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Do Saudi customs check external hard drives for inappropriate material

IT Guy
#1
It just hit me now while I am copying stuff to my external hard drive :|. Most of it contains Family photos/home videos (gatherings and occasions), English and Hindi movies, songs and sitcoms like Seinfeld, Friends, and Prison Break etc etc.
I am suppose to come there (Riyadh) in Sept 1st week. Should I go ahead and bring my external hard disk or just threw it away? :(

Or I should Encrypt the data聽 :cool::rolleyes:聽 or Not? :mad:
See also
borntobemild
#2
yes. they do check for movies. and they even play movies sometimes and scan through them. if you refuse for them to go through it, they confiscate it and wont release it unless if your "sponsor" or saudi from your sponsor comes to the airport and claims it for you. no, inbeded folders dosent help, they go through every folder. they went through my buddy's 2Tb hard drive, made us wait till they went through it all!! effin radiculous!

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DaveLynn
#3
This is good to know. I have two protable drives and I have ISO's of software that I have purchased on them along with the purchase documents in a text form on the drives.
Violin
#4
hi, I have been living in KSA since 2004 I travel twice a year, they have never checked laptop or external hard disk content.
sawada
#5
no they never check the laptop and external drive, but they check the medicine if you have on your bag
IT Guy
#6
:) It is good to see some positive replies... Right now i am in two minds to delete the contents or not... I have gone through some posts and it seems that they dont check contents of ladies and family men however I am a bachelor ;) and chances seems to be quite high for me.

@borntobemild, I don't intend to bury the folders with in other folders, just want to encrypt the whole thing so that it is just a single unreadable/junk file. But I am unsure since this will be my first visit to Riyadh... dont know how much IT literate the customs are and also is it really sensible of me to mention my intention in this post .. :rolleyes:
borntobemild
#7

Violin wrote:

hi, I have been living in KSA since 2004 I travel twice a year, they have never checked laptop or external hard disk content.


well since youve been doing this twice a year since 2004, you also might have noticed that they dont really check on women much..

Sparrow
#8
Last time I came thru King Khalid on 16 July a poor looking pakistani had 4 x large external hardrives confiscated.

I travel in and out with a external hardrive also family photos but mainly work docs. I have never been checked. They do undo your laptop case et al - but behave well, take a chance - they know what type of person to look for. Movies etc is not the issue, its the content of the movies.
Automation
#9
Since Jan 2011 I came 3 times to KSA, nobody checked my laptop.
ame6792
#10
Hello IT Guy

聽 聽 聽 May be you can upload the data on sites which specialize in data storage before leaving your home country and then download it once you are in KSA.

聽 聽 聽 Is there a possibility that they will check audio files also in the laptop? Or even an ipod will be checked ?

聽 聽 聽 聽 AME
Violin
#11
Note: some sites are not accessible in KSA. Often innocent onlines pages do not open.
dazzlingjaney
#12

borntobemild wrote:
Violin wrote:

hi, I have been living in KSA since 2004 I travel twice a year, they have never checked laptop or external hard disk content.


well since youve been doing this twice a year since 2004, you also might have noticed that they dont really check on women much..


Wow this is good to know...But then, it might differ from which airport you go through.Dammam and Jeddah airport are more relaxed to travellers but not in Riyadh.Last time I've been in the Kingdom is 2005 and left on 2006...there's not too much hush on checking laptops and hard disks and external drives sort of! So what about contents in your camera? Does this also apply to the checking like on laptops? Odd changes huh!

IT Guy
#13
Well... to sum it all, I arrived in Riyadh last week. Based on the information provided above I deleted all movies and sitcomms :(

I had kept the Portable drive and USB drive in my hand bag so that I need not open my luggage if they want to check the hard drive.

Finally during the customs the guy only looked me in the eye and said nothing ... I picked up my bags and moved forward.... :cool:
MaserMan
#14
Travel a lot and have never been stopped and checked.

There are a lot a apocryphal stories flying around in this place, also the colour of your skin does have a bearing on how you are treated.
Sparrow
#15
Well done IT Guy,

Now you can sit all friday and download all the movies and sitcoms back onto your hard drive.
Salman Omrani
#16
MM an Sparrow. Great to see you guys are around :D

and welcome to the Kingdom IT guy ;)

Salman
Y
#17
yup one time the checked my CDs and told me to wait until they are finished checking them. plus SHAME ON YOU :P why would you bring inappropriate material with you
IT Guy
#18

yazeed1 wrote:

yup one time the checked my CDs and told me to wait until they are finished checking them. plus SHAME ON YOU :P why would you bring inappropriate material with you


@Yazeed,
By inappropriate here it means within the kingdom or as per the rules of the kingdom聟  I had my doubts even for sitcoms like Friends, so dont let your mind wander too much :rolleyes:

@Sparrow
Yes, need to get an internet connection, don聮t know what speeds one may get here.

@Salman
Thanks for the welcome 聟.

sakka
#19
did people just help you to smuggle some porn !!!
i think such a post was inappropriate to start with. asking about costumes search habits etc.
and the worst thing is you got feed back from Innocent people.
sorry to be so negative.
just my thoughts.
Friends and other sitcoms play on free TV all day so no need to smuggle it.
IT Guy
#20

sakka wrote:

did people just help you to smuggle some porn !!!
i think such a post was inappropriate to start with. asking about costumes search habits etc.
and the worst thing is you got feed back from Innocent people.
sorry to be so negative.
just my thoughts.
Friends and other sitcoms play on free TV all day so no need to smuggle it.


:):):) ... read the whole thread dear. :P

bananasplit
#21
they searched my Hard desk twice man, they took it once and gave me a penalty for having the American Pie movies ! but just like everything else in Saudi Arabia, Its all about luck ! if your lucky you will just pass smoothly
IT Guy
#22

bananasplit wrote:

they searched my Hard desk twice man, they took it once and gave me a penalty for having the American Pie movies ! but just like everything else in Saudi Arabia, Its all about luck ! if your lucky you will just pass smoothly


Hahaha ! :lol: They dint check my drive, but the irony here is that I deleted everything, even movies like Harry Potter & Inception.
:mad:

Fariss
#23
lol...1st they look at the person and the way he acts,if u look normal they wont search a thing...but if u got cds they may check it...but sometimes they will take ur answer as granted...
hishamdba
#24
They didn't check mine. (Laptop + 2 External HDD's)
R80GS'er
#25
hi forgot about this thread.

when i came into Saudi i came in through Bahrain via Dubai and maybe my driver was just very good but it took me 30 mins to do the whole causeway including security and passport control and it was my 1st time entering the country.

i'd like to think i'm special lol like my friends say i am but it think i'm just a little lucky sometimes seeing as i had 4 memory sticks and 2 laptops and umpteen discs with me.
No brainer
#26
I think they check it randomly at the airport in Riyadh. I've Traveled in and out but never got inspected. Although I'm confident and very much aware not to bring in stuffs that are illegal, But聽 a friend of a colleague of mine unfortunately who brought in his 2TB HDD filled with docs & work stuff got confiscated and never got it back. So who knows what to expect thru these inspections and random checks... Better play it safe than sorry thou.

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