Travelers to New Zealand who refuse a digital strip search will be fined $5000

a reply to: manta78

That could actually harm NZ's economy.
An end to digital data couriers carrying corporate secrets meaning those company's will now have to arrange deal's which may be to there own detriment with diplomatic route's.

Foolish move on the part of NZ but still I do hope they catch any kiddie fiddlers and drug dealing scum bag's, there economy WILL suffer as a result though.

Has New Zealand ever actually had a problem with terrorism in the first place? I've never heard of anything happening there. Do they have anything but sheep there? I typed in "New Zealand" in Google Image Search and all I saw was mountains and stuff. I was like "Oh! I see a friggin terrorist right there by that big tree!"

a reply to: BrianFlanders

I heard that the Sheep are really terrorized but that applies to much of eastern Europe and some isolated valley's in other places too.

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
a reply to: manta78

It's not just new Zealand, this all started in the U. S and has made its way across the globe.

The U.S. is doing this type of search? Gotta link?

a reply to: ignorant_ape

Absolutely

a reply to: manta78

How can the NEw Zealand government assure and even guarantee me that my digital documents , property , wont be stolen and used by someone in the government ?

they cant

every aspect of digital technology is subject to fraud
at every level , from the wee dude confiscating the phones , to the minister implementing the laws!

someone somewhere is making something on the side , that's for sure!


One way to make sure that doesnt happen is to digitally watermark all of your documents, images etc
and that way if they are used anywhere online without your permission you can find out !

Locks only stop honest people, just as the war on terror only seems to punish honest people.

Yeah add me to the list of people who would buy a burner. I can easily get an Android here in Australia for $30, so worst case I take a new phone with me and get my phone numbers from my email later.

As for the nude scanner thing. Meh, Don't care about strip searching, every bodies got one. Been naked plenty of times before, I have no shame, if people want to be blinded by my fabulous bod let them.

Cavity search might be a different story though lol.

But yeah the terrorists (or is that the powers that be) won the war started at the start of the decade.

But hey at least they finally got that patriot act through in the U.S that some had been pushing for about 100 years.....

I gotta be prepared to be pulled to the side anyway. I'm 6' 7" half my teeth missing, usually 3 day growth and I dress for comfort not style. I'm searched and scanned every time I fly. So my advise if you're a terrorist and are going to fly, dress up like a fancy business man. Old blue jeans, a worn out heavy metal shirt, and sneakers on their last legs will get you tagged every time.

Good to see we're using logic in keeping us safe lol.

Isn't this being taken the wrong way though. Surely those who will subjected to a 'digital search' by customs will be those who are only flagged down by customs for whatever reason? Having quickly googled .. New Zealand has well over one million tourists each year. They aren't going to stop every passenger coming through travel ports and ask for passwords

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

Is that true? I have never heard of that. I have not traveled on a plane is a few years and my last trip was cancelled due to a volcano last christmas season in Bali. we are going to the Maldives this December.
Id just pack the cell phones and buy a burner for the plane ride. Or even better mail my phone to the hotel and bring a burner.

a reply to: manta78
Just added New Zealand to the same list I have China on. My never gunna go there list.
America with is crazy stance on our legal pot also joined the list.


a reply to: Sillyolme
Good work around I like it.

originally posted by: Sillyolme
a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

Is that true? I have never heard of that. I have not traveled on a plane is a few years and my last trip was cancelled due to a volcano last christmas season in Bali. we are going to the Maldives this December.
Id just pack the cell phones and buy a burner for the plane ride. Or even better mail my phone to the hotel and bring a burner.

you must love spending money. a few years back i needed to mail a car key back to North America from the Philippines, that my friend needed. it cost me something like $60 to do so. so if a tiny and light car key costs $60 how much would it cost to send a much larger and heavier cellphone?

and this will do nothing anyway. i rather suspect criminals and terrorists will encrypt and hide stuff so that you would need a lot of time and expert hacker knowledge just to find. not something that would be able to be done by your average customs officer in 10 or 20 minutes.

Just who the heck takes electronic stuff on holiday with them? You go on holiday to get away from all that. Or are you all sado,s that have gotta have their fix all the while.

originally posted by: Bramble Iceshimmer
a reply to: manta78

Don't take electronics on when you travel out of the country. Buy cheap throwaway / pawn to use. Use a belly band and keep credit card, id and passport in it.

Outstanding advice. Its the only way to travel!

They really want to find the One Ring I guess

a reply to: Sillyolme

As far as I know yes.

a reply to: crayzeed

well for me I run my own business and am it's only employee so if I travel I still need to sadly be reached to provide customers support.
Just I will give people reduced 'business hours' and a 'i'll get back to you when I am able to' I have to if I still want there to be work when I get home.

Also I am a parent. While I am not going to be calling anyone myself, I do like that they can call me should an emergency arrive. (My kids aren't going to call me for anything minor.)

Sure it's nice to switch off and get away from it all. And I envy those who can. Sure some people choose to bring their every day social media with them, but unfortunately some of us must have at least a phone and internet access when they vacation.

Cannot fix a clients website or hosting issues if I don't haz teh interwebz, and well that is what they pay me for.

originally posted by: paraphi
Well, if you don't like it then don't visit New Zealand.

Does not work that way for the people that live there

Seems to me that as they've pushed this law through and it will doubtless be copied in many other countries, it's only a matter of time before we have laws that demand we hand over our credit card and bank account passwords as well.

Why? Because they can argue that they need to check we are not moving money to/from "suspicious" ("terrorism-linked") places, or making "suspicious" (ditto) purchases.

And meanwhile, do they record these passwords? If they do, where and how, with what degree of access and security restrictions?

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker
"flagged down by customs for whatever reason", you said.

And there's the core of the whole issue. They do not need to give any reason: virtually anywhere in the world, immig. and customs officials are empowered to detain and search anyone they choose. They can make it completely random if they wish -- which of course make the whole "anti-terrorism" argument an utter farce.

The last time I went through Dubai (back in March) I saw an elderly, disabled woman forced to go through a full-body scan and because she had trouble standing still, she was taken away for a physical search, in spite of protests from her male partner (or carer, not sure which).

Heck, my own wife (who has Alzheimer's) had to go through the scanner and got patted down as well. I got the same treatment and then was subjected to a "wipe down", where they checked my clothes with some very special wipes that can detect even tiny traces on (in Dubai) illegal drugs.

I only saw one other person get the wipe-down treatment. A young guy in his 20s or so. (I'm over 60, with a white beard.) I guess they found something from their wipe-down with him because some extra guys in uniforms came over and led him away.

The point is, any terrorists who want to go by plane these days are going to know about all of this and will be very careful in planning their trip. And in any case, when was the last time we had a genuine terrorist attack or attempt on a commercial passenger aircraft?

All these "security" measures are just disgusting and I expect they do nothing but make the would-be terrorists far more devious and creative in planning or executing any attacks.

a reply to: JustMike

Yep makes one question 911 eh, was it an inside job to lead us to this # we are in now...