Aus Customs
 

Who the hell do Customs think they are? Checking Crew's laptops for Pornography and other "Illegal" things..... Piss off it's none of yr business what's on MY laptop.

Aren't people supposed to obey the laws of the country that they're in ?
The laws may appear to be (or are), stupid or impractical to enforce or whatever, but .....

Oz has laws on various types of porn.
Austrac is interested in your financial transactions, the AFP/ASIO want to know if you have 'inappropriate' plans or reading material. apologies to any agencies that I've forgotten to mention

How is it any different than searching through a suitcase? Welcome to the digital age. Please leave your old fogies at the door. :=

As much as we all dislike being scutinized for whatever reason, that old saying "if you have nothing to hide then what's the problem'?

I got almost stripped searched once here in OZ (well felt like it) & they wanted everything out of my briefcase inc the laptop. I had a pair of old reading glasses that had a broken arm that had come loose & was lying on it's own, that was the offending object that required a total disgorge of the cases contents & many Q's. I jumped thru the hoops knowing full well that there was nothing untoward.

F

"that old saying "if you have nothing to hide then what's the problem'?"

Everything.

Such a statement is completely at odds with the foundations of our society and a persons right to privacy.

And note .. I'm not commenting on the current practice of Customs searching notebook computers, just the statement quoted above.

N

I agree, it's just my opinion. Everyone is Paranoid, and it is annoying. I have nothing to hide, that's why i am pissed off. :ugh:

I think they may have had info on him because I see alot of laptops go through without being checked.

another naive statement,so we should get rid of customs completely?

Have you been to any other country?

Ohh they have customs as well and ask questions too!!!!!

Amazing,simply amazing.Do you think for a moment that we want someone who is interested in child pornography in this country?

Could just be a way for individual Customs officers to 'get their rocks off' legally:E

tipsy

I say good on customs for finding this stuff:yuk:

The problem with it is that it is salami tactics that are being used to erode civil rights in otherwise democratic countries. Continual small changes over a long period of time till eventually we are under constant surveillance and scrutiny.
It is how you basically get rid of democracy without anyone knowing.

Sleeve of Wizard.

And I suppose you approve of paedophiles entering the country - but so long as their privacy or human rights are not violated or infringed !!!!

It's quite obvious that customs in this case were tipped off about this individual.
And it most probably came from abroad.

I applaud customs in this case but would have personally had the guilty individual thrown into gaol where he could enjoy the label of being a "rock-spider" (along with all the trimmings it deserves!!).

The guys/girls in customs have difficult jobs to perform with only certain resources at their disposal.

If you ever watch Border Security then you will realise just how difficult a job it is they do.

Congratulations to Australian Customs - you guys deserve a pat on the back for this one!!

neville_nobody........
....What a load of rubbish....the problem is that we have any number of people bringing in everything from narcotics to child pornography and nev the nobody thinks that trying to protect us is eroding our civil rights....

Well Nev why not get rid of the police force as well...how about getting rid of corporate and financial protection agencies.

If this clown had done anything to one of your children I think you would have a different attitude.

Might I suggest Sleeve of Wizard that you wear more than a half unbuttoned overcoat and runners when you come through customs!!:cool:

Maybe so guys but where will it end? How much is enough?

Don't think that the guys who circulate child porn actually keep it sitting on their desktops!! :ugh: They have very secure and complicated setups which takes teams of police years to infiltrate.

As for the salami tactics that is definately happening. Have a look at what FOI laws that have been changed. Have a look at what you can do under the terror laws. Have a look at the new police powers. On their own they seem bearable but if you add it all together you start eroding democratic society.

Certainly no one wants to live in a police state with a bar code on our forehead.

However,instances like this show that the system worked because it stopped someone who obviously thinks paedophilia is acceptable from having access to Australia.

Who knows what this clown did when he was on trips to Australia.There has to be a level of detection and enforcement involved and the amount or degree of what is needed is the $64 question but it worked in this case.

Sleeve of Wizard.

Those are the laws of this country. If you don’t like them, you can piss off. If you think our laws are tough you need to get out more.

Neville,

OK mate, I’ll bite. I don’t smuggle drugs, deal in kiddie porn or plan to carry out a terrorist attack. Please tell me exactly how these laws that supposedly erode our civil rights will affect me in my day to day life.
Personally I don’t mind a little inconvenience (and that’s all it is) if it means stopping the bad guys. If someone wants to listen to my phone conversations or read my e-mails, they must be pretty bored!

These types of shrill comparisons to a “police state” really get my goat. Try Saudi Arabia for a taste of real “police state” lifestyle. Until you’ve experienced something like that you really have no clue what you’re on about.

Nobody said you can't have porn on your laptop. What this guy had was child porn, it's not only illegal but also immoral.

Go get the Bar:mad::mad::mad:rds.

I have no real problem with being quizzed by Customs, tells me they are doing their job and that's good for all of us. It might be an inconvenience and take time but hopefully people who do bad things get pulled up.

I went through Malpensa in Milan recently and Emirates typically lost my wife's and my luggage ( they went to Rome then Dubai and back again, a regular occurrance according to family ). We hung about for a day then went back to the terminal the next day to pick up our bags.

As we were leaving the terminal expecting a typical Australian style Customs workover, I walked up to 2 uniformed gents who were chatting away looking disinterested in everything and asked where I would go to clear customs. Annoyed that I'd interrupted their conversation he pointed to the exit sign that led to the outside world and started chatting to his mate again. Now I know it's europe with porous borders but it was pretty funny that there was no care at all. Ahh the Italian way of doing things, calm, then manic, then calm, job's done.

Anyone else got any strange/funny customs stories?

I stand by my statement, "if you have nothing to hide then what's the problem" I didn't dream that statement up, but you would think so by the way some people here react to it! I can remember hearing it back in school days when there was such a thing as discipline. You essentially have little in the way of privacy these days anyway. To quote a phrase said by John Laws. "the snivel libertarians", their everywhere. Big Bro is watching & if you think yr safe then think again ! I dislike the customs proceedures but after 9/11 we have no choice now but to put up with it however idiotic it may seem.

F