Traveller stripped of gear at airport

[Gremlin]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11171475

There's a few techs on here, the story raises some serious issues... so let's discuss.

Can't say I've heard of many people having this, at least in NZ. The massive impact on work is obvious. I wonder what reasonable cause they had for taking the gear. I wouldn't be surrendering my passwords either.

Both my boss and I do use encryption for some of the most sensitive data, and that's on a 24/7 basis, not just for travelling. It does raise the question... do you encrypt everything, as your own recovery options etc are more limited.

I suspect I'd also be sending a wipe command to the mobile at least, as soon as I got hold of a computer.

[SPman]

Wold that be this one..
My Twitter feed this morning has been full of tweets by, about, and in support of Sam Blackman, whose digital devices were seized at the border by Customs (https://twitter.com/srossblack/status/410871979302862849). No reasons were given for the seizure (https://twitter.com/srossblack/status/410894431034699776). Which would seem to be the very definition of an unreasonable search and seizure (http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/DLM225523.html).

In the absence of reasons from Customs, all we have is suspicion. And on that front, its worth noting that Blackman had recently attended (https://twitter.com/srossblack/status/397435344276447234) the Stop Bugging Us conference (https://www.facebook.com/stopbuggingus) in the UK, and thinks that might have raised a red flag (https://twitter.com/srossblack/status/410918217771540481). If so, then Customs seems to be using border searches to persecute and surveill the political opponents (and those who might be opponents, such as academics and journalists) of state spies. Which doesn't really seem to be related to the enforcement of Customs controls at the border, and thus is an unlawful exercise of state power.

Unfortunately, unless Blackman has a few thousand dollars to throw away on a BORA case for unreasonable search and surveillance, we'll never know. Though there is one avenue. The Ombudsman has jurisdiction over Customs, and can investigate actions for unreasonableness. Anyone whose devices are searched at the border by Customs should immediately file a complaint with the Ombudsman's Office (http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/make-a-complaint/make-a-complaint-now/make-a-complaint-online-now). At the least, you'll force Customs to disclose a reason, which can then be examined - and that's the first step to ending these searches.

[Gremlin]

Looks like it... perhaps there will be a few more big stories about this. Media might have a field day with it as it could affect them...

[nzspokes]

Im waiting to hear whats really going on. Maybe he has objectionable item's on his computer......

[swbarnett]

Im waiting to hear whats really going on. Maybe he has objectionable item's on his computer......
So what if he does? Have you heard of this new fangled thing called the interweb?

If this is for objectional material it'd be like plugging the mouse hole while leaving the barn door wide open. I think it's far more likely to do with his "subversive" activities.

[SMOKEU]

Those thieving cunts. Encrypt everything sensitive.

[nzspokes]

So what if he does? Have you heard of this new fangled thing called the interweb?

If this is for objectional material it'd be like plugging the mouse hole while leaving the barn door wide open. I think it's far more likely to do with his "subversive" activities.

Everybody lies. There could be plenty of things that are banned here on the computer. Saying he is subversive could be his cover for something more sinister.

[Hitcher]

There are at least two sides to every story. Border agencies are busy and under-resourced, and don't generally ping people without some sort of reason. More may have been confiscated than just data-bearing devices. This traveller's excuse also seems a bit thin and contrived to me.

[HenryDorsetCase]

Why is anyone surprised that the fascists did this?

[Gremlin]

Everybody lies. There could be plenty of things that are banned here on the computer. Saying he is subversive could be his cover for something more sinister.
The big question though... what grounds did they have for doing it. You can't seize the hardware because the odds are better than average there is something.

As Hitch says though, except there is 3 sides. Party 1, Party 2 and the truth :msn-wink:

[Blackbird]

As Hitch says though, except there is 3 sides. Party 1, Party 2 and the truth :msn-wink:

.....and ANZUS/Echelon joint signals intelligence co-operation. Huge intelligence-sharing these days, even between eastern bloc and the west.

