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Controversial Cybercrime Bill Introduced In Australia
An anonymous reader writes "The Australian government instructed a committee to investigate required changes to cybercrime legislation. Having received the report, the government decide to ignore it and give the federal police almost everything it wants on a plate. From the article: 'The Australian Greens have questioned the decision of the Government and Opposition to pass the Cybercrime Bill unchanged through the House of Representatives despite recommendations by their own members of parliament to fix serious flaws. Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said the Cyber Safety Committee had tabled a highly critical unanimous report on the bill, proposing a series of amendments and requests for clarification which were not addressed in the House.'"
The only sensible voice in your government is the Greens
Our culture doesn't get smarter, it just finds new ways of being retarded.
It's a minority government with Labor depending on a couple of independents and a green to have the numbers in the lower house. When things like this come up, Labor and the Coalition (Liberals + Nationals) hold hands like old chums to make sure what they want gets through. Australia has pretty much the same problem as the US in the political system. Team Blue and Team Red. Anyone else that is voted for is just a token effort.
Labor and the Coalition might have different ideals but they're both members of the same "old boys" club and be damned if anyone is going to threaten that.
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
Second only to the UK. It's so fucked up that shit like this happen and that the general populace don't care, or worse when they are informed support it because its only to stop bad people. Don't be fuckin stupid mate, its only gonna affect criminals! Sigh. No wonder I left.
If you ignore ACs because they are anonymous - you're an idiot.
The police are with the good guys. They're only trying to catch the bad guys. If the laws stop them them must be changed. We don't want another terrorist attack, right? And we should protect the kids from predators. If you're not with the bad guys, you shouldn't have anything to hide from the police. Also, they are committed to keeping your data securely. The police can be trusted.
W... T... F... Exactly what are the difficulties one might encounter in renouncing one's citizenship?
Admit it. You post strawman arguments as AC so you get modded Insightful for refuting them, rather than Troll
"Cybercrimes"? Is it a bill against software patents?
Australia doesn't have the infrastructure to process nuclear fuel and run nuclear power plants. The billions and decade or two required makes governments of all colours dodge the issue whenever they have the authority to implement it. In Australian politics nuclear power is nothing but a handy issue to bring up and divide the party in opposition.
Whether it's a good or bad idea doesn't matter in this context - either way it's an idea that upsets enough people to have immediate political costs and the benefits are so far away in the future that the current decision makers are not going to get the credit for it. Governments worldwide are not going to start up an entirely new nuclear industry for purely civilian purposes so civilian nuclear power has to wait until it is commercially attractive and private enterprise can do it unassisted.
Blaming or even crediting the Greens for just about anything shows either ignorance or an agenda - they've never had much in the way of political power and they really don't have much now despite their numbers. They will do anything to stop the "conservative" coalition from getting into power and Labour know it and know that they can always depend on the green vote. They'll get a bone thrown to them every now and again but nothing important that Labour doesn't already want.
If you have read the bill you would see how easy it would be to use for whatever the police or another country wanted it for. "without cause" is a perfect example; do you know it is easy for the police to have a cause?
We've been getting a lot of news here in Canada about American's living in Canada but never renounced their citizenship and who are now facing some pretty draconian tax issues.
I met one former American who spent $5000 to renounce and has 6 more years ( out of ten) where he can't spend more than 30 days a year in the U.S.. No wonder most never bother to renounce.
The U.S. is forcing Canadian banks ( through threats to specially tax their American subsidiaries ) to report on Americans. So just saying to hell with it is no longer an option. Oh, and all those years of failing to file a separate form reporting your non-U.S. account - big penalty - potentially huge penalty.. plus interest... yikes.
The funny part... America was founded by people who voted with their feet.
Are you really free if you can't actually leave.. not that you would ever want to... but isn't the threat of leaving part of keeping things honest even if you don't ?
another treat... the IRS pays tax snitches... so good luck getting help with tax issues after the fact - you've got a bounty on your head! Are "they" watching to see who downloads the voluntary disclosure forms from the IRS? Thanks to the internet you may not even be able to help yourself.
It's a slippery slope to mental illness. Can't you tell I've been dealing with some tax issues lately...
While it does contain news, the story clearly takes sides using highly opinionated language, then tops it off by linking to the Green party.
Just a guess, but maybe it's "clearly biased" because the site belongs to Senator Scott Ludlam, a senior member of the Green party? /sarcasm.
PS: Kudo's to the submitter for linking to the original source rather than an opinion blog about a newspaper article about the senator's press release..
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
AC did you read http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/jscc/cybercrime_bill/report/additional_comments.pdf ? .au legal, NSA is in from the cold)
ASIO (Australia's national security service ~MI5) gets more power.
Your ISP will preserve traffic data for a ***foreign country*** in response to a mutual assistance request. (A 24/7 tap thats
Traffic may be stored for up to 180 days
Domestic investigation data is shared without request to any country Australia likes.
No independent oversight.
Not clear on 'telecommunications data' - what can they collect?
No dual criminality test for mutual assistance - if your ip is found anywhere in the world on any forum...
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Having worked for Aussies, I can attest to how completely retarded they can be.
If my name were William and I were a cyber criminal, that's how I would like to be known. Cybercrime Bill sounds awesome!
Constituents writing a letter scares politicians and when it's done by hand they get even more spooked. Pen to paper equates to genuine concern.
Nothing new, in the story. It's a repeat of the Printing Press one, where information distribution was advanced beyond the comfort levels of the contemporary authorities. It's the story of the Lollards, who did the same, expanding information distribution beyond authorities' comfort-zones by translating Judeo-Christian Scriptures into vernacular languages, so the masses could-read them (or they could be read to the masses then).
Let's see, the Lollards were persecuted, and their work destroyed, until it was gathered and published under King James, the printing press was bound with prohibitions, licensing requirements, regulation, laws and lawsuits, which slowed the spread of legal printing, while providing economic opportunities for over-the-border printers, in places languages were not those being printed, which gave the printers the excuse that the words were Greek to them, and wasn't Greek respectable? and how were they to the customer was a smuggler?
Soon enough came broadsheets, broadsides, bill-posting. Then the mimeograph machine. With the mimeograph the game went to cat-and-mouse, then came the Xerox process, and then the computer, then the internet...
Now they hope to put a lid on the internet distribution can. To close Julian Asange's box, instead of Pandora's.
That it is occurring in Australia, originally a penal colony, where, among others, political disidents were quarantined in efforts to stifle their voices, is ironic. Proves the premise Albert Camus put forward in his "Myth of Sisyphus, that the slave, on becoming able to dominate, dominates, becomes a slaver.