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NZ Traveler's Electronics Taken At Airport; Interest in Snowden to Blame? 453

An anonymous reader writes "A New Zealand backpacker stripped of all electrical equipment at Auckland airport suggests attending a London talk on cyber-security following the Edward Snowden leaks may be to blame. Samuel Blackman was returning home for Christmas on 11 December from London Heathrow to Auckland via San Francisco when a customs officer at his final destination took the law graduate's two smartphones, iPad, external hard drive and laptop, demanding the passwords for all devices." For a quieter version, see also The New Zealand Herald.
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NZ Traveler's Electronics Taken At Airport; Interest in Snowden to Blame?

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  • Highway Robbery (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12, 2013 @09:53AM (#45669801)

    It is baffling how easily civilization reverts to medieval behaviors.

  • by sandbagger ( 654585 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @09:57AM (#45669839)

    We'll take your stuff, which you possibly use for your business or work, and won't tell you why, or for how long.

    There need to be laws and yes, intelligence agencies, but barring a crime, this ends up being bad PR.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12, 2013 @09:59AM (#45669847)

    taking the piss out of the Soviet Union, the Iron Curtain satellites nations and their citizens for the entire "Papers, please!" nonsense that occured whilst I was growing up in the 70s-80s. Is this crow I taste?

  • by wonkey_monkey ( 2592601 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @10:13AM (#45669947) Homepage

    The lesson in this is NEVER carry sensitive information on you when entering an international airport.

    That's not the lesson at all. This guy probably didn't have any sensitive information but that didn't stop his devices getting nicked.

    The only people with lessons to learn are not the travellers but the security services unreasonably targetting them. Unfortunately, they're not interested in lessons.

  • Re:First (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rlp ( 11898 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @10:15AM (#45669965)

    Looks like Saruman is now running The Shire.

  • by Mister Liberty ( 769145 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @10:17AM (#45669983)
    Don't play that game.
  • The Whole Issue (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12, 2013 @10:18AM (#45669991)

    The whole issue is contained in the US Constitution where it says,

    "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." - Amendment 4.

    This needs to be a universal human rights declaration world wide and it needs to be a condition where no government is tolerated forcing people to give up their computers or their passwords. In the mean time anyone taking a computer on international travel is an idiot! We also need that every computer has a kill password where it is reset to factory default condition and the disk is wiped with a single password. You just give the government demanding your password the kill password and the game is over for them. Every OS should contain this in the future.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12, 2013 @10:24AM (#45670041)

    The list of countries you shouldn't travel to if you don't want to be detained and would like to keep your stuff: US, England, New Zealand.

  • Re:The Whole Issue (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12, 2013 @10:28AM (#45670063)

    What drug of choice makes you think a global declaration based on USC 4A would be enforced world-wide when it already isn't/i) even enforced in the US now?

  • Re:Figures (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12, 2013 @10:29AM (#45670079)

    Not many countries are worth traveling to these days but the UK and the US are probably on my bottom 10 list for reasons like this.

  • Re:Sigh (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Hatta ( 162192 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @10:39AM (#45670157) Journal

    In this world you cannot be both ridiculously reasonable and neutral on most things.

  • Re:Highway Robbery (Score:4, Insightful)

    by JustOK ( 667959 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @10:44AM (#45670217) Journal

    One's reach does not end at one's finger tips.

  • by Kagato ( 116051 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @10:48AM (#45670251)

    The biggest surprise here is this happened in AKL instead of SFO. There is no transit freedom in the united states. If you're connecting you need to clear US customs and immigration and then re-check into your connecting flight. So if this was really a US demanded search one would think the phones and electronics would have been taken in SFO.

  • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @10:48AM (#45670259)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12, 2013 @10:59AM (#45670359)

    The lesson everyone is supposed to get is "Be afraid". It's not yet "Be very afraid", but just wait and we'll get there. So this guy was in a meeting where the Guardian editor Rusbridger was present. Perhaps that fact was what the intelligence services used to tag this guy as suspicious? If so this is sending a signal that you shouldn't be too (physically or intellectually) close to people like Rusbridger. This is a classic case of a "chilling effect" in action. If this isn't what the security services want, then they are stupidly incompetent. If it's what they want they are dangerously oppressive.

