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Australia Moves Toward New Restrictions On Technology Export and Publication
An anonymous reader writes Australia is starting a public
consultation process for new legislation that further restricts the
publication and export of technology on national security grounds. The
public consultation starts now (a few days before Christmas) and it is due
by Jan 30th while a lot of Australians are on holidays. I don't have the
legal expertise to dissect the proposed legislation, but I'd like some
more public scrutiny on it. I find particularly disturbing the phrase "The
Bill includes defences that reverse the onus of proof which limit the
right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty" contained in this
document, also available on the consultation web site.
This includes:
"Computers, related equipment and “software” performing cryptographic, cryptanalytic, certifiable multilevel security or certifiable user isolation functions ..."
What's there to translate? It will always end up being "We own your fucking asses, peons."
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Nice to see Australian politicians are getting back to their ancestral criminal roots.
The best spectacularly bad analogy I can think of is a law forbidding the export of water from your leaky submarine.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Seriously: Australian technology?
Do the Chinese even raise sheep?
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
I submitted a public comment even though I'm not Australian. :)
--
Dear Australia:
Congratulations from the USA on making the international news - apparently you're debating a new bill, which includes as part of it reversing the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/...
We've done some newsworthy things in the last decade about restricting freedoms and civil liberties, but no one on this side of the pond has dared touch that one yet.
The bill *does* make sense in a way - Australia was started as a colony of criminals - might as well presume everyone *is* one until proven innocent!
Congrats again on your new found powers of oppression.
Where am I going to buy boomerangs from ?
Are you kidding... we lost the right to be presumed innocent years ago.
The police can set up a road-block and demand that drivers provide a breath test and proof of their license at any time. Isn't that a presumption of guilt rather than innocence?
The taxman can deliver an assessment that says you owe $xxxxx in taxes and you are presumed to be guilty unless you can prove you don't owe that much in tax. Where's the presumption of innocence there?
Citizens of the USA have given away most of their constitutional rights after being duped by a government that says that those rights must be surrendered to avoid massive terror attacks and Australia (plus NZ) have becom little more than lap-dogs to the US government.
Here in NZ, Kim Dotcom (love him or hate him) has had his assets seized and was incarcerated at the US government's whim -- even though he has not been convicted of any of the charges laid against him. Where's his right to be presumed innocent?
I'm afraid that the world in 2014 is a very sad place where most Western governments consider all their citizens to be enemies of the state unless they can prove otherwise.
The terrorists have won this war completely -- they have done what the Germans could not do in WW1 and WW2 -- they have taken our freedoms from us and we have surrendered them without a fight.
As Midnight Oil so wisely said: It's better to die on your feet than live on your knees -- what a shame our politicians don't get it.
This is the second law with a 'presumed guilty' rule the government has presented in 3 months. The last law, banning international departure, was also for reasons of national security.
"The Bill includes defences that reverse the onus of proof which limit the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty"
How could this be? This would be completely counter to one of the most fundamental and commonly-stated protected in any civilized nation's bill of basic rights.
Oh, wait, I see the problem.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
And of course moving out of the country, or just going abroad for holiday or business certainly qualifies as exporting or publishing technology, if you happen to know anything which qualifies as restricted information. Australians, better move out while you can!
Once information has appeared in a public place anywhere, it's almost impossible to prevent it from being available ANYWHERE.
Sure, there are cases where the information seems so un-interesting that nobody will bother to copy it before the state manages to seize all copies of it. There are also cases where loyalty to the state (or employer, or church, or fraternity) is so strong that thousands of trusted people may have copies but they won't distribute them and you (the state/employer/church/fraternity officials) know it.
There are also cases where fear of even possessing the information (plus the fact that most people simply wouldn't want to possess it) means the state has a much easier time keeping track of those who are both un-afraid and who might actually want to possess it (classic example from country that generally values free speech but makes a few exceptions: child porn).
Other that these and a few other edge cases, once something is published it's pointless for a country that claims to value free speech to try to declare it a "secret after the fact." Unless of course the point is disabuse your citizens and the world of the idea that you (the state) value free speech, in which case go right ahead, you'll soon achieve your goal.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Firstly, this isn't a general law, it's an amendment to the law governing foreign sales of military technology. It only applies if a specific technology is classified as solely defense or strategic. Yes that classification can be manipulated, but a court would have to be convinced that the classification is valid.
Secondly, the bill isn't doing away with the presumption of innocence globally. It is saying that if a person selling the regulated technology relies on the exceptions and regulations to decide whether it is safe to supply technology, that they have documented that reliance properly. Basically they want people to do their homework before handing classified military information over to a foreign actor. Seems fair enough.
