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AU Government Demands Universal Wiretapping
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Apr 17, 2008 05:55 PM
from the that-means-all-over-the-place dept.
from the that-means-all-over-the-place dept.
StonyandCher writes "The Australian government is pushing a bill to force all telecommunications providers to facilitate lawful data interception across fixed and mobile telephone systems, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Instant Messaging (IM) and chat room discussions. Sweeping reforms will make it easier than ever for law enforcement to intercept communications if amendments to the Telecommunications (Interceptions) Act are agreed upon by a Senate standing committee. This follows from a story earlier this week where the Australian government is legislating to allow employers to snoop on employees' email and IM conversations."
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Numerous readers noted the proposal by the Australian government for legislation to allow employers to snoop on employees' email and IM conversations. This is being proposed in the name of protecting the infrastructure from terrorism. The attorney-general cited the Estonian cyber-attacks as a reason why such employer monitoring is necessary in Australia — never mind that the attacks were perpetrated by a lone 20-year-old and not by a foreign government or terrorist. The law permitting intelligence agencies to snoop on citizens without permission expires this June, leading to the government's urgency to extend and expand it. The chairman of Electronic Frontiers Australia said, "These new powers will facilitate fishing expeditions into employees' emails and computer use rather than being used to protect critical infrastructure. I'm talking about corporate eavesdropping and witch-hunts... If an employer wanted to [sack] someone, they could use these powers."
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Fitting for ... (Score:5, Funny)
"Sweeping Reforms..." (Score:5, Insightful)
NewSpeak alert.
Parent
Re:Fitting for ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Such a fine line between +5 Funny and -1 Flamebait.
To me this is simply insulting. Guess it comes down to which side of the fence you sit on and safetly in numbers.
Since the gun control debate has already surfaced as the supposed reason Australians are facing the prospect of unrestricted government wire tapping, I think I'll take my criminal ancestry, sit back on my Aussie arse...cop the insult on the chin, turn the TV on to COPS or 48 Hours and watch some pro-gun Americans shoot each other.
Hows that Patriot Act working out for y'all BTW ?
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USA was also a former land of criminals (Score:5, Insightful)
in fact, North America was a dumping ground for scum for 150 years, versus only 75 for Australia. Explains a lot really.
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They took guns away, so who's left to stop them? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is why it is so important that we in the US fight for ALL of our rights, however trivial they may seem. Because once one is taken away, the rest soon follow...
Re:They took guns away, so who's left to stop them (Score:5, Insightful)
But good point about fighting for your rights, it's just a terrible shame so few people are passionate AND informed enough to understand the implications of potential laws and not just the PR-wrapper ("Won't Somebody Please Think Of The Children").
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Re:They took guns away, so who's left to stop them (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:They took guns away, so who's left to stop them (Score:4, Insightful)
All your examples are largely irrelevant, they all involve a nation being invaded/occupied by an external power. That's no where near the same thing as a successful resistance against your own government. And lets not forget that South Vietnamese received enormous support from their brothers up north/the USSR.
I dare you to give me a recent example where the population was able to successfully organize a resistance against a relatively well funded/organized government that was willing to use military force to remain in power. African regimes with constant rebellions and other chaos don't count. Now you might say that this kind of stuff always happens in countries were personal firearms are banned, but that's just an excuse. We both know that if your government allows you to bear arms, chances are your democratic institutions are sufficiently developed for a rebellion not to occur in the first place.
The idea of firearms being a last resort for the protection of democracy is a myth. Chances are by the time you get to the point where you have to use the last resort, you won't have your firearms. Traditions/norms/values don't change overnight, you can't go from a relatively well functioning democracy to a totalitarian state in one night, not without external influences that render your last resort argument meaningless (fighting an external enemy is a whole different story).
Now don't get me wrong, I don't oppose the use of personal firearms. I do favor more regulation and bans on M16s and stuff, but in principle I am fine with people having licensed pistols for self protection and licensed rifles for hunting. I would never by a gun myself, but if you are into this kind of stuff it's your choice. What I do oppose is the promotion of the myth that democracy can be protected with firearms. It's a stupid idea that underlines a fundamental misunderstanding of democracy, the whole point of democracy is to promote compromise and enable solution without the use of violence.
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Re:They took guns away, so who's left to stop them (Score:4, Informative)
So, we still have guns, but in order to get them, you must be at least 18 years of age, licensed, and the weapons must be registered and kept in secure storage.
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Re:They took guns away, so who's left to stop them (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:They took guns away, so who's left to stop them (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, I can see that you obviously have no military experience, but that comment is pretty ignorant even for a run-of-the-mill civilian. Give your head a shake. The airforce may be able to destroy shit in a spectacular fashion, but only men with guns can actually hold ground. You can't occupy a piece of land from 30,000 feet, no matter how many bombs you have.
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lets spy on everybody (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:lets spy on everybody (Score:4, Insightful)
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Welcome to the club. (Score:5, Insightful)
Thats funny (Score:3, Insightful)
How long until... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
What's the deal with Australia the last few years? (Score:4, Interesting)
Or is this just a big power grab?
If any country should be aware of the dangers of somewhat-haphazardly designating a large number of people as criminal/undesirable/incorrigible, it should be Australia. A whole bunch of supposedly worthless uncivilizable "criminals" shipped to Australia as "lost causes" turned the whole thing around and built themselves a nice place to live, and now they are fucking it back up themselves. Trying to turn most of themselves back into so-called "criminals".
I do not understand.
Re:What's the deal with Australia the last few yea (Score:5, Informative)
The headline is incredibly misleading.
The law, like the US CALEA, just says that law enforcement needs to be able to tap into the system upon showing a lawful warrant. It's a technical standardization measure, not a warrantless wiretap measure.
It makes it easier to abuse the system, but nothing about this law allows warrantless wiretaps. It makes it possible for law enforcement to have a standardized set of hardware used to access lawful (with warrant) wiretaps.
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Re:What's the deal with Australia the last few yea (Score:5, Insightful)
Chances some of this power will be abused? 100%
Chances it's going to improve the quality of life for the average Australian? 0%
Seems like voting NO is a no-brainer here.
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Re:What's the deal with Australia the last few yea (Score:5, Interesting)
And fuck off they don't do this already. An Australian guy posted on 4chan [wikipedia.org] saying he was going to shoot up a mall in America (obviously bullshit). Someone, we managed to figure out who this guy was. How? Obviously 4chan is Anonymous. I seriously doubt they handed over his IP, because I seriously doubt they had it (highest turnover I've ever seen, thread would've died before the authorities did shit). Which leaves what? Data logging. Maybe not here, almost definitely there, but to me it's fucking scary that they tracked this guy down and tried to fine him a shitload ($20, 000 I recall), just because he was talking shit on some website.
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Re:What's the deal with Australia the last few yea (Score:4, Informative)
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Behind the Times (Score:3, Funny)
I know Australia's a little behind sometimes, but seriously, this is what automatic updates are for.
Re:We were first (Score:4, Insightful)
A company handing over data about what happens on their network is VASTLY different from the government being able to spy on what a user does in their personal time at home.
You should always assume you have no privacy in a corporate environment, because a company is paying for YOUR time. Therefore if you do anything other than work on that connection/resources, you are just being stupid.
That is like complaining that you work at 7:11 and there's a camera monitoring you, so if the government puts cameras in your home, it's the exact same thing.
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Re:VOIP (Score:5, Informative)
I work at a VoIP-related company, and trust me, we deal heavily with TLS/SRTP calls.
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