[swbarnett]

Everybody lies. There could be plenty of things that are banned here on the computer. Saying he is subversive could be his cover for something more sinister.
Indeed. My point was that, its rather pointless trying to stop objectionable material at the airport when it can bo obtained freely over the web.

[pete376403]

similar to this case:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/18/glenn-greenwald-guardian-partner-detained-heathrow

NZ, like the UK, is part of the "five eyes" alliance, seems like all are trying to impress the US with how good they are at protecting the US from "subversives"

[nzmikey]

Yeah I am a wee bit concerned about this ... I mean the whole going to a seminar to talk about Snowden so what ... even if by some chance that Snowden was there it aint like he gave everyone there a copy of some cables ... .I am thinking that was a Customs officer who wanted to prove a point, it aint like it is the 1st time customs has fucked up .

Myself & a mate use http://www.truecrypt.org/ to hide our shit ... it makes it look like there is nothing there ... as for the phone .. even tho there is nothing of interest on it they would then have access to my emails & everything else I have on there .
So yeah as someone above said get to a computer & send a wipe code ... They have computers on the outside that are in Arrivals lounge .

Fuck em


Edit: Not even the FBI can crack it (http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=g1.globo.com/English/noticia/2010/06/not-even-fbi-can-de-crypt-files-daniel-dantas.html)

[Gremlin]

Myself & a mate use http://www.truecrypt.org/ to hide our shit ... it makes it look like there is nothing there ... as for the phone .. even tho there is nothing of interest on it they would then have access to my emails & everything else I have on there .
So yeah as someone above said get to a computer & send a wipe code ... They have computers on the outside that are in Arrivals lounge .
Yep, we're using TrueCrypt. Remember when setting up to make it lengthy codes etc to improve the security. Basically, depending on how far you go, you can either see a container of 5GB or whatever, and that the software is installed, or all the way through to encrypting the entire hard drive and making a dummy OS hiding the true OS. However, it's going to make recovery or migration a whole lot harder. Currently I have a 5GB crypt only for the most sensitive client files, configs etc, but it looks likely I'll increase that to an entire partition on the laptop, storing all my emails, configs and files. Encrypting the entire machine is a step too far currently for me...

It also raises an interesting point about the growth of cloud services. You're handing your data over to Microsoft, Google etc, all of which the NSA has taps into... I remember reading somewhere that the likes of the NSA has massive servers capable of copying and processing everything in a data stream, petabytes of information and massive calculation capacity. I wouldn't assume encryption is unbreakable, as there is massive computational ability, but we're talking years to crack stuff that's really encrypted.

The argument is that if you have nothing to hide, what's the problem. On the flip side, why should anyone be able to view your private information? Some suggest that everyone starts using encryption, as currently it's a good red flag, but if everyone is using it, it gets lost in the crowd. We run our own mail servers hosted in a datacentre for our clients, and we're essentially waiting to see if anyone comes knocking demanding access (the issue/potential cropped up a little while ago but nothing eventuated). The datastream can be accessed as the pipe is provided by the ISP, but the servers are private. Of course, we're not exactly Microsoft, so we probably don't even register ;)

[Tazz]

Couldn't happen unless he was guilty of something.....yeah right! Look at that poor bastard in the states who was pulled over and cavity searched a couple of times because someone had a 'hunch' or some BS.

All it takes is one idiot with authority to make a mess.

Also I'd be surprised if this dude had something to hide and then ended up using his partners media contracts to get a story done about it?

[pete376403]

It also raises an interesting point about the growth of cloud services. You're handing your data over to Microsoft, Google etc, all of which the NSA has taps into... I remember reading somewhere that the likes of the NSA has massive servers capable of copying and processing everything in a data stream, petabytes of information and massive calculation capacity. I wouldn't assume encryption is unbreakable, as there is massive computational ability, but we're talking years to crack stuff that's really encrypted.

This is their latest site http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/