Are there any free lance clubs, hotels or bars in Australia???
1) Are there any FREE LANCE clubs, hotels or bars in Australia?
If so what part of australia?? and whats it called.
2) Also are there any red light districts in australia, if so where :)
Travellers to be searched for porn
Australian customs officers have been given new powers to search incoming travellers' laptops and mobile phones for pornography, a spokeswoman for the Australian sex industry says.
Fiona Patten, president of the Australian Sex Party, is demanding an inquiry into why a new question appears on Incoming Passenger Cards asking people if they are carrying "pornography".
Patten said officials now had an unfettered right to examine travellers' electronic devices, marking the beginning of a new era of official investigation into people's private lives. She questioned whether it was appropriate to search people for legal R18+ and X18+ material.
“Is it fair that customs officers rummage through someone's luggage and pull out a legal men's magazine or a lesbian journal in front of their children or their mother-in-law?” she said.
"If you and your partner have filmed or photographed yourselves making love in an exotic destination or even taking a bath, you will have to answer 'Yes' to the question or you will be breaking the law."
Customs confirmed the new reference to "pornography" on the Incoming Passenger Cards and the search powers, acknowledging that searches conducted by officers may involve the discovery of "personal or sensitive possessions".
A spokesman said officers were trained to apply "tact and discretion" in their dealings with passengers.
"Including an express reference to pornography is intended to enhance the interception of prohibited pornography at the border, by making passengers aware that some forms of pornography may be a prohibited import," the spokesman said.
The "pornography" question has appeared on the cards since September last year. The change was only spotted by Patten earlier this month and it had received little to no coverage in the media.
Colin Jacobs, chairman of the lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia, said the change appeared to have sneaked under the radar "without any public consultation about the massive privacy issues".
"It's hard to fathom what the pressing concern could be that requires Australia to quiz every entrant to the country on their pornography habits, as if visitors would be aware of the nuances of the Australian classification scheme," he said.
"If this results in Customs trawling through more private information on laptops searching for contraband, I would say the solution is way worse than the problem."
Patten said if the question was designed to stop child pornography being smuggled into the country then the question should have been asked about "child pornography", without encompassing regular porn.
Hetty Johnson, chief executive of child protection group Bravehearts, agreed with Patten that the question was too broad. She said it should only apply to illegal pornography.
"If it said child porn I'd be 100 per cent behind it - if you're carrying child pornography then you deserve everything you get," she said in a phone interview.
The issue has echoes of the 1956 detention of famed British conductor and composer Sir Eugene Goossens who had his bag searched upon his return from Europe.
He was carrying material that was considered, at the time, pornographic and his reputation was subsequently ruined, forcing him to flee the country.
"The term pornography is not referred to at all in the federal Classification Act, which customs relies on to classify their material," Patten said.
- with AAP
ASHER MOSES
May 20, 2010 - 4:38PM
Travellers to be searched for porn
Are there any further reports on this issue?
[QUOTE=Atomic Sunburn]Australian customs officers have been given new powers to search incoming travellers' laptops and mobile phones for pornography, [/QUOTE]
Australian Customs searching for porn.
I’ve seen reports regarding the ability of Customs being able to search for porn. Apparently the declaration card with the new questions are only gradually being introduced meaning that some people get the new cards and some people get the old cards without the porn question. Luck of the draw.
Customs porn searches baffle travellers
TRAVELLERS coming into Australia are being asked different questions depending on the card they are given by immigration officials.
The Government had pushed through the change in November last year, altering the first question on the Incoming Passenger Cards to ask travellers if they were carrying pornography.
Those answering "yes" will have their material examined by customs officials.
The change was labelled as "sneaky" and an "invasion of privacy" when revealed last week.
However the question is not being asked of all travellers, with an immigration spokesman saying there is no way of knowing how Older cards may be being used by travel agents and other operators beyond the large airlines.
The issue of bringing porn across the border was first raised by the Australian Sex Party who said many travellers will be embarrassed by the "invasion of privacy".
“Is it fair that customs officers rummage through someone’s luggage and pull out a legal men’s magazine or a lesbian journal in front of their children or their mother-in-law?” party leader Fiona Patten said.
"If you and your partner have filmed or photographed yourselves making love in an exotic destination or even taking a bath, you will have to answer ‘yes’ to the question or you will be breaking the law.”
Ms Patten said some travellers had not been asked to declare porn this year.
"I've had reports from people who have not had that question when they've come into the country in the past four weeks, but I've also had people confirm that they were asked that question."
A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said the change was because the term “pornography” was more recognisable to travellers than the term “objectionable material”.
A poll of nearly 1500 news.com.au readers found that over 80 per cent believed the porn searches were an invasion of privacy.