this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2024
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You have a valid point. Also, we're one of those countries that treats piracy (or a lot of the time, even just digitising your existing physical media) as the ultimate crime against society. Since we also let border officer take backups of phones and computers, indefinitely storing them on their hard drives, and they're allowed to demand passwords, and seize devices with no justification, I feel pretty sure your music would get seized at the border.
But also, they act like they're allowed to do whatever they want with no requirement to justify their actions, they'd probably seize CDs too just for shots and giggles
so don't carry your personal stuff
buy a burner when you reach your destination
and if it's a work computer who gives a shit
nah been through the border many times and they really only care about food
They search about 5,000 phones a year. I value my privacy, and don't appreciate people poking through my shit on a "you seem suspicious" basis. I understand that that's basically customs entire job, but it feels different when it comes to computers and phones, particularly as they don't even need grounds of suspicion - they can just decide they don't like you and take your phone
It's one of the many human rights we don't care about in Australia. It's targeted harassment and abuse of power.
Absolutely. That's a large part of the reason I want to move elsewhere. I love Australia, and am always thankful we don't live in a war or terrorism torn country, and, generally, live well, but I don't understand why we have such a "fuck the people" attitude when it comes to pretty much anything.
Goes far beyond border patrol demanding passwords to devices, and duplicating people's data with no just cause, but that's a rant for another day