Maybole Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 (edited) I am not certain of the correct forum to post this. Moderators(s) please move if appropriate. My wife is soon to return to Thailand, She has a wee laptop which she carries everywhere. One of her friends has told her that Thai customs at all entry airports are routinely examining all laptops owned by returning Thais and confiscating them and sometimes fineing the owners if the laptop has any history of accessing any site disapproved of by the Junta. I consider this unlikely given the huge numbers of passengers arriving every day. Madam wants me to recover her laptop to factory settings before she sets off. I can do, but has any body else heard of or experienced this story. Edited January 17, 2017 by Maybole misspelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Does this include porn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonw8uk Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Delete browsing history and cookies? Seriously doubt they have the ability or the time to check beyond that. seems unlikely they would check at all to be honest, my gf never got checked coming from korea regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seajae Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 highly doubtful, would take up many man hours and slow immigration to a stand still, think someone is having a lend of you, besides in most case they wouldnt know you had one if it was packed in your luggage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokie36 Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Total <deleted>. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisakiman Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 It seems highly unlikely to me, purely from the point of view of the time it would take. Also, as has been already pointed out, how on earth are they going to know that she's carrying a laptop, short of inspecting the luggage of every Thai returning to Thailand? It's because they haven't got the manpower to do this that they have red and green channels. They just look for the ones with a nervous twitch who are sweating profusely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crossy Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 I travel fairly regularly (mostly through Swampy), I've never seen customs examining any laptop whether belonging to a Thai or not (of course that doesn't mean it never happens). As noted above, to calm Wifey's nerves as it seems the rumour covers internet history, just clear same. Exactly how varies by browser but it's never very difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whatawonderfulday Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Guess the next rumour will be that returning Thais are having their Facebook page searched on their phones ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveAustin Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Laptop checks are pre-flight (on the way out), checking it's not a bomb. Only reason I could think of that they'd power it on on the way back in is if they've been flagged for something else and are in the office being searched. What's that, 1000:1, 10,000:1? Or indeed that one is being watched for anti-junta behvaiour. But, yes, always a good idea to clear browsing data before entry: (CTRL, H) - browsing history/download history/cookies/cached images files + run through and delete any dodgy movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wump Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 (edited) Can't you just sign out of your Google account so your history and bookmarks won't be displayed? If not, just delete your browsing history with Ctrl+H or with chrome://settings/clearBrowserData for Chrome. No need to restore any factory settings. Edited January 18, 2017 by wump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thai3 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 False news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wump Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I would imagine people on some "watchlist" being closely monitored. I have heard quite some stories of people going to North America and having their laptops checked... why shouldn't it happen over here under military rule? Quite possible actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumpuy Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 B.S. If she wants the Laptop to be reset , she will lose all personal data ... browser history can easily be deleted , even the HD can be changed to another one , and the original can be kept for replacing it later ... Never thai customs would take the time to inspect privat PC's if there is no very important reason to ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
recycler Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I'm traveling in and out about 3 times a month via 3 different airports and have never seen a laptop inspected other than in the x-ray luggage checks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheard Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 This may be true. After all, a Thai person my visit banned sites outside Thailand, download the content and bring it in to Thailand. Porn sites yes, but other material may be deemed way more dangerous. There will be an army of minions to spend the time checking seized computers. Doesn't take a competent person very long to search for particular files in a computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Ray Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 1 hour ago, bheard said: This may be true. After all, a Thai person my visit banned sites outside Thailand, download the content and bring it in to Thailand. Porn sites yes, but other material may be deemed way more dangerous. There will be an army of minions to spend the time checking seized computers. Doesn't take a competent person very long to search for particular files in a computer. There you have the nub of the problem. Where would they find a "competent person"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotheruser Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I would be surprised if anybody at customs or immigration knew of a website other than youtube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sphere Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 6 minutes ago, Classic Ray said: Where would they find a "competent person"? I see them in the news everyday....pointing at things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timendres Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I suspect that if this has ever been done, it