Will airport security (Australia specifically) check for pirated content?
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.
I've never experienced or heard of any airport checking the private contents of people's devices. Wouldn't that be a massive breach of privacy?
Also how would they know it's pirated or not. Wouldn't they have to check for licenses... Wouldn't that be incredibly time consuming for staff to be checking?
Im in serious doubt this would be a thing.
Aussie here. They have the right to go through all your devices if they suspect you of smuggling or working or wanting to work illegally in Australia. They will read through all your private messages and have them translated if not in English. Even then I've never heard of airport security giving a rat's ass about pirated stuff.
This is my understanding. They can review devices, buy pirate materials are not illegal, so I don't think they would care.
Owning pirated materials is likely illegal in Australia, but it's not what border security are looking for so you're right they wouldn't care.
Wow, that is insane, i didnt know Australia does that.
True that.
Veracrypt and use a hidden encrypted partition so you have plausible deniability. Remove the app after. If it’s encrypted it’ll be fine so long as it doesn’t look obvious.
I’ve never heard of border guards checking devices, ever… and definitely not randomly. If you’re paranoid the cloud is a safer option of course, as others have said. Backblaze is great for cost etc.. but definitely encrypt before upload imo.
Listen to him, this man speaks truth
The hidden volume part is important. Key disclosure laws are a thing in multiple countries
Depending on how much content you have you could just encrypt your content and upload it to a cloud storage service somewhere.
After its encrypted and safely stored in the cloud delete your local copy then redownload it at your destination.
Aussie airport security care most about food and pest control. If you just have a bag of clothes and a portable HDD in it I would be shocked if they even open the bag up. Just don't bring any food or wood in and you should probably pass right through.
Yeah, I suggest checking their biocon rules for taking foods inside the country.
Your odds of getting caught are extremely low, but if you are you will be deported and have your visa cancelled (as an Aussie our border guards really do suck I'm sorry). I genuinely wouldn't risk if it you're moving here. If it was just a holiday and you didn't care too much about getting banned then sure, but definitely not worth risking a work visa on.
The lowest risk way is to put it on a cloud drive and download it on arrival in Oz.
If you've got a light amount of content, it may be easier to just delete it, then redownload at the other end?
If you've got a visa on the line, it's probably not worth it.
Kiwi here, been to Oz couple of times. Never heard of them checking for pirated content. But if it's stressing you, you may appear stressed when checked at customs and that's never good. So for peace of mind I'd just delete it and redownload when you are in.
They didn't check my laptop or mobile phone, however I didn't really hold any illegal materials.
Just don't bring any food, or any other prohibited things, they care more about real things than files you have in your laptop.
I had all my work related files uploaded to proton, just in case (I was going as tourist, planning on studying).
Good luck :)
Food is a no-go when traveling to different countries.
I'm Australian, when I was younger I didn't even think about the fact that border security might want to check my devices. I flew to Japan and back with 3 external hard drives in my pockets. I took them out and put them in the trays along with everything else and no one asked me anything. Edit: FYI law enforcement, the drives contained no copyright material.
The police don't care.
Anecdotal, and obligatory from the US, but I've never heard of airport security searching electronic devices for illegal content, even when I've travelled abroad. Hell, nowadays we just stick our weed in a carryon bag and TSA doesn't bat an eye, most security agents in any airport I've been through are more concerned about weapons and explosives. Maybe if you get flagged for a deep inspection, but their more likely to inspect your bum than a hard drive in my experience. But that this with a grain of salt from a rando on the internet.
Yeah, this is good advice for US domestic flights, but customs is a whole different ballgame.
I worked within an international terminal (KORD) and have taken hundreds of people through customs. I can safely say there has never been an instance where digital media is accessed, even in secondary which you're brought to for further assessment when under suspicion. Only thing I've seen is accessing recent calls for passengers suspected of lying on their visa and being in contact with relatives; but if their phone is locked they can't do jack.
Without rambling too much, unless you're like actively commiting some type of criminal import activity, no border agent will care what you have.
Sure put I wouldn't take weed on an international flight.
Damn, didn't think this would gain this much traction. Thanks for the suggestions and help everyone.
Judging from the fact that I'm going with a Student Visa, I guess my best course of action is just uploading it to a cloud service. Might not be the most bandwidth efficient, yes, but sure as hell has the best chance of succeeding.
Again, many thanks for the suggestions, seafarers! May your ship sail smooth, mateys.
Australian here. This post reeks of paranoia. Are you moving 10 drives with pirate stickers on them and sweating profusely? If not, don't worry. The border force are only trained to search for biohazards.
A far more likey risk is baggage agents dropping the bag, or leaving it in the rain. But why are you physically moving data anyway? Unlimited gigiabit connections are the norm here, so you could probably redownload whatever it is when you need it, instead of letting readily available copies of pirated media dictate your interactions with law enforcement.
As said, I'm very paranoid because this might be the only chance I get to move somewhere decent (minus all the, well, problems).
Judging from your statement, does it mean that
Gigabit connections are available almost everywhere, for a cost of around $120AUD/month (usually 1000 mbps down, 40mbps up). Look at a provider like AussieBroadband for details.
2 drives won't raise any questions - just say you're a videographer if asked.
Id recommend putting the stuff on a online drive like from Proton and not having it on a physical drive.
First world problems? In my country, piracy is the default. Even the government is caught doing so
Funnily enough, I have relations in the Indonesian Government and they use pirated software on a day to day basis lol. So nah, definitely not a first world problem, just me being paranoid.
Do you have an address you can just mail it to?
Aus border security care most about weapons and biological matter; dirt, wood, bugs, plants, food etc.
Coming from Indonesia, you may be profiled vis-a-vis potential biological material but showing that you've taken precautions when you packed to make their jobs easier will expedite any bag search.
Unrelated but have an off-site backup! Airport baggage handling are not gentle, and your spinning rust may be DoA.
Just don't have anything that can potentially be "incriminating", from the perspective of a border agent. Never hurts to be overcautious, but being too careless can get you deported. Wipe all devices, and have a few photos and populate your browser history with random non-political content so your devices look "normal". Do not have anything that "criminals" use. Do not have a VPN app that's visible, do not have Tor, do not have any encryption apps. You can download these things once you get in the country. Just act "normal" and you'll be fine crossing customs.
Don’t worry about it. It’ll be fine
Do they usually open up and use your devices to check them for anything? I've not been to Australia, specifically, but I've never been through an airport anywhere else in the world that did anything other than send my stuff through an x-ray machine or metal detector. They've never looked through the software.
Hey, I am thinking of moving to Australia soon as well. I've been there once and the security doesn't check any personal devices
Honestly, hearing back from a fellow SE Asian took a lot off my chest. Let's just hope I don't get "randomly checked" for my devices I guess.
Damn, alright I never thought this post would gain this much traction. Thanks for everyone's suggestions and help.
Judging from the fact that I'm going there on a
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.
AFAIK that information isn't even visible with veracrypt, correct me if I'm wrong though
Dont think it is, aslong as the container is not mounted
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.
I'd rather not have some cuntface look through my personal data, thanks
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.
Thats silly
Widih ada Indo cuy