Good afternoon Mr Harris

Thank you for your email below requesting information regarding Customs’ searches of digital devices at the border.

This email is to confirm that your request has been received by Customs and that you can expect a response to your request as soon as reasonably practicable and in any case within 20 working days from the date after which your request was received by Customs.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns regarding your request.

Kind regards
Procedures and Support team
NZ Customs Service

-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Harris [mailto:[FOI #2836 email]]
Sent: Thursday, 11 June 2015 14:43
To: OIA
Subject: Official Information Act request - Statistics or records of digital searches made between January 1 and January 14, 2015

Dear New Zealand Customs Service,

Customs searches digital devices at the border for objectionable material or other evidence of border offending. In 2013 they searched 845 such devices. I would like to request the following information under the OIA:

* How many digital devices did they search at the border between January 1 and January 14, 2015?
* how many of those searches were for "objectionable material" and how many were for "other evidence of border offending"?
* how many of those searches were conducted on behalf of other agencies, such as the NZ Police, SIS, GCSB, or FBI?
* how many of those searches resulted in finding something prohibited from entering NZ? I'd like a categorization of
(broadly) what was this material (objectionable material, copyright violation, national security, other)

If extracting this information for a 2-week period is considered to involve "substantial collation and research", I am happy to accept the raw records of these searches (redacted for privacy and law enforcement reasons, of course) so that I can perform the analysis myself. According to the information you provided the Ombudsman's Office, this should take roughly 3.2 minutes per report, or less than two hours work. If you believe _that_ constitutes "substantial collation and research", I am happy to go to the Ombudsman again. Likewise, given the public interest in reviewing Customs' use of this power, I'm happy to challenge any attempt to charge for such a small amount of work.

I would prefer to receive an electronic response. Queries about this request will be automatically forwarded to me by the fyi.org.nz website.

With regards to s12 of the OIA, I am an NZ citizen and in NZ.

Yours faithfully,

Alex Harris

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an OIA request done via the FYI website.

Please do not send progress updates as PDF files.

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an OIA officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA page.

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The information contained in this email message is intended only for the addressee and is not necessarily the official view or communication of the New Zealand Customs Service.

This email may contain information that is confidential or legally privileged. If you have received it by mistake, please:
(a) reply promptly to that effect, and remove this email and the reply from your system; and
(b) do not act on this email in any other way.

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Dear Mr Harris

Please find attached Customs' response to your request.

Regards
Chief Customs Officer
Procedures and Support

-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Harris [mailto:[FOI #2836 email]]
Sent: Thursday, 11 June 2015 14:43
To: OIA
Subject: Official Information Act request - Statistics or records of digital searches made between January 1 and January 14, 2015

Dear New Zealand Customs Service,

Customs searches digital devices at the border for objectionable material or other evidence of border offending. In 2013 they searched 845 such devices. I would like to request the following information under the OIA:

* How many digital devices did they search at the border between January 1 and January 14, 2015?
* how many of those searches were for "objectionable material" and how many were for "other evidence of border offending"?
* how many of those searches were conducted on behalf of other agencies, such as the NZ Police, SIS, GCSB, or FBI?
* how many of those searches resulted in finding something prohibited from entering NZ? I'd like a categorization of
(broadly) what was this material (objectionable material, copyright violation, national security, other)

If extracting this information for a 2-week period is considered to involve "substantial collation and research", I am happy to accept the raw records of these searches (redacted for privacy and law enforcement reasons, of course) so that I can perform the analysis myself. According to the information you provided the Ombudsman's Office, this should take roughly 3.2 minutes per report, or less than two hours work. If you believe _that_ constitutes "substantial collation and research", I am happy to go to the Ombudsman again. Likewise, given the public interest in reviewing Customs' use of this power, I'm happy to challenge any attempt to charge for such a small amount of work.

I would prefer to receive an electronic response. Queries about this request will be automatically forwarded to me by the fyi.org.nz website.

With regards to s12 of the OIA, I am an NZ citizen and in NZ.

Yours faithfully,

Alex Harris

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an OIA request done via the FYI website.

Please do not send progress updates as PDF files.

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an OIA officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The information contained in this email message is intended only for the addressee and is not necessarily the official view or communication of the New Zealand Customs Service.

This email may contain information that is confidential or legally privileged. If you have received it by mistake, please:
(a) reply promptly to that effect, and remove this email and the reply from your system; and
(b) do not act on this email in any other way.

hide quoted sections