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US-Australia Agreements Create Opportunities for Privacy Violation, Extradition
TheGift73 writes with a link to (and this excerpt from the beginning of) a brief description at TorrentFreak of recently signed agreements between the U.S. and Australia: "Figures.... File-sharing was firmly on the agenda when the head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security touched down in the Australian capital last week. The four new agreements – promptly signed before Secretary Janet Napolitano flew back out of Canberra – were less about sharing season two of Game of Thrones and more about sharing the private, government held information of Australian citizens with U.S. authorities."
Having caught every terrorist in the world, Department of Homeland Security has now moved to the next threat to America: People downloading crappy TV series.
The Department of Homeland Security is a joke. Director, you sir, are a joke. And sooner or later, public support is going to evaporate, and then you'll be wasting billions of dollars classifying every detail about every employee in your organization. Every camera you point at the public will mean ten more pointed back at you. You're going to spend more time spinning and protecting your image as the "good guys" than you will finding and hunting down the bad guys. And the only people who are going to want to work for your organization are pathetic paper pushers with no sense of ambition, loyalty, or patriotism. And why will that be? Because that's the kind of person your organization will be doing its bidding for. You won't be saving the world... you'll be pool boys for the wealthy entertainment industry.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Happy Cinco De Mayo, Australia. I raise my Corona in toast to you, our kinsfolk in the free world.
to be Julian Assange, considering that he is running for Australian senate
I mean, what that word "Homeland" really means ?
Why the hell the department of HOMELAND SECURITY is interfering with file sharing ?
What " SECURITY RISKS " do torrent / file sharing pose for the HOMELAND that department supposed to protect ?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Any idea when the next elections are in Australia? What are the chances that Australians will vote for the same party that is doing this to them? They can't be that stupid, can't they? Harden the F up, Australia!!
How do we (Australians) sack our government? They are obviously fucked in the head.
Homeland Security if for Protectionism of US Government and their Lobbying organizations interests.
You can be pro piracy and not against paying for stuff. Those who will pay, or think it is worth paying for will pay. Those who can't or don't think something is worth paying for, won't.
You can't change that.
So instead focus on making better music or movies, and accept that people may share your shit and you can't stop it.
You can be comforted by the fact that a)those people are spreading your work bring in potential paying customers and b) the free cultural exchange of ideas benefits society.
If you ignore ACs because they are anonymous - you're an idiot.
Far worse than the stereotype of Americans here on /.
Australians tend to be gullible, and heavily rely on group think. If you think something other than the obvious what the media says, prepare to be insulted while patiently trying to articulate your point.
Most Australians would be OK with this because they will believe it is for the greater good and serves some purpose. If this is even on their radar. Historically they are more concerned with essentially inconsequential things like tuition increases or workchoices.
Written as an Aussie expat.
If you ignore ACs because they are anonymous - you're an idiot.
The issue here is that the people being extradited aren't committing crimes. If they did they could be charged, but they aren't so extradition is the only way to lock them up.
Soon we'll be sending all women to Saudi Arabia to have their heads cut off.
An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
To my eyes, this is just another sign about how desperate America is in preventing it's inevitable slide as a world power. I honestly can't remember any other US pact that was so blatant in its goals. Anyone can look at this pact and tell it's not about terrorism and national threats (both Aus and US), it's mostly about file sharing and America trying to spread it's onerous copyright laws to protect its exports. The bit about the US monitoring Aussie citizens is very worrying at the very least when we consider the MPAA/RIAA lawsuits I've seen in America.
I don't really know what America exports these days apart from war, patents and entertainment. It would look too bad if American invaded Australia at this point in time (although some people have taken the sign of US Marines being based in Darwin as the sign this has started) so I suppose the only other thing for America to spread it's tentacles is by dodgy pacts like this. Anything to try and stay on top (apart from fixing the underlying issues with the government and legal system in the USA and stop bullying the world, turning everyone on the face of the planet against you).
Americans, please stand up and do something about this. I'll do what I can from this side, but I'll stop there. Really, I should have no power as to how Americans rule and legislate in your own country, and that is the way it should be.
