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Australian Police Given Covert Search and Hacking Powers

Posted by samzenpus on from the big-brother dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The NSW government of Australia has quietly introduced new police powers for covert home searches and covert hacking of computers. The suspect may not be notified of the covert activity for up to three years. These new powers are similar to those given to the UK police earlier this year. The new warrants can only be issued in the Supreme Court for suspected serious offences punishable by at least seven years jail — which includes computer crime offences."

18 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Ah, but I know all the tricks by iminplaya · · Score: 5, Funny

    Like putting a single eyelash on the door to see if it's been opened. But the better trick is the ol' bucket of water on top.

    --
    What?
  2. The Cops should target one of their own or... by freedom_india · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As a first step, the cops should target one of their own for secret investigation. Will they do it?
    How would Peter Costello or Nathan Rees react if they were targeted for such an investigation?
    Why don't the politicians confiscate the super annuation of corrupt politicians?
    What prevents them passing such a law?
    And last of all, why are politicians around the world so intent on destroying the last shred of privacy of the Common man under the guise of terrorism?
    First USA (thanks Bush), UK, Australia, Germany and lastly even Canada.
    Why?

    --
    "Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
    1. Re:The Cops should target one of their own or... by Capsaicin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why?

      Because the voting public let them get away with it. As long as the majoriry of voters are more concerned with voting in favour of tax cuts and a harsher criminal justice system than with safeguarding civil liberties it will be so.

      If you feel strongly enough about this kind of thing, don't just sit around and moan on slashdot. Become active, educate, make this an issue.

      --
      Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
    2. Re:The Cops should target one of their own or... by MrNaz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why?

      Because western society has degenerated to a democratic show where the public are convinced they are free because they get to choose between two essentially identical political rulers with the exact same hidden agendas.

      And we have the arrogance to think we have the right to go around "liberating" other nations. Oh, the irony.

      --
      I hate printers.
    3. Re:The Cops should target one of their own or... by tg123 · · Score: 3, Informative

      As a first step, the cops should target one of their own for secret investigation. Will they do it?

      I agree with you, However there are two issues that come to mind

      1) the mind set : police in australia will not arrest there own. http://blogs.news.com.au/news/crime/index.php/news/comments/policing_the_police/

      2) Investigations into police can bring up more dirt then they can handle . http://www.theage.com.au/national/police-watchdog-sacks-own-investigator-20090304-8oic.html

      How would Peter Costello or Nathan Rees react if they were targeted for such an investigation?

      The investigators would be told to cease. The powers that be know that the damage would be too great.

      Why don't the politicians confiscate the super annuation of corrupt politicians ? What prevents them passing such a law?

      [sarcasm warning] What are you suggesting that they get denied there right? every politician knows that if they serve the time they get the rewards.

      Also for a lot of politicians its there retirement fund, imagine if they got caught doing something naughty and they had to go into a nursing home with the great unwashed - (the horror)

      And last of all, why are politicians around the world so intent on destroying the last shred of privacy of the Common man under the guise of terrorism? First USA (thanks Bush), UK, Australia, Germany and lastly even Canada. Why?

      there bastards

    4. Re:The Cops should target one of their own or... by freedom_india · · Score: 5, Interesting

      don't just sit around and moan on slashdot. Become active, educate, make this an issue.

      No. Did NOT just sit ariund and moan.
      In the country am presently, in, the Indian Government already has repealed the US-equivalent of PATRIOT Act and has no intention of bringing it back.
      Secondly, the parliment has passed a law that outlaws arrests by cops without due warning.
      Meaning, they can't just barge into my house, drag me away screaming with a no-knock warrant. They gotta serve me with a written paper detailing charged against me, wait for 15 days and if meanwhile the court doesn't stop, they can arrest me.
      Yes, the usual local neocons (lawyers) protested this saying it will help criminals escape.
      But the local protests supporting the law were a LOT HUGE overwhelming the neocons.
      As a result all political parties have started supporting it, since they risk losing their seats otherwise.
      Third, the Supreme Court has strongly supported the law and says it balances the rights and has said that even though the law will let a few criminals escape, it will allow many innocents avoid being arrested in first place.
      Talk about grassroots democracy!

      --
      "Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
    5. Re:The Cops should target one of their own or... by freedom_india · · Score: 4, Interesting

      UK and India share the commonwealth policies: Child abuse, terrorism, murder extraditions.
      USA and India share the UN rules: --ditto--.
      Beyond that nothing much.
      Add to that the Election Commission is as fiercely independent as possible and competition pretty hot amongst politicians.

      Net Neutrality is already a law since 2001 here (not many indians know this), and local providers who attempted to subvert it were quickly shut down by Telecom Ministry. However the maximum bandwidth is about 2Mbps anywhere for individual connections. 8Mbps is available for business connections.
      The remaining ISPs are wiser now.
      But the ISPs rally don't care what you do with it. Once you pay them about $112 per month for unlimited, they leave you alone.

      The Central Banker whips errant banks into shape quickly (15 days maximum time to respond). I have used the facility to complain about 4 banks regarding personal loans, credit cards and fraud. All the time, when the local branch of Indian Fed "enquired" to the errant bank, they responded positively and either waived the excess charges or refunded deducted money or in one case sent me the original note of someone else's mortgage!
      Yeah, the Fed here is hard task master. Its officers are recruited from inside and from colleges. And the Governer is answerable to the Government every six months. It has a huge independence, and considers every bank to be a criminal unless the bank proves otherwise.
      Which means if you complain to the Fed about a particular bank's practices, you get default judgement many a time unless the bank manages to convince the Fed otherwise with proof acceptable to you(which means you get judgement).