    There doesn't seem to be any pleasant solution to this equation.

  • by jittles ( 1613415 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @11:00AM (#45670363)

    he transited through San Francisco and apparently US Customs had no interest in him. If US Customs felt that he was a source of useful information about Snowden, they'd have confiscated his electronics there. I'm pretty sure that New Zealand customs does not randomly target backpackers for confiscation of electronics and this is not an example of a police state gone mad. I'm sure he knows the real reason they took his stuff and he doesn't want to mention it because he wants to play the "I'm being singled out for nothing!" angle to the press right now.

    The international terminal of the airport is not considered to be part of the US. Until you try to leave the terminal area, you do not need to pass through customs. If all he did was change flights, he likely did not go through US customs at all. It is possible that they became interested in him at US Customs though and asked the NZ customs officials to detain him.

  • by BringsApples ( 3418089 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @11:00AM (#45670371)
    I was thinking the same thing. It may have been due to certain freedoms that remain in the US that are not there in Auckland. Or that Auckland is now another US lap-pet. Hell, look at what they did to Kim Dotcom.
  • by Sique ( 173459 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @11:11AM (#45670495) Homepage
    I would actually never store porn on my computer anyway. What's the point in that? There is so much porn on the Internet available, there is simply no reason to keep it on my computer.
  • Re:Highway Robbery (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mrchaotica ( 681592 ) * on Thursday December 12, 2013 @11:23AM (#45670627)

    This, this, a thousand times this! Why the fuck do the the talk radio assholes blather on ad nauseum excoriating Obama for Obamacare when they could be calling him a totalitarian traitor to the Constitution instead?

    (The answer, of course, is that the Republicans (and Democrats) are perfectly okay with totalitarianism.)

  • Re:Highway Robbery (Score:4, Insightful)

    by dyingtolive ( 1393037 ) <brad,arnett&notforhire,org> on Thursday December 12, 2013 @11:36AM (#45670775)
    It's a combination of false flag trolling and people who have something to gain from shitting all over the rival team without also pointing out all the things that their own team is philosophically fine with doing, and does do on a regular basis.
  • Re:Highway Robbery (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Mashiki ( 184564 ) <mashiki@NOsPam.gmail.com> on Thursday December 12, 2013 @11:46AM (#45670895) Homepage

    This, this, a thousand times this! Why the fuck do the the talk radio assholes blather on ad nauseum excoriating Obama for Obamacare when they could be calling him a totalitarian traitor to the Constitution instead?

    Plenty of them do, you're just not listening to the right ones. Boortz, and Rush do, so do several other smaller hosts that are on a smaller number of stations(under 20). Oh and the tea party does, but obviously they're racists for doing so(because that's what the flappy headed fools in the media say).

  • Re:Ok, so... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by BringsApples ( 3418089 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @12:05PM (#45671097)
    Exactly, thank-you. So what proves that they're legitimate cops? If they're acting outside of law, and ordering you to do things without telling you why, taking you stuff, not giving you a reason - all the while you're cooperating as though they're real cops - to me that tells me that they're not real cops, and should be reported to the authorities. I mean, how do you validate the authority, if not by it's actions?
  • Re:Highway Robbery (Score:4, Insightful)

    by mrchaotica ( 681592 ) * on Thursday December 12, 2013 @12:53PM (#45671617)

    Boortz is allegedly retired (although for a retired guy, he still gets a lot of airtime). Rush is on while I'm at work, so I couldn't listen to him if I wanted.

    I've heard Eric Ericson complain about it (for about 5 minutes, and then he spent the rest of the show on Obamacare). I've heard Sean Hannity mention it merely as part of a list of Obama's lies (which also included Bengazi etc.). As far as I know, Herman Cain hasn't mentioned it at all.

    At any rate, there is absolutely zero chance of any of them giving NSA spying the attention it deserves (which means "completely drowning out any Obamacare issues," among other things). The only possible explanation for their criminal levels of omission is that they're all totalitarian asshats too.

  • Re:Ok, so... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BringsApples ( 3418089 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @01:00PM (#45671693)

    Granted, after you do this, you're in for the full treatment, but that's a judgement call you need to make.

