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Australian Border Security
A man who was forced to hand over his phone and passcode to Australian Border Force after returning to Sydney from holiday has labelled the tactic
"an absolute gross violation of privacy", as tech advocates call for transparency and stronger privacy protections for people's devices as they enter the country.
Software developer James and his partner returned from a 10-day holiday in Fiji earlier this month and were stopped by border force officials at Sydney airport. They were taken aside, and after emptying their suitcases,
an official asked them to write their phone passcodes on a piece of paper, before taking their phones into another room.
It was half an hour before their phones were returned, and they were allowed to leave. James initially posted about his ordeal on Reddit.
"We weren't informed why they wanted to look at the phones. We were told nothing," he told
Guardian Australia.
"Who knows what they're taking out of it? With your phone and your passcode they have everything, access to your entire email history, saved passwords, banking, Medicare, myGov. There's just so much scope."
James said he has no idea what officials looked at, whether a copy of any of the data was made, where it would be stored and who would have access to it. "It's an absolute gross violation of privacy."
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