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Aussie Cops Want Powers To Search Any Computer

Posted by kdawson on from the cold-dead-fingers dept.

goatherder23 writes in with news that the New South Wales cabinet has proposed new powers for police to search computers anywhere under a search warrant, and adds: "The Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse are invoked to explain why police need the new laws, which have yet to be introduced into Parliament. Would someone please explain to them before this happens that all computers on the Internet are "networked" and that some computers may be found outside NSW (or even Australia)?" "Police Minister David Campbell says police are currently only able to search computer hardware found on a premises named in a search warrant. He says with the changes, they will be able to go a step further and search other networked computers, regardless of where they are located. 'What we know is that there are organized crime gangs who use the Internet and other forms of technology to hide their crimes,' he said."

7 of 262 comments (clear)

  1. RTFS by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...the New South Wales cabinet has proposed new powers for police to search computers anywhere under a search warrant, and adds: "The Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse are invoked to explain why police need the new laws, which have yet to be introduced into Parliament...."

    Read The Fucking Summary. Thank you.

    Or, if you still don't get it: The laws have been proposed, not passed. There's still the chance that parliament will figure out the implications and reject the law, in favor of sanity.

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
  2. Re:Ineffective by denis-The-menace · · Score: 4, Informative

    Then just clone the drives and give the suspect the copy and not the original HD.

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    Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
  3. Re:Ineffective by AJWM · · Score: 5, Informative

    Attribution where due, please. From Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, which I heartily recommend. It makes especially good reading on a long train ride.

    --
    -- Alastair
  4. Re:War on What, exactly? by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm only an amateur student of history, but I am not aware of any instance where a government, once empowered, has relinquished those powers without force.
    Here you go.
    --
    May the Maths Be with you!
  5. Re:Ineffective by superwiz · · Score: 2, Informative

    Second to GWB, Carter's presidency is known for the worst handling of the economy in the known US history. I am not sure why you would pick him to handle your wallet.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  6. Re:Get a warrant for one computer, get a warrant f by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Like the USA?

    Transportation to North America happened for a much longer time than it ever did to Australia.

  7. Re:Ineffective by PhireN · · Score: 2, Informative

    No, from my memory the person was crossing the border with their laptop in standby, and the encrypted volume containing the child porn was already unlocked.
    The Border security officer examined the laptop, saw the porn and confiscated it. Somehow the laptop turned off (maybe the officer turned it off when confiscating it, or it ran out of battery) and the decryption key was cleared from memory, locking the child porn drive again.
    Ah, found the article