Obliged to give up passwords and pins to NZ Customs?

Forums › Off topic › Obliged to give up passwords and pins to NZ Customs?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

1275 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1218252 20-Jan-2015 13:00

gnfb: I know we all want to stand up for our rights as NZ citizens and as...(do they still call them aliens?) Non NZ citizens and we don't want to give "the man!" to much control or access.

But I live in the real world we have no control! , we have no rights!, we have no privacy! So when I go through customs anywhere I say "Yes Sir No Sir ! How high Sir" "Please look at everything" "Shoes off and belt out laptop out hands up" I have short hair and I am smartly dressed. Other than third world countries I have never been held at customs or required extra searches by TSA. Oh I also plaster that 'Its ok I know you are only doing your job " look on my face

So Dont carry on anything you aren't prepared to lose Dont pack anything that could cause you problems

Any seasoned traveller and anyone who realises they are, infact, just doing their jobs, takes this approach and it works fine - until your personal freedoms are in-fact, being abused.
As someone else stated, physical inspections are pretty much a given now. Giving up your electronic access-to-everything privileges to the powers-that-be is something else entirely.
I understand why it's a concern for many on this thread. I also find the idea of having all this stuff given up simply because you're visiting with KDC quite on-the-nose.

And one most people forget DO NOT borrow your teenage son or daughters backpack or carry-on Even if their is no pot in there it can still be detected Especially going to Oz there border folk have a hardon for drugs of any description.

Because every teenager carries illegal drugs in their bag. Wow, seriously?

No signature to see here, move along...

dclegg

2806 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1218253 20-Jan-2015 13:01

SaltyNZ: An interesting question is, 'what if I am not the owner of the information stored on the device?' For example, if I'm travelling for work I will have a work laptop. The laptop has commercially sensitive (but not illegal) information on it. I am authorised to access that information, but I'm not authorised to give to anyone else, and as part of my employment agreement I agree to keep secret any such information.

If I agree to give access to those documents to customs and immigration (not just in NZ, but generally anyone's equivalent) because that's the law, am I in breach of my employment contract?

That was my first thought too.

networkn

Networkn
32350 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1218260 20-Jan-2015 13:09

KiwiNZ:
networkn: What would happen if you were asked to submit to a physical search (Cavity Search) and you refused? Can they do so by force?

A forced cavity search,.. Now that's going to hurt :p

Yes indeed. I would believe they could not force you to submit unless you were formally detained and charged.

Item

1717 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#1218264 20-Jan-2015 13:13

jarledb:
Item:
Must remember to reboot my iPad and iPhone before passing through LAX this week!

My condolences if you are transiting through LAX. I try my best to stay out of the US (and in particular LAX) when traveling to Europe. Talk about feeling like they don't want you around.

First you have to go through immigration, even as a transit passanger, then they dump you in a tired waiting room to sit and steam for however long it takes for the airplane to refuel and restock. (Typically a couple of hours).

Transiting through Hong Kong or Singapore is like being in heaven in comparison.

Yes - indeed transiting in LAX...

I had heard rumours the new terminal made it slightly more bearable than the last time I did it some 10 years ago, but as you say - it is certainly not a jolly experience!

The first time we traveled through (my first time through the States) I distinctly recall my wife sternly warning me not to attempt any humour or conversation with the border control in LA beyond "yessir/nossir", lest I end up in an orange jumpsuit and a small windowless room for the duration of my stay.

It's incredibly hard to resist the urge to be flippant when filling in arrival cards which ask "Are you or have you ever been a terrorist or a Nazi?"...

LennonNZ

2459 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1218266 20-Jan-2015 13:13

"And one most people forget DO NOT borrow your teenage son or daughters backpack or carry-on Even if their is no pot in there it can still be detected Especially going to Oz there border folk have a hardon for drugs of any description."

They can detect that you borrowed it from your teenager?? they must be amazing detectors.
How can they detect Pot if there is nothing?? Faulty Machines?
Drugs/Teenagers? they are the same thing?

Seriously..I found the Detectors in the US are pretty sensitive. They can pick up quite easily single coins forgotten about in a back pocket. (which I've found).

I've had no serious problems with the Border Patrol (Customers/MPI etc) - they are just doing their job.. to protect us in various ways.

I've been xrayed many times, had the wand around me so many times, been patted down a few times, been in lots of machines with my hands up.

freemark

103 posts

Master Geek

#1218281 20-Jan-2015 13:25

The fantasy that she was required to supply these things "because she was visiting DotCom" is just that - KDC's attention seeking uncritically reported by one of his sycophants. The "profiling" of this woman would have raised quite reasonable flags anyway. To be visiting a known felon she recently met via the internet possibly raised the risk factor.

