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Australian Attorney General Pushes Ahead With Gov't Web Snooping

Posted by Soulskill on from the you-can-trust-us dept.

CuteSteveJobs writes "Australian Attorney-General Nicola Roxon now fully backs a controversial plan to capture the online data of all Australians, despite only six weeks ago saying 'the case had yet to be made.' The Tax Office, the Federal Police and the Opposition all support it, with Liberal National Party MP Ross Vasta declaring 'the highest degree of scrutiny and diligence is called for.' With all major parties on board, web monitoring of all Australians appears to be inevitable."

3 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. That's not what it says at all... by Troyusrex · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is a bill to force telcoms to not dispose of the data they've collected for at least two years. There's nothing in hear about "a plan to capture the online data...". Now the data is being retained to help in investigations but there's a HUGE difference between the telcom having it and the government having to subpoena it and the government collecting it all themselves.

    1. Re:That's not what it says at all... by pixelpusher220 · · Score: 4, Informative
      From TFA:

      The data retention plan - which would force all Australian telcos and internet service providers to store the online data of all Australians for up to two years

      and

      ''Many investigations require law enforcement to build a picture of criminal activity over a period of time. Without data retention, this capability will be lost,''

      Mean they are quite clear on collecting EVERYTHING so that they can build something up later. If it's only 'all Australians who're under suspicion' that's one thing, but it clearly says 'All Australians' without caveat.

      --
      People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people :-D
  2. Re:Thanks, Australia! by anomaly256 · · Score: 1, Informative

    Unfortunately, no one votes for the Attorney General position. It's a complete boys' club. It's also above the law in a few key ways. I don't know why we allow this office to exist still.