    This is the mentality that these type of cops love, and wish everyone would develop. If you feel that by simply verifying that you're not about to get raped by someone who is acting outside the law, you are then "out of line" and deserve some form of "the full treatment" (whatever the hell that is) then you are the reason that things have lapsed into the state as they have. Allowing someone to push you around in ways that are illegal, simply because they represent the legal authority, is placating and nourishing the wrong mentality. What good do you expect to come from that? I'll tell you what. Eventually every woman and child will be anally probed by such "authorities" because they'll see you as weak and possibly doing wrong. Stand the fuck up for yourself when you're in the right. It's what the actual universal authorities demand! It's how things naturally balance themselves out.

  • Re:Figures (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mrchaotica ( 681592 ) * on Thursday December 12, 2013 @01:04PM (#45671761)

    What you're missing is that people said the same thing regarding security concerns about all sorts of other things (SSL, TOR, deliberately-weakened key-generation algorithms, etc), but the Snowden leaks proved those concerns justified. Not all of the information Snowden found has been made public yet, so there's still opportunity for this concern to be proven justified too.

    At this point, the only safe thing to do is to assume that if an attack is theoretically possible, then the NSA is exploiting it.

  • Re:Highway Robbery (Score:5, Insightful)

    by flanders123 ( 871781 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @01:24PM (#45671929)

    (The answer, of course, is that the Republicans (and Democrats) are perfectly okay with totalitarianism.)

    Actually this is the "this".

    The Snowden saga and politicians' and media response to it prove that there aren't 2 teams in politics. Dems and Republicans are part of the same corporation that pays them handsomely with the public's money.

    It's like any professional sport organization (NFL, etc). Sure the teams are competitive to a point, but at the end of they game most of them don't give a rip and are chuckling and hugging each other, meeting for drinks and dinner afterwards.... Because they all get paid millions of the public's money, regardless who "wins" a single game. Only the public cares about that single game.

    Same with American politics...The debates about healthcare, abortion. The elections. The political news shows. It is all just to see which team is best funded by the special interests. The special interests have big plans for the public's money and/or social behavior. In this system the politicians are always paid, at the public's expense.

    It is no wonder why no politician or politically bent media organization will tip this system. It is their cash cow. We Americans need to wake up.

  • Re:Highway Robbery (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CanHasDIY ( 1672858 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @01:25PM (#45671947) Homepage Journal

    Did you just mention "Rush" that senile, racist, sexist?

    Even a broken clock is right twice a day, you know.

    Your opinion is completely irrelevant go back to your confederate flag draped tent...

    You know the difference between you and whoever you're attacking? All they did was mention the name of someone who, occasionally, gets one right; All you've done is attack them and imply that they're racists because they mentioned the name of someone you've obviously decided to form a personal vendetta against.

    So, who's the irrelevant one here? Not the guy talking about Rush - at least he managed to stay on topic.

  • Re:The Whole Issue (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Maritz ( 1829006 ) on Thursday December 12, 2013 @02:39PM (#45672793)
    Being unable to distinguish between jocularity and serious is also fairly stupid, though of course you're excused if you have a social deficit of some kind. You're calling this guy stupid, but he's ripping the piss outta you.
  • Re:Highway Robbery (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mrchaotica ( 681592 ) * on Thursday December 12, 2013 @03:32PM (#45673421)

    Lets contrast the two issues.

    Indeed, let's.

    One is blatant unconstitutional totalitarianism, and proof of acts of outright treason by scores of public servants (including the Commander-in-Chief!).

    The other is additional regulation that makes an already-fucked-up-by-regulation industry a little more fucked up, a tax increase, and an incompetent IT project deployment (whoop-de-fucking-do).

    It is blatantly obvious which issue every patriotic American (or indeed, every less-than-treasonous-himself American -- there is no 'no true Scotsman' fallacy happening here) should be more concerned about!

    I'm sorry, you think it is a criminal act for a radio talk show host not to talk about what you want him to talk about and express only your opinions, and you are calling THEM "totalitarian assholes"?

    I think the extent of their dereliction of their journalistic duty is so huge as to be figuratively criminal.

Five is a sufficiently close approximation to infinity. -- Robert Firth "One, two, five." -- Monty Python and the Holy Grail

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