Item

1717 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#1218283 20-Jan-2015 13:29

LennonNZ:

I've had no serious problems with the Border Patrol (Customers/MPI etc) - they are just doing their job.. to protect us in various ways.

I've been xrayed many times, had the wand around me so many times, been patted down a few times, been in lots of machines with my hands up.

...and of course this is all fine, to a point - assuming it is all done in a fair, considered, non-invasive fashion.

There is still a vast difference between ensuring that someone is not smuggling physical contraband, explosives, people/pets or breaking bio-security controls and forcing them to potentially give up uncontrolled access to massive amounts of personal and sensitive data which should have no bearing on anyone's suitability to cross an international border.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

Item

1717 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#1218285 20-Jan-2015 13:35

freemark: The fantasy that she was required to supply these things "because she was visiting DotCom" is just that - KDC's attention seeking uncritically reported by one of his sycophants. The "profiling" of this woman would have raised quite reasonable flags anyway. To be visiting a known felon she recently met via the internet possibly raised the risk factor.

Yeah agreed, though I don't think the fact that the finer points of the article need to be consumed with a healthy dose of salt diminishes the crux of the thread re: reasonable rights of border security!

SaltyNZ

8219 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

2degrees

Lifetime subscriber

#1218286 20-Jan-2015 13:39

jarledb:
My condolences if you are transiting through LAX.

LAX needs to be razed to the ground. And I say this not because I harbour America any ill will: LAX is simply the worst airport in the world. It may even qualify as a crime against humanity. They should rebuild it from scratch.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

NZtechfreak

4649 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1218289 20-Jan-2015 13:49

I will never willingly travel through LAX again, that is for certain.

Regards customs - I would comply up to a point. Obviously it is just silly and counter-productive to be stand-offish with them. However, as there could not possibly be any valid reason for them to go through my digital things, and I would certainly decline requests to grant them access.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

networkn

Networkn
32350 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1218290 20-Jan-2015 13:55

Well I've been through LAX a few times in the last 5 years, and I'd say it's not amazing but it's better than 10 years ago by a country mile. Now there are some edible food options and reasonable waiting areas, though the very last trip they were packed and I gave my seat to a soldier in uniform.

Jas777

838 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1218292 20-Jan-2015 14:01

NZtechfreak: I will never willingly travel through LAX again, that is for certain.

Regards customs - I would comply up to a point. Obviously it is just silly and counter-productive to be stand-offish with them. However, as there could not possibly be any valid reason for them to go through my digital things, and I would certainly decline requests to grant them access.

And they would go through them anyway if they really wanted to. But in saying that you would probably not fit any profile or have any background flags setting them off. The woman in question no doubt had background flags that alerted customs to search her.

BlueShift

1692 posts

Uber Geek

#1218296 20-Jan-2015 14:05

networkn: Well I've been through LAX a few times in the last 5 years, and I'd say it's not amazing but it's better than 10 years ago by a country mile. Now there are some edible food options and reasonable waiting areas, though the very last trip they were packed and I gave my seat to a soldier in uniform.

I went through LAX a couple of times 18 months back, it was OK. It was probably the least-nice of the airports I went through, but it wasn't awful. Miami was a bit nicer, Gatwick was OK, Rome wasn't a lot different, Bermuda had less facilities, but a much nicer view. The Sydney airport is like being at a Westfield, but the staff are even more paranoid than the US ones. The staff at LAX, while brusque, sorted out a couple of check in hassles for us rapidly, and we even got pulled out of a long queue and moved to a shorter one as we had an elderly traveler with us.

gzt

17105 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1218297 20-Jan-2015 14:06

freemark: The fantasy that she was required to supply these things "because she was visiting DotCom" is just that - KDC's attention seeking uncritically reported by one of his sycophants. The "profiling" of this woman would have raised quite reasonable flags anyway. To be visiting a known felon she recently met via the internet possibly raised the risk factor.

This is a good point but does not yet identify any reason for the data search.

Geektastic

17942 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1218307 20-Jan-2015 14:23

I had some fun in Australia on a flight back from SE Asia to Wellington via Sydney.

I was randomly stopped for an explosives search with the swabs - and then had to explain that 3 days or so before I had been working with UXO Laos destroying munitions left over from the Vietnam war. Although I was only there taking photos, there was C4 all over the place!
Fortunately it did not show up in the swab, but it did give me kittens for a moment!

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8