Indonesian moving to Australia soon, I’m just concerned my laptop/phone will be checked for pirated content.
The general rule of thumb I’ve seen around the internet is “encrypt your drive”, which is easy enough. But the other approach typically says “bring a burner phone / laptop” which of course isn’t viable in my case.
Can anyone confirm on the legitimacy of these claims? I know I pirate light (““light”” compared to the vets here), but I’m just so paranoid that I could be held up and sent back home, because this might be my only shot.
Don’t encrypt it.
If you have an encrypted partition they will just force you to open it. It’s also suspicious which will turn a 5 minute search into a 2 hour ordeal.
Thats a pretty wild claim given how most OS have default encryptions enabled or atleast available. Also file encryption is a thing.
Perhaps I wasn’t clear.
Refusing to decrypt data on request is suspicious.
Is it a crime though? Suspicious is irrelevant if no laws are being broken
You can be legally compelled to give access to data in Australia, this includes decryption keys and biometrics.
Don’t be daft. Suspicious is not irrelevant when you’re trying to clear immigration after a long flight.
Suspicious behaviour is, not surprisingly, a criteria which law enforcement considers when deciding whether detainment and more invasive searches are appropriate under the circumstances.
After a long flight who want’s to be stuck in an interrogation room for hours debating the finer points of personal liberties and privacy… all because you don’t want to decrypt your pirate collection of the marvel cinematic universe, which is not illegal to have in your possession anyway.
Is it a crime not to provide access to encrypted data? I honestly don’t know, I imagine it’s a complex legal question which depends on the circumstances. Even if you may lawfully decline, they could lawfully detain you while obtaining a court order.
You don’t even have to talk to the police in the first place. If they ask about an encrypted drive, just don’t answer
Sure mate, you try that next time you’re going through immigration.
Will do. I wouldn’t be committing any other crimes so would have literally nothing to worry about.
Better yet, use a hidden partition.
That’d be my suggestion. I can’t imagine that the average airport security goon is going to check the reported size of the drive against the hardware specs as part of a normal inspection.
A hidden partition is entirely different proposition as you have plausible deniability, and you’re right - if you really had to pass immigration with it this is the way to do it.
That said, it’s just not worth it for a tv series or what not. Just delete it and download it again.
Always play stupid in these instances: I forgot the password; I got it second-hand and didn’t know about that; Encrypt-a-what, now?
Maybe. It still seems like a dumb idea to me. Imagine getting detained and having to feign ignorance over a pirate tv series or something.
I’ve never had immigration ask to look at devices, if they did ask it would be because they’re looking for… video evidence of crimes committed against minors. This gambit would make you look pretty guilty. If I were an official looking for that kind of contraband I’d make you sweat it out sitting in an interview room for a few hours just to see how nervous you got.