was not random, but someone specific that they were targeting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FritsSikkink Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Fake news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiver Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 (edited) I was just about to say pretty much the same. There are so many ways to hide stuff in a computer (either in plain view or encryption). It would take anyone even close to expert 1/2 hour and upwards, to do some very basic checks and scans and maybe brute force some poor protection (Excel is well known for being weak enough for the average cpu to get past in seconds). If it was a Person of Interest then they'd be held in detention while they did their forensics. I mean you could have the header of a Jpeg image and content that looks normal while there's room to place a lot of information in there. Does everyone have 'a Beautiful Mind' and the instincts of Sherlock that the shadow of a pier post of a holiday shot by the sea is actually a sun dial time for a secret meeting? or a door number in the background is a PIN number clue? (off the top of my head) - There are millions of ways. They're probably still looking for hacksaw blades in birthday cakes and page cut outs inside a book to hide the diamonds Lol. Edited January 18, 2017 by Shiver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deepinthailand Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 No whoever told your mrs this was lying. Mrs comes and goes very often through Savanakhet with her laptop and mobile (which has more on it than her laptop l) she has never been stopped for a lap top examination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyJ Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 (edited) 2012 case: "US customs can and will seize laptops and cellphones, demand password" " The American Civil Liberties Union has brought a suit against the US government over its seizure of the laptop of a computer security consultant – a seizure carried out at a Chicago airport about a year ago without a search warrant or any charges of crimes." https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/01/09/us-customs-can-and-will-seize-laptops-and-cellphones-demand-passwords/ Many articles from 2008 when a USA court ruled it legal: "Taking your laptop into the US? Be sure to hide all your data first" https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/may/15/computing.security US Customs agent can seize a laptop and keep it for 5 days. They are also asking incoming foreigners for the passwords to their social media accounts (without mentioning that currently giving up the password is voluntary). Edited January 18, 2017 by JimmyJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12DrinkMore Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 1 hour ago, anotheruser said: I would be surprised if anybody at customs or immigration knew of a website other than youtube. Be surprised then, they have their own websites!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotheruser Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 32 minutes ago, 12DrinkMore said: Be surprised then, they have their own websites!!!!! hahaha. Yeah I know. lol the ones that never work. IE default browser. hahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorecard Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 19 hours ago, seajae said: highly doubtful, would take up many man hours and slow immigration to a stand still, think someone is having a lend of you, besides in most case they wouldnt know you had one if it was packed in your luggage Plus rather doubtful whether more than 5% of cstoms 13 hours ago, nisakiman said: It seems highly unlikely to me, purely from the point of view of the time it would take. Also, as has been already pointed out, how on earth are they going to know that she's carrying a laptop, short of inspecting the luggage of every Thai returning to Thailand? It's because they haven't got the manpower to do this that they have red and green channels. They just look for the ones with a nervous twitch who are sweating profusely. And my guess is that just 1%, or less, of the standard customs officers wold even know how to do such checking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catinthehat Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 7 hours ago, daveAustin said: Laptop checks are pre-flight (on the way out), checking it's not a bomb. Only reason I could think of that they'd power it on on the way back in is if they've been flagged for something else and are in the office being searched. What's that, 1000:1, 10,000:1? Or indeed that one is being watched for anti-junta behvaiour. But, yes, always a good idea to clear browsing data before entry: (CTRL, H) - browsing history/download history/cookies/cached images files + run through and delete any dodgy movies. The only incoming provisions set up for this I have ever heard of for a fact is in the US for some returning from Thailand. This was a bit ago when the flavor of the month was for checking on child porn and kiddie fiddlers. If done here there are no provisions in wither Immigration (too busy already) Or customs. those few jokers are always too busy on Facebook to even look up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhunBENQ Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 22 hours ago, Maybole said: One of her friends has told her She should be more careful about her friends. Unfounded scaremongering. If you seriously want to discuss how to "clear" a laptop I would move this to the IT forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khon Kaen Dave Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I carry my LT in my hand luggage.When i have arrived in BKK or even on domestic flight,my bag has always shown my LT inside.On every occasion they ask me to take the LT out and put it in the conveyor belt basket.They dont always open it,but they still ask to see it. I was under the assumption that checked baggage was x rayed, so an electrical appliance would show up.I have never been stopped at customs when entering and asked to show my LT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhunBENQ Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 27 minutes ago, Khon Kaen Dave said: On every occasion they ask me to take the LT out and put it in the conveyor belt basket.They dont always open it,but they still ask to see it. Which is a standard security procedure and no one will inspect what content is on your laptop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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