Quite frankly, after everything I have seen, I'm starting to think that there will be an armed uprising in America within the next 10 years against the US government. Guaranteed. Maybe the US government foresaw the same thing. It would explain why so much leeway the US government has given to internal security forces like the FBI and possibly the creation of the Dept of Homeland Security, and how the shift in America has gone from looking for external threats to internal threats.
This space for rent
I'm glad I left Australia.
Now I just have to pick up Citizenship somewhere else so I can revoke my Australian Citizenship.
What a joke Australia has become.
You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
For all the criminal career of Kim Dotcom, how does anything he did become a threat to Homeland security? DHS does not, or at least should not, have jurisdiction in every federal crime. And since when is copyright violation even a crime instead of a tort?
People should not fear their government. Governments should fear their people.
A little broader perspective
http://slashdot.org/journal/282007/fun-things-about-australia
http://slashdot.org/journal/282059/apparently-i-was-not-pessimistic-enough-yesterday
[these are by me from the few days]
Basically ignore the hype of file sharing, the Australian government really wants to get down & dirty on this total information awareness deal. NBN will be a big help there.
The Singularity is closer than you think
Quant
I draw a clear line between redistributing works (like filesharers) and reselling them for profit (like Kim Dotcom). But even the latter I find less objectionable than the modern copyright industry. The measures proposed and implemented in the defense of copyright - subverting people's devices, putting national law enforcement resources at the disposal of a civil complainant, bribing laws into being that impose completely disproportionate financial penalties - are a detriment to modern society that is more important than the entire entertainment industry. Even if the Kim Dotcoms of the world were to strangle Hollywood to a fraction of its current size, it would be worth it if it destroyed the MPAA.
But it is hardly a waste to arrest the guys who run criminal empires that make millions of dollars off of illegally distributed works and extradite them to the U.S. to answer for their willing participation in an organized criminal business.
Except that it is a waste. People who want to download will move elsewhere, and they're the people who you just said weren't worth arresting. The fact that he's making money means nothing. It's mostly on ads and premium accounts. And all this is from the people who use the website (the ones you said weren't worth arresting). It's a complete waste of time. We gain absolutely nothing from wasting taxpayer dollars trying to stop this.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
It would seem that ICE/Homeland Security is the only government organization that the *IAA, ESA, Nintendo, etc could get to take them seriously and persuade to be their goons in the extortion racket they like to call their "anti-piracy campaign"
It's just you. Most people have already moved on to the PHP edition to work on GamemakerVille!
re 'That's how they've chosen to govern that particular offense."
If its such an offence, why not face an Australian judge or jury? You then get to quiz your isp, the legal standing of the firm that identified you and trace paper trail that got you before a court.
Hire a legal team, see what they can do and face the Australian legal system, media and the state/federal political machines that passed the laws.
Its also very chilling to think about having your ip/site/comments/video/pics found by a US contractor/official. You might have posted from Australia, but this could get interesting for Australian citizen journalists.
Aid and comfort to a person who leaked a secret document?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
n/t
Though I don't feel any particular warm fuzzies about it, I understand that the recording industry is simply endeavoring to protect its collective assets, in so far as legal precedent may define its collective assets to be.
I'm sure that there may also be a certain side to it, in which they're simply endeavoring to impress shareholders. The main issue seems to be the matter of legal precedent, however.
Please stop doing what my country's government tells you. It only encourages them.
Xoxo,
some American guy
Pretend there is some witty statement here.
Blah blah blah. I hate to break it to you, but he's as much an entrepreneur as the Google guys were around when they started. What, you think a search engine owns all the content you can access through their search page? And yet, they charge you through forcing ads down your throat, and through selling your private browsing behaviour to third parties.
Welcome to the Internet in 2012. Kim Dotcom is just an average internet entrepreneur, but I guess he's not an American darling.
Soon we'll be sending all women to Saudi Arabia to have their heads cut off.
As soon as the Saudis have the geopolitical clout to make that demand anyway.
There is nothing on the torrentfreak website that points to there being an original source for these claims.
