Australia: Mobile Phone and Internet Surveillance Without a Warrant, Even for Non Terror Investigations
September 17th, 2007No worries, mate!
Via: Sydney Morning Herald:
SECURITY agencies would be able to secretly track people via their mobile phones and monitor their internet browsing for up to three months without obtaining a warrant under new laws due to go before the Senate this week.
The powers could be used in a range of even relatively minor criminal investigations, not just terrorism cases.
They would allow ASIO and federal and state police forces to demand that phone companies and internet service providers stream information to them in “near real-time” – just a few minutes after calls are made or websites visited. The information would have to be provided for up to 90 days for ASIO investigations, and 45 days if state or federal police are involved.
Justified as a counter-terrorism measure, the legislation has already been passed by government and Labor members of the lower house. But it remains deeply unpopular with legal experts and privacy advocates.
As well as not requiring a warrant signed by a judicial officer, the powers could be used in any criminal investigation into a suspected offence that carries a jail term of three years or more.
The regime applies to all “telecommunications data”, including the time and destination of phone calls made and received, the duration of the calls and the location of the callers.
For computers, security agencies would be told what website addresses and chat rooms the user has visited and what files have been downloaded. The laws would also enable authorities to track internet conversations.
The sad but unsurprising thing is that the people I have shown this story to here in Aus say that it’s a good thing – we need more laws like this to protect us…