Australians to Increases Surveillance Powers?

Anonymous Coward writes to tell us The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that new laws being presented to parliament this week would allow police and spy agencies additional power to monitor communications of people not suspected of any crime. From the article: "Under the changes, police will be able to tap the phone calls and trace the emails and text messages of third parties to suspected crimes. Police will have 45 days to monitor a person not under suspicion in the hope it will lead them to the person or people they do suspect."

Comments

I've said it before ...

[Kawahee]

I've said it before... If you're not doing anything wrong then you have nothing to worry about.

Privacy is a two way street, you can't cry foul when the government wants to listen in for a bit, find nothing and then leave you alone, and then want the government to have more power when tracking down somebody who's double crossed you.

What do you talk about on the phone? I talk about my programming, my life, what's happening to my friends. I don't commit crimes. What's the person listening in going to think or care of me? Absolutely nothing, because he's never met me. If one of my friends committed a crime in an area I hang around in, and I talk about it over the phone, what's the person on the phone tap going to do? Interview me and get some more information, then bring my friend who beat up ol' Mrs. Jenkins across the road to justice.