I couldn't agree more! Hypothetical: I wonder how they would react, on looking at my cell, if before leaving home I removed all my pictures and contacts, erased my internet history and removed all files? Would they think I'm hiding something or just being careful with my private data?

Instead of, "Don't leave home without it!", leave home without data on phone. :)

> on looking at my cell, if before leaving home I removed all my pictures and contacts, erased my internet history and removed all files?

They take a whole dump for future forensic if needed, and that includes the ability to restore what you have deleted.

Surely this is not possible (assuming the recently deleted folder is cleared)? I know it could be done with insecurely erased hard drives but I dont think any phones are using those?

It is indeed possible, recovering a fully deleted file or even chats logs is the easiest part, given it’s unlocked. I don’t know about Australia, but plenty of law enforcements use cellebrite (1), and there are other tools too that provide such forensic analysis.

(1) https://cellebrite.com/en/home/

If you wipe the phone completely and re-image it, they can't recover a thing.

Hypothetical 2: leave your cell at home and just carry your sim card. After leaving airport, purchase a usable phone and insert sim card. Remove card and ditch phone when leaving country. Would they detain and harass this person?

In my case, wandering male Sydney Funnel-web Spiders make me want to avoid Australia

On the assumption (perhaps misplaced) that this comment is serious and not a joke, such a sentiment indicates extremely poor risk assessment. Native Australian fauna represents such an extremely small risk to tourists that it is not worth considering. (But obviously if you do encounter any dangerous looking fauna you should treat it with respect.)

But I do agree with the grandparent comment that this extreme level of airport search intrusiveness does legitimately make Australia a much less attractive tourist destination. And btw, as an Australian, I feel somewhat the same way towards the USA and its intrusive airport searches (which is what we are slavishly copying).

> Native Australian fauna represents such an extremely small risk to tourists that it is not worth considering.

Not only that, but most of the species are common in the USA and EU and just have different names.

Also, the US has far more dangerous animals, but somehow Australia is famous for that lol.

You could just visit the other 99.6% of the country that Sydney funnel-webs don't inhabit?

Not a risk I'm personally willing to take ;)

DEI petition to increase the number of female funnel-web spiders in employment in Sydney when?