iTnews reports that the Australian Border Force conducted over 41,410 warrantless (legal) searches of electronic devices at the border between 2017 and 2021.
The FOI-based report indicates that travellers do not have to be informed of their rights by border officials, including that "travellers have no legal obligation to provide a password/passcode or provide assistance to access an electronic device at the border." The ABF "may" advise travellers of their rights but there is no policy requiring them to do so. Its broad search powers authorise device searches for a range of reasons, including on suspicion that a traveller has or intends to engage in work prohibited by their visa. Searches are also made on behalf of, and copied data shared with, other federal agencies.
iTnews notes that inconsistencies in the way data is recorded preclude itemisation of the type of device searched, nor whether the device belonged to Australian citizens.
The FOI indicates that between May 2020 and the end of 2021, 951 phones were searched. The remaining 40,459 searches - conducted between 2017 to 2021 - may have been smartphones or laptops or removable hard drives. There were probably more searches in the period, as the 41,410 searches does not capture instances where travellers refused to provide their passcode.
Device searches peaked at 14,927 in 2019, dropping to 3447 in 2020. iTnews states the ABF could not confirm whether this was related to the drop in air travel or other reasons. 17,085 of the 40,459 examinations to May 2020 were recorded as impacting Australian citizens; the ABF subsequently stopped recording nationality.
The ABF indicates that it "retains data on the number of searches, and the details of those searches". It would not say if it had accessible data on how many of the 41,410 searches resulted in an outcome - such as the discovery of prohibited items, arrests or convictions - nor if that data could be released.
The ABF indicated that "travellers have no legal obligation to provide a password/passcode or provide assistance to access an electronic device at the border." Presumably that will changes.
Devices can be taken offsite for forensic 'examination'. If a traveller exercises their right to refuse to provide a passcode, the device can be taken from the border and given to the ABF's digital forensic team for examination. “Most devices held for examination are returned to the traveller within 14 days, and often sooner if no material is found to warrant further investigation”, with "some devices may need to be held for longer but only under exceptional circumstances, such as for technical reasons or for those devices that contain vast amounts of data.”
