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E-Crime Police Raid Melbourne Newspaper

Posted by samzenpus on from the e-police-they're-coming-to-arrest-me dept.

beaverdownunder writes "Police from the 'E-Crime Squad' have raided The Age's offices in Melbourne today, executing a warrant in relation to an investigation following allegations of illegal access to the ALP (Australian Labor Party) database. 'Victoria Police E-Crime Squad is investigating the allegation personal details of Victorians were electronically accessed by a media outlet via a confidential political party database without authorization,' a police spokeswoman said. Last November, The Age revealed the Labor Party held the personal details of thousands of Victorians — including sensitive health and financial information — in a database that was accessed by campaign workers before the Victoria state election."

11 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. Witchhunt by sociocapitalist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Whether or not the allegations are true I guess we can expect such attacks to happen on any media publicist that isn't friendly to the government..

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    blindly antisocialist = antisocial
    1. Re:Witchhunt by martinX · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The Age is friendly to the government*. Maybe they aren't friendly to the police.

      (The Age and other Fairfax papers are generally considered to be friendly to the ALP and the Greens. The ALP is currently in power federally. At the time The Age published the story, the ALP was also in power in Victoria, though they were recently replaced there by the Liberals. The story was about the state ALP database, though it is widely acknowledged that the Libs also use a database system to collate information they gather from correspondence and surveys.)

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      When they came for the communists, I said "He's next door. Take him away. Goddam commies."
    2. Re:Witchhunt by rust627 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The age is generally considered to be unfriendly by whichever party is in power although the general perception is that they tip the scales a little towards the ALP (Labour Party)

      However, the Liberal (read Conservative) Party is in power in the state of Victoria, so even by your logic, even though they are 'Friendly' to the Federal Government, They are considered 'unfriendly' to the state government.

      as someone once said, "The best laid plans of mice and men are filed away around here somewhere......"

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      da da da dum indeed.
  2. Was confirmation of the Age's story their intent? by ibsteve2u · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ain't nothing that says "Labor Party held the personal details of thousands of Victorians" like a police raid because it is apparent that the Age had to have accessed that data to know about it.

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    Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
  3. Cops turn a blind eye to public service corruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is hilarious. There have been many reports of hundreds of cases of corruption in the Commonwealth Public Service which the AFP has refused to investigate.

    http://www.smh.com.au/national/public-service-keeps-fraud-cases-private-20110923-1kpdr.html

    http://www.smh.com.au/national/corruption-claims-dog-foreign-bureaucrats-20110923-1kpc7.html

    http://www.smh.com.au/national/federal-agencies-lack-firepower-to-deal-with-fraud-20111003-1l5dt.html

    A guy reported corruption in the reserve bank but the AFP wouldn't investigate until he went on TV and forced them. Even now the Reserve Bank is being dragged to an investigation kicking and screaming.

    http://www.smh.com.au/business/reserve-officials-in-evidence-coverup-20111004-1l7dr.html

    http://www.theage.com.au/national/fresh-corruption-claims-rattle-rba-20111123-1nv2l.html

    http://www.theage.com.au/national/rba-scandal-to-force-bribery-law-change-20110702-1gw9t.html

    But the Labor Party has a leak and suddenly the cops are raiding the newspapers. What a joke!

  4. Re:Freedom of Press by Great+Big+Bird · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't normally bribe officials, but when I do, I keep my press card on me.

  5. Re:Freedom of Press by Sparx139 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I presume you then also approve of the News of the World fiasco in the UK, then?

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    Our culture doesn't get smarter, it just finds new ways of being retarded.
  6. Re:Freedom of Press by Rennt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I can't tell if this is superbly crafted flamebait or if you really are that ill informed. Reporters do NOT have the right to break the law. Employer's can absofuckinglutely NOT "authorize" an employee to break the law. They would be up on conspiracy/RICO charges.

    Do you also believe what happened to News of the World was a great injustice? 'Cause I know about 60 million people who would strongly disagree with you.

  7. Re:Freedom of Press by deniable · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Freedom of the press is like freedom of speech. I don't have the right to break into your house to speak freely.

  8. Injuction made by Xiroth · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The latest is that The Age has prevented the police from taking the computers through legal injunction. Nice to see that occasionally this kind of madness can be stopped sometimes.

  9. Media Watch (JH), the Australian & paper wars by tqft · · Score: 3, Insightful

    a turf war fought through other means?
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-23/holmes-hacking-scandal-overblown/3687192

    "As recently as last Friday, The Australian featured a front page story by its media diarist, Nick Leys, sub-headed, in lurid red, "The Age Hacking Scandal". It's a story which The Australian and the Melbourne Herald Sun have been following off and on for months. To read about it in those newspapers, you would think that this is a case of 'hacking' similar to the News of the World phone-hacking scandal."

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    The Singularity is closer than you think
    Quant