MP3

I've heard that the Australian law is very strict about copyright. Is it
true that we can't enter in Australia with mp3 on our laptop or
mp3-player? It's hard to beleive...

I went to Sydney for a week from New Zealand and then home to Canada via the
US in October. No problems with my mp3 player. I doubt if any of the
customs officals even knew what it was.

Dwayne

in article , Peter Webb at
wrote on 1/28/05 8:59 AM:

2. Australian Customs would have no interest in you turning on your PC and
seeing what's on it, and nor would anybody else you meet.


This may be true at customs, but many if not most times, airport security
will want you to power up electronic devices (laptops, cameras, camcorders)
to ensure they are legit and not things that go boom. Don't completely wear
down any battery charge before a flight, for that reason.

Bongrider writes:

I've heard that the Australian law is very strict about copyright. Is it
true that we can't enter in Australia with mp3 on our laptop or
mp3-player? It's hard to beleive...

Not only hard to believe. Not true. But a suitcase full of pirate
CDs *might* attract attention.

Raffi Balmanoukian a writes:

in article , Peter Webb at
wrote on 1/28/05 8:59 AM:

2. Australian Customs would have no interest in you turning on your PC and
seeing what's on it, and nor would anybody else you meet.


This may be true at customs, but many if not most times, airport security
will want you to power up electronic devices (laptops, cameras, camcorders)
to ensure they are legit and not things that go boom. Don't completely wear
down any battery charge before a flight, for that reason.

Hasn't happened to me in Australia. They do require notebooks to
be removed from the case, but I've never been asked to turn it on.
What would be the point? In the US, however, this happens about 20%
of the time.

in article , Mike McBain at
wrote on 1/30/05 2:12 PM:


Hasn't happened to me in Australia. They do require notebooks to
be removed from the case, but I've never been asked to turn it on.
What would be the point? In the US, however, this happens about 20%
of the time.

A former associate aerocommutes from Canada to the US several dozen times a
year, with laptop (and work permit). Despite a green card, a passport full
of INS clearances, and a profile about as far removed from the stereotypical
security threat as one could get, it was routine to be asked to "power up."

I got flagged in four countries (Paraguay, Brazil, the USA and Canada) in
2003 for a number of high-load rechargable camera batteries (the camera had
been stolen, so the explanation rang hollow). I was told it was an issue
because they could, somehow, be used as a detonator. S'pose.