[Infowarrior] - The Battle for Privacy Intensifies in Australia

[Richard Forno]

August 31, 2012 | By Rebecca Bowe

The Battle for Privacy Intensifies in Australia

Australians are fending off threats to their right to privacy from all directions. First, there was Australian Attorney General Nicola Roxon’s push to expand government online surveillance powers, submitted to Parliament in a package of reforms sought in a National Security Inquiry.

Then, on Aug. 22, the Australian Senate approved the Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill 2011, granting authorities the power to require phone and Internet providers to store up to 180 days worth of personal communications data. The purpose is to aid in investigations by both foreign and domestic law enforcement agencies, making it especially controversial since it can result in granting foreign governments access to Australian citizens’ communications data. The legislation only allows for data retention in the cases of specifically targeted individuals.

The bill is based on the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime – which we've flagged in the past as one of the world’s worst Internet law treaties – and the passage of the bill opens the door for Australia to join the Convention. But as the Australia Privacy Foundation has pointed out, Australia lacks the constitutional safeguards afforded to many other democratic countries that have ratified the treaty:

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https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/battle-privacy-intensifies-australia

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