Travelers will now have ipods/laptops searched by customs [In AUS/USA]

[KaMiKaZe]

OH noez!! This is serious business guys; I have talked to more than a few people and more than one have already had their shit searched.

Australian iPod 'pirates' to face sanctions
American federal agents can now take your laptop, iPods without reason

In Australia travelers with laptops, iPods or other multimedia devices will soon have their devices searched by customs before they are allowed to travel. If any pirated content is found they face large fines. Meanwhile in America, secret laws have been pushed through (and recently discovered) allowing customs agents to search laptops, ipods, and other data storage devices for 'illegal material' and if found seize the device. Whats worse no reason needs to actually be given, so they don't actually have to follow the law and can just take whatever hardware they want and you can't do sh*t about it.

I am not sure about Australia but in the US its a direct violation of the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution. It's looking more and more 1984 over here and it seems like Australia is along for the ride. Is this the beginning of the end of freedom in America? They also use some forensic software that is capable of finding files purely based on their file structure and headers (even stuff that has been deleted). However since it's impossible for them to search everyone it's highly unlikely your shit will be looked at but there' still a chance. These laws are probably just for the scare factors anyways.

[Diesel]

Are you serious? goodbye taking my laptop on trips, or my iPod touch for that matter...

I will just have to wait till I get my desktop to download anymore warez...

[Kevin]

Maan I better hide my shit

[Blarg]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Maan I better hide my shit

You can't hide from customs. And fuck no more ipod, laptop, itouch and psp on trips. Gay.

[Diesel]

Just to let you know I went through customs coming back from Dublin Ireland in Atlanta, they didn't so much as ask me if I had a laptop or iPod.

Maybe its just not in effect yet.

[Blarg]

Originally Posted by Diesel

Just to let you know I went through customs coming back from Dublin Ireland in Atlanta, they didn't so much as ask me if I had a laptop or iPod.

Maybe its just not in effect yet.

It's random there is no guarantee that you will be searched but there isn't a guarantee that you wont be.

[Glupus]

Good that i dont traval out of the contry so often^^ but in Norway the goverment tries to get a new law: That they can take away the inet from people that store/dl unlegal software -.- They havent got that trought yet and if it becomes the reallity....... Poor me G_G

[Tresspass]

This infringes upon a ridiculous amount of rights think of all the personal things that people store on Laptops, the music industry should be in no way connected to the Government. The part about searching for possible terrorism is understandable but not on an Ipod... and not to random people it should be only people suspected of anything at all.

BTW Fucking profile people already when your catching terrorists people will not complain... well they will but your saving lives.

If you see a man that is alone, middle eastern, heading to a major area or flying over it, and is nervous check the man.

[Diesel]

If you see a man that is alone, middle eastern, heading to a major area or flying over it, and is nervous check the man.

I know whats happened in the past but still a little racist

[35yeros]

when i went to nova-scotia, they did ask if i had a laptop or a moblie device(s) i said yes (i had my laptop and phone, as well as a GPS) and they simply asked me to get it out, i did, they took the battery covers and the batterys out looked them over, asked me to turn it on, i did, and as soon as the screen lit up with "windows xp corprate" they said ok your good. they did the same with my GPS and phone, and then they passed me through.

i really dont think they will take your stuff and turn it on and look through it, think about how time consuming that would be.....i mean most businees ppl are sporting sleak dell xps's with 250gb hard disks.....searching those would take 5+min...5 min adds up when 20% of the ppl on the flight have laptops.

about middle easter people and the airport: for one, i dont have a problem with your religion, but when you start chanting loudly and are on your knees, it kinda makes things a little scary. why cant you do it under your breath like everyone else who prays when the sun goes down? Allah doesn't tell you to scream, he just asks for you to pray.
and whats wrong with racial profiling? wouldn't you be scared if 3000 of your country men died at the hands of someone that looked middle eastern? i sure as hell would, and am.

i also doubt that the American government is cooperating with the music industry. because like i said before, if the government searched your ipod, and did that to everyone, that would take way to long, especially since almost everyone has a ipod.

[Tresspass]

Yes but in the article it said something about the music industry expecting the government to step in

[Volund]

1st- Is this only at customs, or at regular, domestic flights??
2nd- As 35 said, it will take way to long to do any type of reliable search on these machines.
3rd- how are they going to know if the music that I have stuck on my Ipod is illegally obtained?
4th- I'm 90% sure this is unconstitutional.

[Diesel]

To #3, if this is true and everything, it may just be for "jailbroken" or hacked iPods/iPhones. Also, if you have software like limewire on your computer, then they can just look there and see that you stole music.

to 4... It is.

[KaMiKaZe]

Originally Posted by Volund

1st- Is this only at customs, or at regular, domestic flights??
2nd- As 35 said, it will take way to long to do any type of reliable search on these machines.
3rd- how are they going to know if the music that I have stuck on my Ipod is illegally obtained?
4th- I'm 90% sure this is unconstitutional.

Well 4th, no it's not unconstitutional it's an implied consent type of thing we're choosing to travel on their airlines and aren't being forced to go through airport security we choose to. WE want to use their services meaning that we have to comply to their conditions which is why they can search us in the first place etc and if we refuse they just refuse to service us. This would only be "unconstitutional" if we were being forced to have our shit searched on the roads or something. Guys this does not have to be fully about music they could be looking for pirated software that matters and or just illegal files etc.
2 and 3 um learn to read before posting .

They also use some forensic software that is capable of finding files purely based on their file structure and headers (even stuff that has been deleted).

1) Idk

[Diesel]

They also use some forensic software that is capable of finding files purely based on their file structure and headers (even stuff that has been deleted).

I am officially never taking my ipod or laptop on a trip, ever again....

[35yeros]

Originally Posted by Diesel

I am officially never taking my ipod or laptop on a trip, ever again....

when i leave in a week i am just going to see if i can slow my hdd rpm's to like 40, so it will take hours to search, and then ill lower my ram and virtual ram to the lowest possible setting, (32mb, slow as shit )

also, i think this is for international flights only.

other methods are:

• removing your usb and cd drives, so they cant use there search software on your laptop, This would be hard to do, but worth it if you've got tons of counter-band

• load another operation system on your pc, and set it up so that the next time the pc turns on it automatically uses the other operating system. this may defeat there software that searches, i am not sure.
• remove your batterys and hide them in the side panels of your carry on, this look suspicious, but hell, they wont be able to search with out any system power.

[Tresspass]

Limewire isn't illegal P2P isn't illegal so you cannot get in trouble for that. As long as you keep your downloads out of the stupid limewire folder etc. its really impossible to trace that it is pirated to my knowledge. Its the same if you were to rip your music from a CD you own which is completely legal. So as I think this really only pertains to looking for terrorism related things.