[rustynutz]

THE federal government will grant sweeping new powers of digital surveillance to ASIO and the nation’s other spy agencies with Cabinet believed to have signed off on a raft of new laws to combat terrorism threats. 

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that with heightened security fears over the estimated 150 Australians now fighting on the front line with terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria, the government will bring a bill to parliament within weeks that would give ASIO the ability to tighten the national security net on potential jihadists.

The proposed new powers would give the intelligence agencies greater ability to track computer and digital traffic between suspects and their associates, particularly via the so-called “dark net”.

Intelligence sources said the new laws, while in the process of being drafted before the Iraq crisis erupted, would have “direct relevance” to monitoring those who had joined terrorist-linked groups involved in the fighting inside Iraq and Syria and who may seek to return to Australia.

The revelations come amid reports convicted terrorist Khaled Sharrouf is among a handful of Australian jihadists believed to have carried out battlefield executions in Iraq.

A senior government source confirmed that Cabinet had passed recommendations several weeks ago, following meetings of the National Security Committee, for sweeping reforms to the 35-year-old ASIO Act and that legislation was now in the process of being drafted to be introduced to parliament in July.

It is believed Cabinet, on the strong urging of Attorney-General George Brandis, agreed to adopt almost all of the 41 recommendations handed down last year in a landmark bipartisan report by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security.

However, the government is likely to treat the most contentious recommendation, which would make it mandatory for telecommunications companies to retain customer data for up to two years, in a separate piece of legislation to be introduced later.

The new laws are likely to allow ASIO to access “third party” computers to then gain access to a target computer — an ability it already has for phone interceptions but not for computers. ASIO would also be given the ability to spread its intelligence gathering to an entire network that hosted a target computer, and be given authority to shut down or “disrupt” an individual’s computer in extreme cases of national security risk.

But a senior Labor member of the JPCIS and its former chair Anthony Byrne said it was “unconscionable” that the government had sat on the report for nine months and that the legislation should have been brought before the parliament long before now.

“We brought down a report 12 months ago ... for enhanced and new powers which the agencies have been seeking and now desperately need,” he said.

“They are sweeping reforms and they enjoyed unanimous and bipartisan support — but 12 months later we have seen nothing from this government,” he added.

“Now we have an accelerated jihadist threat in the country, due to the conflicts overseas, it is unconscionable that nothing has yet been brought before the parliament.”

Source: Putting the byte on online jihadists: Bill to boost ASIO’s digital spying power | News.com.au

[Phil №❶]

Suits me. 

[Dazzler]

 

[asathorny]

me three....   what about you Rusty ????

[rustynutz]

I reckon anything that erodes people's privacy is never a good thing... 

[CraigB]

Me four they should also introduce laws to ban wearing burkas in public as well and if they don't like it they can bloody go back where they came from.

[TheReaper]

I actually have to agree with rustynutz on this one.... as much as it hurts to say that.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

[Dazzler]

I am happy for them to error on the safe side... I have nothing to hide!

[CraigB]

I reckon anything that erodes people's privacy is never a good thing... 

The whole privacy issue shouldn't be a problem for anyone unless their a terrorist - paedophile or involved in some form of serious criminal activates, if your using the internet everything about you is already out there for those that want to see it and privacy is no longer a luxury we can afford to have I'm afraid.

[rustynutz]

I am happy for them to error on the safe side... I have nothing to hide!

So everything is all legal and legit on your computer is it, Daz? 

[Surferdude]

I have nothing to hide either.
Happy for them to check my computers anytime.

[TheReaper]

But where does the snooping by the government stop. You give them the power to do one thing and then they take it another step further a year or two later. And then you end up like the US

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

[CraigB]

But where does the snooping by the government stop. You give them the power to do one thing and then they take it another step further a year or two later. And then you end up like the US

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Though all this privacy stuff ( NSA ) is only recently being discussed, companies like Telstra have had agreements in place with the NSA for the last 11 years so if you were doing anything worth their effort to show interest in your behaviour you would already know about it

[rustynutz]

But where does the snooping by the government stop. You give them the power to do one thing and then they take it another step further a year or two later. And then you end up like the US

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Couldn't agree more, reaps... 

[Just Rick]

Yes watched a news story last night,if any of those so called Australian fighting with terrorist groups come back into the country,they should put a bullet straight between their eyes as soon as they get of the plane.

I'd have concerns as to how far the government would go with their spying,but I can also understand why they want to do this.

[Dazzler]

I am happy for them to error on the safe side... I have nothing to hide!

So everything is all legal and legit on your computer is it, Daz? 

Are you telling me some of those programs you "lent" me aren't genuine? 

[diablo]

The old saying "if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear" kind of sends a chill down my spine. That was probably the motto of the Nazis and the KGB.

