Aussie Gov't Says Wiretap Laws Fine, Telcos 'Wrong' 127
mask.of.sanity writes "A top bureaucrat from the Australian Attorney-General's department has said telcos are wrong to complain about changes to the country's wiretapping laws, which will force them to report every product and network system change to law enforcement for approval, lest they affect the ability to intercept communications. The telcos argue there are simply too many products and network architecture changes to report and that it would become overbearing. It's the latest in a string of changes to communications law in the country, and comes as the government mulls data retention and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement."
Maybe they should comply very well... (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe report every single change in the network, apply for approval for every person moving their connection, for every new connection, for every cable repaired, for every minute change in their network. And make it very clear to the customer that to comply with the law they have to wait for the government to approve of the changes, as the government wants to make sure they can still listen in to your calls.
This should have a few effects: first of all completely overburdening the government approval system. Secondly causing delays all over even for simple routine operations, causing numerous complaints. Thirdly it makes the people very aware that their government wants to listen in to their phone calls - and that again should also give a serious outcry.
The last assuming people actually still care about their privacy. Not sure about that one.
But the overburdening and causing delays part should work well - especially when the members of the government themselves get stuck up in their own approval process and have a problem getting telephone lines moved or fixed.
This law sounds totally bullshit to me. I bet there are regulations in place already to require wiretapping facilities, that should be enough.
Re:Face meet palm (Score:3, Interesting)
"(Gubermint) Upgrade a router to a T1600? You want to do WHAT?"
Sorry, that's not on our list of approved $routers_whose_manufacturer_donated_the_most_to_our_campaign. You're going to have to use a Cisco 2600s for your core routing, just like all your competitors. In 5 or 6 years, we might let you upgrade to the ASR 1000, but the approval process is still in the early stages.
I'm not proud to be Aussie (Score:2, Interesting)
My country is going down the drain. I haven't been back in 2 and a half years, and the way things are going don't really want to.
Re:Maybe they should comply very well... (Score:3, Interesting)
So yes, all the Australian telcos should use that annoying process for absolutely everything can isn't excluded by the rules/laws/rulings to flood the receivers until they suspend or change the rules. If they tell the telcos to not inform them of something, but don't change the law/rules/rulings, keep telling them. Only stop when something is properly listed in the rule/law/ruling as an item excluded from being reported. It well be a living hell for the receivers of those reports, and to be honest, the telcos won't get much done since they'll be so busy writing the reports, but people will learn just how onerous such things can be. (Pricks that want something but don't have to do it themselves always underestimate or play down how much work it is for the other people.)