For instance, there are no URLs that reference any of the local newspapers and if there was noise to be made on an issue like this, they'll be more than eager to apply the heat.
Whilst the page on torrentfreak is actually someone that writes for a local newspaper (Myles Peterson, writes for www.theage.com.au), this story and nothing like it appear on The Age's website. Until it does, I'm less than convinced about what he's written as The Age will likely require proper journalistic practice be applied whereas the torrentfreak will not.
Actually they gave the companies direct access to remove content from the site. I think it was only limited to 100,000 files per day. So the site was completely DMCA compliant and cooperated with them in every way. In fact, they were even working a deal with a few media companies to distribute their content legally. The companies were just butt-hurt because no matter how hard they tried the pirates were always one step ahead.
So they did everything they could to stop it. Including using their crony friends in the government take the site taken down illegally!
Why is DHS involved in Kim Dotcom? Well it's because they have the executive powers to get things done and "somebody" forgot to require that there be a clear threat to US lives before DHS became involved in a matter. Why is the US signing copyright agreements with Australia?
It's all about regulatory capture. (see wikipedia). Those poor starving MAAFIA and RIAA and Microsoft and Google and the rest of the copyright/patent trolls are handing out or withholding their superpac contributions against results.
Are you in the US having a Presidential election this year by any chance?
You should be interested to know that Megaupload did indeed comply with the takedown requests of copyright holders when alerted to the files in question, the problem they had with the company was that Megaupload wasn't "proactive" in removing files without notification, regardless that such a system isn't feasible.
Considering the news of the past few years, there must be a contest for the most hated country and the USA are fighting really hard to win. I seems this new move brings them closer to the top, now head to head with North Korea! Well done, Mr "Homeland Security" (I remember my birth country having had a similar security organization many decades ago, was called SS I think). I guess the USA can win this race to the bottom, they were never keen to come second (though Aussies are beating them now as the world's number one per-capita energy hog, na-nah-na-naa-nah!!)
What " SECURITY RISKS " do torrent / file sharing pose for the HOMELAND that department supposed to protect ?
information leaks? big zip files of diplomatic cables? who knows.
though perhaps "homeland" is one of those ministry of truth kind of names
Please, tell me.
The entire media industry is worth less than say the cpu industry. So why the closeness to congress and LEO friends?
How many other industries get such high up help in legal help.
Is it that corrupt and evil?
(I mean the govt, not the honest media industry)
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Lovely that. So now the Department of Homeland Security - with this new bit of "permission" - can literally extradite anyone and everyone they wish - based on accusation - to be held for unknown amounts of time on US soil - with no hope of defense or fair trial? I came to Australia because I had hopes it would remain relatively free of "US imposed rule". I feel sorry for the Australians that don't have a clue as to what this means exactly. I feel sorry for those ruled over by the US government that don't have a clue as to what this means exactly. I feel remorse that I am still a US citizen, and that people will judge me by my government's actions; and I feel fear merely for the fact that I may no longer speak freely with the threat of the DHS looking for insurgents like myself. It's a pity that the US government has been allowed to descend to the horrible depths it's gone to - by the American People.
YankDownUnder Veni, Vidi, volo in domum redire
It's not only about money, it's also about power. When you control (or have some influence over) the media, you get to effectively mind-control a lot of the country population and point them in the direction of your interests and spend money where you want them to.
although i live in austria, i've never heard of the "austrian times" (and it's really not that big a country). also, the story lacks information about where this has happened (except that the fortune tellers are romanian), and i would't be the least bit surprised if the pictures from the two women were random stock photos. i'd take this story with at least a grain of salt...
sorry
Their business depends entirely on the government so they give lots of bribes. Other businesses lobby, but once the government has paid you to build your factory and let you operate it tax free, what else is there to ask for? Copyright on the other hand requires constant vigilance.
The World vs U$A
except when the US Govt. does it.
Like dying dinosaurs, dying empires make an astounding fuss and emit loud noises.
Then, they die.
When people share copies for free, it deprives terrorist organizations of their funding.
Without their cast of papier-mâché devils, fascists would have no excuse to attack our rights, freedom and liberty.
