“Digital Strip Searches” Increasing at Borders; Refusal Could Lead to $5K Fine
By Nicholas West
ActivistPost.com
OCTOBER 3, 2018
Apparently the era of “digital papers please” is upon us. Earlier this year, in March, I reported on allegations that travelers on domestic flights within the United States had received warrantless requests to inspect their digital devices. The allegations led to an as-yet unresolved lawsuit (to my knowledge) filed by the ACLU of Northern California against the TSA.
While I’m not aware of further reports coming out of the U.S. about demand for digital device searches, New Zealand has now openly declared it as a policy.
Radio New Zealand reports, my emphasis added:
The Customs and Excise Act 2018 – which comes into effect today – sets guidelines around how Customs can carry out “digital strip-searches”.
Previously, Customs could stop anyone at the border and demand to see their electronic devices. However, the law did not specify that people had to also provide a password.
The updated law makes clear that travellers must provide access – whether that be a password, pin-code or fingerprint – but officials would need to have a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.
“It is a file-by-file [search] on your phone. We’re not going into ‘the cloud’. We’ll examine your phone while it’s on flight mode,” Customs spokesperson Terry Brown said.
If people refused to comply, they could be fined up to $5000 and their device would be seized and forensically searched.
The Rest…HERE
