Judging by the various misinformation legislation they're rushing to adopt, yes. The free internet said too many things that powerful people didn't like.
I'm already annoyed I have to wipe my devices whenever I travel there or risk a $5000 fine and maybe jail time if they want the password and I don't give it up.
Australia has to be the least free country in the anglosphere.
What? The US has been pulling this crap since 9/11, so I'm not sure what you're going on about IRT the Anglo-Sphere.
The US only has privacy rights for Americans. As a non-citizen traveler, they routinely belittle, humiliate, and violate such privacy, demanding access to people's phones at risk of detention (or at best being sent back home) being exactly one of the things they do. Ask almost any Canadian what they think about the border in the last 20 years.
I've also had them mock and belittle me for no reason ("what event are you going to?" "that sounds stupid."), just petty stuff.
I wipe my personal data when traveling to the US, which I pretty much only do for work. (And likely won't even do that anymore if Nov 5 goes to Trump)
> so I'm not sure what you're going on about IRT the Anglo-Sphere.
Australia is worse than the US for this, and worse than any other anglo country.
> The US only has privacy rights for Americans.
Yes, and Australia doesn't even have privacy rights for Australians. Hence worse.
> As a non-citizen traveler, they routinely belittle, humiliate, and violate such privacy, demanding access to people's phones at risk of detention (or at best being sent back home) being exactly one of the things they do. Ask almost any Canadian what they think about the border in the last 20 years.
The Australian border force isn't any better for this, you just don't see it because I presume you're an Australian citizen. The UK and Canada can be pretty bad as well. Shitty border personal are not unique to the US.
> I wipe my personal data when traveling to the US, which I pretty much only do for work.
The difference in the US is if you are a citizen or green card holder you can tell them to go suck eggs, and the worst they can do is confiscate your device.
In Australia, even if you're a citizen, you face IIRC a $5000 fine and possibly some jail time. So that's much worse.
> They need a legal basis and they are required to cite that:
What is the bar for a legal basis? In practice it seems equivalent to the way cops claim to smell weed as grounds for a search.
> In my experience and by my reading of performance stats US Border force are far more intrusive and over bearing than Australian Border forces.
Anecdotes will be anecdotes, but I flew in and out of the US for years before becoming a citizen and never had issues. Honestly I found UK immigration to be the rudest and most intrusive but that was just my experience.
Also stats don't mean much since IIRC Australia stopped recording or at least making public the number of devices they search.
A blog article from a law firm isn't a great source here, especially when contrasted with the numerous accounts of people that have been forced to unlock their devices without legal basis.
> In any case, you're free to challenge, etc. See link.
Not if a 'legal basis' is claimed.
> Like most people then. Whether crossing US or Australian borders.
Yup.
> So Australia's not the worst "anglo country" then?
Is the term anglosphere such an unfamiliar term you had to put anglo country in quotes?
Australia is the worst country when it comes to searching devices without justification, objectively going by laws and user experiences.
The UK is the worst country for being treated with a lack of respect and being asked intrusive questions in my experience.
> Do you recall correctly? Did Australia stop?
You're being overly defensive, lad.
Maybe put your patriotism/tribalism aside while having this discussion?
I read a few articles recently that said Australia had stopped recorded, so yes, fairly certain I am recalling correctly but not about to go and look it up either.
This seemed to be a fairly explicit case of “I hate traveling to Australia because of so and so”.
Sure, it’s retarded in general, but that was not what I was talking/asking about.
They apparently both have a need to travel to Australia, _and_ data on their PC that requires wiping. That makes me curious what kind of data that could be.
You continue to miss the point. But if you're happy handing over your personal data, and your stance is representative of most Australians, that's probably why privacy protections are so weak in Australia - most don't understand why they should care.
It's hardly the only especially bad country though. At this point the entire western world is pushing for it (and Russia/China are already one and two steps ahead respectively).
The wider Anglosphere is pushing this too. One organization behind it in both the UK and the US is the UK Labour Party. Yes, you read that correctly - high level Labour party operatives formed a nonprofit in the US to lobby for misinformation legislation, to ban X, and to pressure various other websites into deleting content.
> CCDH also held meetings with federal legislators while pushing for “change in USA” toward a censorious proposal it calls the “STAR framework,” which would create an “independent digital regulator” that could “impose consequences for harmful content.” STAR’s core concepts are similar to Europe’s just-instituted Digital Services Act and Britain’s even more stringent Online Safety Act, which puts the national media regulator Ofcom in charge of determining fines for uncooperative platforms.
The whole article is worth a read, where many people were targeted for innocuous stuff or in at least one case, for reporting on an article in JAMA:
Those europeans (and it definitely is not all europeans or even close to it if that is what you are insinuating) should first look at what their own governments are doing.
Judging by the various misinformation legislation they're rushing to adopt, yes. The free internet said too many things that powerful people didn't like.
An Australian example: https://x.com/SenatorRennick/status/1834455727764869593#m