Trying to become famous by taking photos. Visit my homepage please.
Don't answer that question. I know bananas that are smarter than they are! If this legislation passes, my guess is that every competent cryptologist and crypto researcher in the Land Down Under will be moving elsewhere! As will every company there that builds any device with crypto chips etc.
First the Defence and Strategic Goods List, see here :
http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2013C00051
Is ridiculously broad, including things like "FPGA with more than 200 pins or 230,000 gates".
Also, if you are a small IP provider who can't afford patent protection but still have a small product that can be sold a make a living
out of it, then your IP can be stolen by the government whom you are forced to reveal it. That's a catch 22 : you are forced to reveal
it and the govt is under no obligation no to use it or pass it to its friends giving you nothing,
See here :
http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/12/02/revealed-the-government-agency-stealing-ideas-from-businesses
This is not a new bill, it is an amendment to the "Defence Trade Controls Act 2012".
I see nothing to suggest that, say, exporting open source cryptographic software without a permit is more illegal under this bill than it is as things stand right now. I did 6 months working for Motorola doing software development back in 2005 or so and I remember they had training and stuff regarding export controls including export controls on cryptography.
The actual list of what is export controlled is the same list as used in every other country that is a signatory to the same international export control treaty.
As for the bill itself, if it (or the bill it amends) DOES make exporting cryptography (or other software) illegal (or if that stuff is otherwise illegal) then people should use the public consultation process (or letters to their local MPs and senators) asking for exemptions that cover open source software so that it becomes possible to continue development and use of such software in Australia.
Abbreviates "NS"....
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I keep seeing comments that this only "affects encryption" and what a reasonable person would assume is military technology (i.e weapons).
It DOES not, please, please READ the list before talking :
http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2013C00051
This just in. After realizing the country is about to be bankrupt due to low employment and a aging population the Australian government figures out more ways to increase the brain drain.
Seriously! Let the blood back into the brain your tin foil hat it killing you!
This is EXISTING legislation. AND the proposed changes tighten the definitions in most cases. Firstly they are removing the prohibition on talking to someone about it, now you actually have to supply the documentation or the item. Another is to allow a project to have the ability to release information not just an individual.
The publishing rule is being narrowed to be publishing only in direct contravention of a restriction or if something is specifically listed.
They have narrowed the brokering offence to only part 1 of the DSGL which are military use only items and changing brokering dual use items an offence only if you do it negligently or recklessly and the items will be used for WMD.
So rather than doing a Chicken Little, how about you stop making yourself look like an idiot and read.
...that Australia is increasingly assuming a Chinese, rather than Anglo-American, system and style of government?
Finding God in a Dog
Don't worry, they're just lifting buzzwords from a US report. They don't actually know what most of those words mean.
The police can set up a road-block and demand that drivers provide a breath test and proof of their license at any time
Driving is a privilege, not a right. Abuse this privilege and it will be taken away from you.
If you dont like RBT's you have the choice not to drive. A lot of Australians like RBT's because it cuts down on drunk drivers. Whilst we're on that subject, you have no right to drink and drive.
That assessment is court admissible evidence that you do owe $xxxx in taxes. You have been demonstrated to be in arrears. The tax tables are published before the FY starts and the government it not permitted to change the tax tables once the FY begins. So you have no excuse for not knowing how much you owe. Of course as part of our legal system you get the opportunity to demonstrate those figures are wrong. This means you get the presumption of innocence as you get to challenge the assessment. The fact is most people choose not to because the assessment is accurate. You have no idea what presumption of innocence means.
As Midnight Oil so wisely said
What does Peter Garrett do? You strike me as one of those Freemen On The Land nutters. For the Americans playing along at home FOTL's are the equivalent of Tea Partiers, Libertarians and Rednecks all rolled into one completely retarded package.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
I didint know Australia was such massive high-tech developer that they need to protect that stuff with overly heavy byrocracy...
Oh wait, they arent....
The Chinese are investing heavily in science and tech, at the rate we're defending it here in Australia we shortly won't have anything worth exporting anyway, this is just politicians wasting time of a problem they already solved.
Our country is quickly evolving back to the iron age, we're becoming more racist and anti-technologist by the day. I actually stopped calling myself Australian this year, I consider myself not racist and too intelligent to be one anymore. Sadly most of us are incapable of critical thinking and using our own brains to know when we are being lied to... Totally not bitter or depressed. Go
What technology does Australia export? Serious question. I don't know any companies that operate solely out of Australia, except companies that only provide services to Australians.