phones and asking sensitive details. This makes them feel violated and rightly so. Most people don't feel so bad about the cloud even though it can happen at any time there and you wouldn't even know about it. When you think about it that's actually even worse.
- iszomer 5y ago
  Is this any different conceptually as being "pwned" and put on the Wall of Sheep at Defcon?
BXLE_1-1-BitIs1 5y ago
So if you're worried about your phone being snooped at the border, mainboards are very reasonably priced in Chinese websites for many Android phones. Put in a new mainboard and there won't be anything compromising on it. If customs takes it out of sight, throw away the mainboard or send it to a security researcher.

44 points by prawn 5y ago

Australians definitely seem to have embraced living in an authoritarian and autocratic state. There are way too many examples in recent memory: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/09/australias-world-first-anti-encryption-law-should-be-overhauled-independent-monitor-says https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/09/austr... Threatening journalists for exposing Australian war crimes: https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/jail-threats-hanging-over-journalists-heads-unacceptable-20200812-p55kuk https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/jail-threa... And of course how the Australian government has disavowed Julian Assange. https://jacobinmag.com/2021/12/australia-julian-assange-wikileaks-journalism-extradition-to-united-states https://jacobinmag.com/2021/12/australia-julian-assange-wiki... Dictatorships will be freer for Australians at this rate.

GekkePrutser 5y ago
I wonder how this will play out with the AU/NZ alliance with free travel etc. NZ seems to be getting more progressive while Australia becomes more conservative. Will there be a point where something has to give?
- arran-nz 5y ago
  Unfortunately, since 2018, New Zealand has a similar law in place [0]. [0]: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2018/0004/latest/DLM7039503.html?search=sw_096be8ed81b47b3d_password_25_se&p=1&sr=0 https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2018/0004/latest/...
shric 5y ago
You forgot the time we literally weren't allowed to leave during most of 2020 and 2021. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/australia-drugs-regulator-approves-booster-doses-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-2021-10-26/ https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/...

llampx 5y ago

I also get the impression that Australians don't mind the power and the abuses thereof that they go through. Maybe it's the reddit bubble and the supporters are overrepresented, but someone has to be voting for these policies...

GekkePrutser 5y ago
We increasingly vote for people and figureheads. Not policies. Who even reads a party programme these days? I'm not Australian but this seems to be a thing in the whole Western world right now. It's more like the X factor these days sadly.
prawn 5y ago
Both major parties vote for this sort of thing. And none of it is ever an election issue because there's always some other quibble: boat people, interest rates, mining tax, personality gripes, etc.

jleyank 5y ago

Interesting how people forget all of the talk of using burner phones and cloud backup services when entering the US. Face it, immigration control in pretty much every country "controls the border". Fence with them at your own risk.

GekkePrutser 5y ago
What surprises me more is that people consider the cloud to be a safer option. Snowden showed us otherwise. Most of my cloud stuff is encrypted with Cryptomator, all but the handy to have stuff (documentation, Isos etc). But I don't hear active talking about such precautions. The difference with the cloud is they don't see people walking off with their phones and asking sensitive details. This makes them feel violated and rightly so. Most people don't feel so bad about the cloud even though it can happen at any time there and you wouldn't even know about it. When you think about it that's actually even worse.
iszomer 5y ago
Is this any different conceptually as being "pwned" and put on the Wall of Sheep at Defcon?

BXLE_1-1-BitIs1 5y ago

So if you're worried about your phone being snooped at the border, mainboards are very reasonably priced in Chinese websites for many Android phones. Put in a new mainboard and there won't be anything compromising on it. If customs takes it out of sight, throw away the mainboard or send it to a security researcher.