      Courts have become increasingly aggressive in dealing with cops violating rules and impose mandatory imprisonments and fines on them. (of course some elected officials shouted against this practice and threatened laws, but backed down when the court threatened them with contempt of court).

      The local FOIA is like a bible to these guys. File a request and you can be guaranteed of information within 7 days. hell some even invite you to their office, share coffee with you, and send you with information.
      A couple of officials thought they were above FOIA, and the courts swiftly imprisoned them. Shook the esablishment so much that now they bend backwards to be open even without an FOIA.
      I was able to change the property tax evaluations, electricity information and charges just by talking to the commissioner about FOIA.

      --
      "Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
  3. Treating Australia like a country of criminals? by Tyrannicalposter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh wait, I forgot.

  4. Does not sound so bad by EdIII · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I usually get upset when I hear about new powers being granted to the U.S, U.K, and Australia. However, all of those involve searches that violate the 4th amendment (U.S) and our privacy and do not have the checks and balances provided for by the judicial courts.

    The new warrants can only be issued in the Supreme Court for suspected serious offences punishable by at least seven years jail -- which includes computer crime offences.

    They seem to be asking for warrants, and at a high level. That does not seem so bad, and in fact is all that I am really asking for. Checks and balances.

    This is a positive step AFAIK.

    1. Re:Does not sound so bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      This is a positive step AFAIK.

      Oh really? If you were a New South Welshman, would you rethink that knowing these tidbits?

      From the first article:

      These powers are more powerful than those available to the federal police when dealing with terrorism suspects," NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Cameron Murphy said. "These are exactly the types of laws that led to a huge police corruption problem in NSW in the past. It is going to lead to more police corruption. Why would the NSW Police need more power in dealing with ordinary criminals than the federal police does in dealing with terrorists?

      And from the second:

      Police have welcomed the new laws but Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman says they are open to abuse.

      "Clearly, if the police are able to search a person's home without anyone being present, the police will be in the position to plant evidence," he said.

      If you think this is just tinfoil hat paranoia, perhaps you haven't heard of the Wood Royal Commission. There's good reason to be wary of the police of NSW, and I say that despite being someone who might not be alive today were it not for a detective's hard work.

    2. Re:Does not sound so bad by giarcgood · · Score: 5, Funny

      If you think this is just tinfoil hat paranoia, perhaps you haven't heard of the Wood Royal Commission. There's good reason to be wary of the police of NSW, and I say that despite being someone who might not be alive today were it not for a detective's hard work.

      I have said this for more years than I care to remember, the NSW Police are the best police force that money can buy.

    3. Re:Does not sound so bad by Mista2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There also needs to bee immediate disclosure if the search comes up empty. That way teh searches will only be done if they actually have something concrete rather than just going on fishing expidetitons.
      Oh , I'm sorry Mr Human Rights activist, we didnt find any child porn on your computer this time, but I'm sure well get SOMETHING next time after the keylogger we installed reports back to us.

      It does worry me when even for the best reasons the police are given permission to act in secret. I mean, there has NEVER been a crooked cop in NSW has there?

  5. Never forget the past Australia: state, fed files by AHuxley · · Score: 4, Informative

    Australia will so misuse this.
    Any computer internet use will be a "computer crime".

    Also recall the total force wide corruption. In Australia it *was* not who is corrupt, the only question *was* anyone not corrupt.
    If /. readers want to understand what was done in my state:
    Political surveillance and the South Australian Police
    http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/lcj/wayward/ch7t.html

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  6. The NSW STATE government IN Australia by Swampash · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is a state law, not a federal one. The headline is misleading in that it contains the words "government of Australia" in that order. It still sucks, but it's not a national law.

  7. Re:I don't see the problem. by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 3, Insightful

    besides what do you expect them to do, walk up to your front door with a mega phone and annouce "PREPARE TO BE COVERTLY SEARCHED!!!!"?

    That's what the NSW police call "subtlety".

    --
    Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.
  8. just about everyone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The new warrants can only be issued in the Supreme Court for suspected serious offences punishable by at least seven years jail which includes computer crime offences.

    Does possession of child porn carry a seven year sentence in Australia? If you have a computer, and an internet connection, you just might be downloading kiddie porn, so.... I guess they've covered pretty much anyone they want.

  9. So Australia will be the first by iminplaya · · Score: 5, Funny

    to have Kangaroo Courts for real?

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    What?
  10. Do you have what it takes? by localoptimum · · Score: 5, Funny
    Police Entrance Exam

    Question 1 Please demonstrate the correct police procedure for gathering evidence from the rogue website "www.nastyTerrorPaedophiles.org".

    Your answer

    freedom4all:~$ nmap -A -T4 www.nastyTerrorPaedophiles.org
    Interesting ports on www.nastyTerrorPaedophiles.org:
    Not shown: 1688 closed ports
    PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION
    22/tcp open ssh (protocol 2.0)
    .
    .
    .
    freedom4all:~$ ssh root@www.nastyTerrorPaedophiles.org
    root@www.nastyTerrorPaedophiles.org's password:[britneyspears]
    Permission denied, please try again.
    root@www's password: [poshspice]
    Permission denied, please try again.
    root@www's password: [thepiratebay]
    Last login: Mon Mar 2 22:58:01 2009 from disarray.nastyTerrorPaedophiles.org
    root@www:~$ ls -l
    total 13
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2009-02-27 09:01 My_Terror_Plans
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2009-02-27 09:05 My_Child_Porn_Movies
    drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 2009-02-27 09:09 My_BitTorrent_Files
    .
    .

    --
    This message was scanned by European governments and contains no terrorism.