Australian Gov't Drops Plan To Snoop On Internet Use — For Now

CuteSteveJobs writes "Australian Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has been forced to back down on her government's unpopular plan to force ISPs to store the web history and social networking of all Australians for two years. The plan has been deeply unpopular with the public, with hackers attacking the government's spy agency. Public servants at the spy agency promoting the scheme been scathing of the government, saying: 'These reforms are urgently needed to deal with a rapidly evolving security environment, but there isn't much appetite within the government for anything that attracts controversy,' but a document on the scheme released under the Freedom of Information Act had 90% of it redacted to prevent 'premature unnecessary debate.' Roxon hasn't dropped the unpopular scheme entirely, but only delayed it until after the next election."

Comments

The Internet Needs to be Policed

[Anonymous Coward]

These days a lot of our actions, interactions, and transactions are conducted over the Internet.
Why shouldn't they be policed like if these activities were done physically?
After all, you can't just do whatever the hell you want in the street without expecting law enforcement to watch and patrol for your and others safety. It should not be a free for all on the Internet.

I welcome as much "snooping" as much as possible online. As a parent with young children, I know there are predators and con artists out there on the Internet and I would hope the authorities are there to protect me and my loved ones.