Aussie Tax Office Wants Phone Tapping, Data Retention

schliz writes "The Australian Taxation Office has called for phone-tapping powers while backing a controversial proposal to force telcos to store web traffic and subscriber data for up to two years. It said such data may be crucial to investigations, with the Commissioner of Taxation previously explaining that the connection between criminals and their finances made them 'especially vulnerable to revenue collection agencies, because of the ability to identify the discrepancy between their wealthy lifestyle and modest tax declarations.' The Tax Office's statements come after this week's passage of new legislation that will allow law enforcement agencies to force internet service providers to store data on subscribers while an official warrant is sought."

Comments

Wire tapping

[fustakrakich]

A little here, a little there... Pretty soon it becomes a real issue. If the cops can't get you, there's always the department of internal revenue to take up the slack.

Re:Wire tapping

[JaneTheIgnorantSlut]

Just ask Al Capone.

The power to tax includes

[Compaqt]

the power to destroy

Each governmental agency thinks it's an entity unto itself. Everything depends on this one agency. Every right and freedom must be subjugated to meeting the agency's goal.

Whether it's taxation, "homeland" security, child protection, consumer protection, cops, military, unions or any number of other things, everybody wants their agency to figure first in citizen's lives.

It's time for people to stand up for the principle that government may only exercise those powers expressly granted to it. All other powers are reserved to the people.

Re:The power to tax includes

[gstoddart]

It's time for people to stand up for the principle that government may only exercise those powers expressly granted to it. All other powers are reserved to the people.

Not everybody's Constitution (or equivalent) says the same thing.

That's not actually true everywhere. And, for practical purposes, it's not true anywhere any more.

Re:The power to tax includes

[gstoddart]

I fully understand that politicians have been working for years to suppress such an understanding among the general public.

they don't even need to suppress the understanding, they just need the courts to back them on some of these things.

In America, there's Free Speech Zones, the Fourth Amendment is apparently optional in many states, warrant-less wiretapping. All sorts of crap.

Pretty much wherever you go, copyright law trumps everything (and is part of the push for the data retention), "think of the children" gives people reason to bypass all sorts of laws, and terrorism bypasses pretty much anything else.

These things are being eroded fairly constantly. This is just another example of an organization trying to say why their needs should trump any other considerations.

I'm just not sure anymore how much getting the citizenry pissed off would actually accomplish. Overall, we're becoming less free over time. Unless they take away TV, I can't imagine enough people getting angry enough to do something about it.

Re:The power to tax includes

[Mordok-DestroyerOfWo]

Each governmental agency thinks it's an entity unto itself.

- yes, and another wrong belief that many hold is that government is productive, that it can create something. It cannot...

Remind me to thank the magical gnomes who created the interstate highway system in the U.S. It sure does make getting around easier.

Phone-Tapping the Tax Office?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not having RTFA, or even RTFS, is he saying that we should be phone-tapping the Australian Tax Office and enforcing Data Retention on everything their employees and managers do? After all, "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

If not, maybe it should! The phrase "You first" applies in droves.