Aussie Cops Want Powers To Search Any Computer

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."

Comments

Might actually be a good thing

[gweihir]

It might cause people to finally take computer security seriously. After all, an Australien cop breaking into a, say, Swiss computer, is just a criminal hacker and needs to be repelled. Methods for this are the usual: Firewalls, NAT, AV software, intrusion detection sytems and keeping your patches up to date.

Re:Ineffective

[spun]

I think he meant, "Ayn Rand was an awful hack writer and a two bit 'philosopher,' to use the word loosely. Her philosophy is bullshit in that it it's underpinnings explain nothing, merely begging the question. It is psychotic in that it excuses and encourages selfishness, narcissism, and anti-social behavior; and denies the value of altruism, community, and cooperation."

Next I suppose you'll be telling us Mises and Rothbard are the two greatest geniuses in economics.

Obligatory Simpsons

[LM741N]

Wow, Australia really is like that Simpsons episode. (remember the one which starts out with a Kuala bear climbing a power pole. It turns to look at them and is fried)