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Australian Police Given Power To Use Spyware
reek writes "An Australian newspaper has reported> that the contentious Surveillance Devices Act has been passed. The act will (according to the article) allow Federal Police to obtain warrants to secretly install spyware onto users computers enabling them to "monitor email, online chats, word processor and spreadsheets entries and even bank personal identification numbers and passwords.""
In the US we have had Carnivore for years ... mehg acy=zdnn/
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-524798.html?le
In China, a couple on the phone were interrupted and told to continue their conversation later, as the current "eavesdropper" was about to take a lunch break.
Surely, any of the commercial spyware-sniffing programs will have pressure from the governments to overlook this government-sponsored spyware. Being a commercial endeavor, they are more than likely to succumb.
"I vaguely remember there's a country where it is illegal to obstruct surveillance by way of encryption."
The UK, I believe?
Where its illegal to 'possess any information which might be useful to a terrorist'
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
In the US all they have to do is copyright the spyware's protection mechanisms and then under the DMCA it would be illegal to circumvent that spyware.
Over 30,000 federal warrants were request last year. Only 32 were denied.
I also use antivir. I update it every day (every day). it finds updates almost every time I run it.
/one user's opinion
on a friend's pc, it found about 400 baddies. yes, that pc was full of popups/etc.
its free, they have extremely regular updates and it works.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Our recently re-elected government in Australia is unstoppable at the moment. They ran a FUD (of terrorism, rising interest rates) and bribery (of the tv watching masses) campaign which go them a majority in both our house of representatives and our senate.
Minor parties did oppose these bills.
The laws are passed in such a way the general population either doesn't hear about then because they are lost in other bills. They are not covered by Rupuert Murdoch's popular news paper press or on commercial news networks, for the most part.
Quite often the direct effects are not apparent - these are the sorts of laws that creep up on you as they become used more frequently.
I think it's a dishonest goverment that introduces legislation by stealth. But sadly there are plenty of those around in this world.
The answer is to become polically active (which we still can).
Richard
Seems so.:
"Section 16B of the PTA makes it an offence in England and Wales and in Scotland to collect, record or possess any information which might be useful to terrorists. This provision too applies to both Irish and international terrorism. Equivalent provision is made for Northern Ireland in section 33 of the EPA. This offence is designed principally to catch those compiling or possessing targeting information. Lord Lloyd notes that the police have found the offence particularly useful in Northern Ireland and he recommends that a similar offence be included in any new legislation against terrorism. Again the Government agrees. As terrorist groups try to obtain information on the movements of their potential and actual targets and to gather any other information which might assist them in mounting an attack, the existence of this offence can help the police and the security forces to disrupt such terrorist attacks. "
Is it me or does this seem like a license to arrest anyone anywhere for any reason? "A recipe for a cake? That could be useful to terrorists!"
Linux Wireless Hardware in the UK