You can't seriously expect the ventriloquist dummies in government to go after the criminal plutocrats that own them or violent enemies like the Mexican cartels. That leaves only private citizens as whipping boys.
The problem is that Australians (and Europeans for that matter) have to give that data to their governments in the first place, and then elect governments that share this data with the US. Don't blame the US just because you can't be bothered to elect a government that actually cares about you.
US imposed rule? How does the US "impose" its rule on Australia or the UK? These governments agree to these treaties voluntarily, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why: it makes their own copyright industries happy, it's easier than passing domestic laws, it's far more intimidating to be extradited to the US than getting a slap on the wrist from a domestic court, and as icing on the cake, the politicians can pose as victims of supposed American imperialism.
Don't feel sorry for Australians or the British; they elected these piss-poor governments. And as an American, I see that a lot of power of the copyright lobby comes from Europe and is so hard to rein in because Europeans aren't doing shit about it. In fact, many of the people who complain about the evils of US copyright enforcement have no trouble with draconian copyright enforcement when it protects the supposedly superior European culture. And many big publishers that are lobbying hard in the US are from Europe in the first place.
You don't like the current US copyright system and enforcement? Welcome, join the club, stop whining, and start becoming part of the solution by changing your own governments and their policies. Complaining about the US government isn't going to do you any good.
Who owns all the oil? Who's the USA's best friend in the middle east?
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Who owns all the oil?
No one? Venezuela has the most proven reserves though, if that's what you mean.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_reserves#Estimated_reserves_by_country
Who's the USA's best friend in the middle east?
Israel.
Sorry, but, your conspiracy theory not withstanding, the Saudis have very little clout. They depend on the oil revenue to prop up their monarchy, and without it they would collapse very quickly. They're not as precarious as some other petro-states (because they're somewhat better managed financially), but all the same they can't really use the oil as an effective geopolitical bargaining chip on small issues. On something major where the financial risk is rewarded sure, but not on things like extradition treaties or mutual spying.
Policing. I will not ever vote for a Republican or a Democrat ever again, I dont give a damn who else it is I vote for.
As long as there is no R or D or Fake I by their name.
"Don't feel sorry for Australians or the British; they elected these piss-poor governments." ...
The PROBLEM IS when we (Australians) have elected certain parties into power on the grounds of carring out the marority populations' wishes, once in power they prompty do the exact oposite. Case in point ~ our draconion Carbon Dioxide Tax that we've been burdened with. Our Prime Minister publicly stated on TV and Mass Media there "Will Be No Caron Tax" ~ Then as soon as she entered government she rammed the laws through ~ even with our public gallery's in parllement full of people booing and chanting No Bloody Carbon Tax...
This is not an isolated incident which is WHY we're "WHINING" (to use YOUR words) about these further restictions placed on us from your IMPERIAL MOTHERLAND.
What we in Australia are rapidly realising is democracy IS A JOKE and it really is only a thin guise to cover the fact that the political system as it currently stands only serves the power elite...
That's a problem, but it's a domestic Australian problem.
Well, in the context of complaining about American bullying, that's kind of a funny complaint to bring up, since the US keeps getting blamed for resisting efforts to curb global warming.
My motherland is neither imperial, nor can it force your country to do anything your country doesn't want to do. What we do do is offer your government deals: you can travel more easily to the US if you share this data; our military will help protect you if you let us deploy our troops on your soil; etc. You don't like those deals? Don't take them.
Apparently, you're also a country of whiners. Australia has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and a human development index second only to Norway (and slightly ahead of the US), high press freedom, low corruption, etc., and you still aren't satisfied. And those numbers are probably why your government keeps getting reelected.
as an aussie I am upset when, seemingly with no good reason, a foreign power has a one-sided deal about sharing our private data. Don't the relevant powers of justice already have legal access to private data when they show good cause to investigate? Why should there be a blanket 'reveal all' when the existing privacy laws already allow sufficient data access for the relevant federal powers [both in AU and USA]. As our [supposed] head of state is sometimes quoted: "I am not amused".