Australia Passes Cyber Snooping Laws with Global Implications
December 6th, 2018Via: AFP:
Australia Thursday passed controversial laws allowing spies and police to snoop on the encrypted communications of suspected terrorists and criminals, as experts warned the “unprecedented powers” had far-reaching implications for global cybersecurity.
There has been extensive debate about the laws and their reach beyond Australia’s shores in what is seen as the latest salvo between global governments and tech firms over national security and privacy.
Under the legislation, Canberra can compel local and international providers — including overseas communication giants such as Facebook and WhatsApp — to remove electronic protections, conceal covert operations by government agencies, and help with access to devices or services.
Australian authorities can also require that those demands be kept secret.
Haven’t researched this one thoroughly, so I’d be very interested in hearing others’ opinions. In the meantime, here’s my off-the-cuff take on this:
Though anti-terrorism powers are the purported justification for this as has been the case all over the world since 9/11, and though there have been a few Islamic terrorist attacks in Australia and some really dodgy criminal networks operating in Australia including through various nations, and though there’s undoubtedly all sorts of eye-of-Mordor fingerprints all over this, it seems the hidden backdrop to this has much to do with concerns about Chinese hacking. Witness the Huawei/5G tear-outs throughout Five Eyes in recent months. Like much of the world, the Aussie government’s a bit wussy when it comes to saying things outrightly against China so wouldn’t publicise the part that played in this.
Of course, the Aussies have been guilty of similar in the past (Surprise, surprise!) as when they tried to grub the destitute East Timorese for oil revenue under then PM & chair of the IDU John Howard (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia-East_Timor_spying_scandal), but things are getting rather more serious now sleepy nations are waking up to the machinations of the endgame.
BTW & FWIW, Howard was in DC for 9/11 having met the late Bush the previous day for 4 hours. That visit, timed for the 50th anniversary of ANZUS, was the inception of ‘the coalition of the willing’.
Finally, just for laughs, here are Howard and the current IDU chair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIfUogRRxC8
Well, what do you know? Just chanced on this:
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/australia-no-longer-isolated-as-five-eyes-turn-on-huawei-20181206-p50kk1.html
Dennis, sorry, nothing to contribute. But I do appreciate stumbling upon these Talking Point Videos. They make a powerful point that needs to be disseminated. They highlight the marriage of advertising, propaganda, and technology. I wish people understood that, if you think you’re not affect, you’re already captured.
PS, rest in pieces Bernays.
The event portrayed in that video was the most extreme example of something I’m sure many others, noticed after 9/11 which was the widespread adoption in internatonal media and politics of propagandistic terminology as if it had been rapidly disseminated from a single point of origin, and I found the Bush-Harper-Howard connection via the IDU, an organisation I’d never heard of before doing some 9/11 digging, provided some explanation for that.