I don't think the UK state have anything on me, as I am very boring.    However I fear that some government agencies could threaten people with genuine concerns. I'm sure that that has happened in the past.

The people with things to hide are mainly governments. The Edward Snowden case showed up what they were hiding from the public, both in the USA and the UK.

The rules are being tightened up a bit now - or so we are told. 

[Phil №❶]

Try and stop it, you won't succeed. Complaining about it won't change anything. Like Diablo, I'm too boring to be a point of interest for them. If ASIO knows what Mrs Bang, Bang says on her mobile, they already know what you do / have on your computers.

[rustynutz]

I am happy for them to error on the safe side... I have nothing to hide!

So everything is all legal and legit on your computer is it, Daz? 

Are you telling me some of those programs you "lent" me aren't genuine? 

What you talkin' about, Willis?
What programs???? 

[FatBoy]

This is an interesting problem that Governments face.  The primary aim of any Government is to protect their citizens.  If this means that some of our "rights" are eroded to protect the "greater good", then it should occur.  That is, the safety and wellbeing of the many is more important than the privacy of a few.  It's a fine balancing act that is always behind the technology that people are using.  I don't believe it is a black and white argument.

BTW, Australia does not have a bill of rights.  It also seems that the people complaining the most about their "rights" being infringed seem to forget that with the "rights" of being a citizen also comes with "obligations" as well.

[Just Rick]

This is an interesting problem that Governments face.  The primary aim of any Government is to protect their citizens.  If this means that some of our "rights" are eroded to protect the "greater good", then it should occur.  That is, the safety and wellbeing of the many is more important than the privacy of a few.  It's a fine balancing act that is always behind the technology that people are using.  I don't believe it is a black and white argument.

BTW, Australia does not have a bill of rights.  It also seems that the people complaining the most about their "rights" being infringed seem to forget that with the "rights" of being a citizen also comes with "obligations" as well.

Very well put Dan,lot of food for thought there as well

[Ugly Mongrel]

This is an interesting problem that Governments face.  The primary aim of any Government is to protect their citizens.  If this means that some of our "rights" are eroded to protect the "greater good", then it should occur.  That is, the safety and wellbeing of the many is more important than the privacy of a few.  It's a fine balancing act that is always behind the technology that people are using.  I don't believe it is a black and white argument.

BTW, Australia does not have a bill of rights.  It also seems that the people complaining the most about their "rights" being infringed seem to forget that with the "rights" of being a citizen also comes with "obligations" as well.

How much "erosion" do we tolerate before there is too much "erosion"?

[CraigB]

How much "erosion" do we tolerate before there is too much "erosion"?

Until the ocean is lapping at your door step, then it's time to move before house is washed away

[FatBoy]

I'm not sure. How many lives do we lose to a terrorist attack before we erode some more?  As I said, it is a balancing act.

[Doggie 1]

Give the crime fighters as many powers as they realistically want and deal appropriately with the few who might choose to abuse it.
I've never been a civil libertarian and I believe that the safety and security of the majority far outweigh the "rights" of the vocal few.

[rustynutz]

“The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”
~Hermann Goering, 18th April 1946~

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed — and hence clamorous to be led to safety — by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary”
~H.L. Mencken~

“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent ... the greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
~Justice Louis D. Brandeis, US Supreme Court, 1928~

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
~Benjamin Franklin~

“A new fascism promises security from the terror of crime. All that is required is that we take away the criminals' rights — which, of course, are our own. Out of our desperation and fear we begin to feel a sense of security from the new totalitarian state.”
~Gerry Spence~

Mystical references to “society” and its programs to “help” may warm the hearts of the gullible but what it really means is putting more power in the hands of bureaucrats.
~Thomas Sowell~

[Surferdude]

Give the crime fighters as many powers as they realistically want and deal appropriately with the few who might choose to abuse it.
I've never been a civil libertarian and I believe that the safety and security of the majority far outweigh the "rights" of the vocal few.

Well said.
To advocate any other way simply insults the intelligence of the average Australian.
And ignores our history.

[rustynutz]

 

[Doggie 1]

Rusty, if I felt like tatting your tit, I'm sure I could search the internet and post quotes that totally oppose those that you posted, but what's the point?

I believe in protecting our freedoms from terrorists and from organised crime and I am more than happy for the necessary tools to be provided to those in the front line who put their lives on the line every day for you and for me and for our families. 

It's what my grandfather fought for and I respect what he and many others did for us, with many of them paying the ultimate personal price.

As long as there are some in the world who will do everything in their power to erode our freedoms and put down those who do not subscribe to their terrorist ways, I actually don't give a toss about the privacy issues of individuals.

It matters not one iota to me.

[rustynutz]

One final quote..... 

“The best way to take control over a people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions. In this way, the people will not see those rights and freedoms being removed until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed.”

~Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf~