Is anyone actively organising against this bill? I feel that ever since the Iraq war protests failed ever time some thing like this happens, people complain a little bit, but don't actually manage to change anything. I was wondering if there are any groups out there that are actively protesting this that I could join, or if not, if any one is interested in forming one? It seems to be an issue that will affect the majority of the readers of HN in a negative way, regardless of your usual political affiliation.
Australia Wants to Take Government Surveillance to the Next Level
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Re: Australia Wants to Take Government Surveillance to the Next Level
#52Digital Rights Watch has more information and a submission system to help people write their feedback to the government: https://digitalrightswatch.org.au/2018/08/19/defend-encrypti...
What the parent doesn't explicitly mention is that there is a government inquiry open RIGHT NOW . You have to get your submissions in by 10th of September (5 days time). Every Australian here needs to make a submission (please). The parent's link, allows you to post a boilerplate submission with a single click. Far better to write and email your own submission, as form letters tend to get aggregated into one during e…
After some calling around it seems this Bill has originated from Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton MP. His office number is 02 6277 7860.
Re: Australia Wants to Take Government Surveillance to the Next Level
#53The article mentions that Australia has no bill of rights which, whilst technically true, doesn't mean we don't have equivalent protections. Some are enshrined in our constitution whilst others are parts of common law and other legislation. The conclusion they draw from that is right however; a lot of laws can be introduced to our parliament that might not get off the ground elsewhere. It's why we've fervently fought…
> "Australia has no bill of rights"
The High Court of Australia has ruled that Australians have an implied right to political communication and an implied right to protest.
Not specifically pertinent to this legislation but worth pointing out for HN readers who may think we live without protections and freedoms US citizens seem to enjoy.
"Similar, but different."
Re: Australia Wants to Take Government Surveillance to the Next Level
#54For those that would like more reading here is the explanatory bill: https://bit.ly/2NR4tTh Three important things to note technical assistance requests, technical assistance notice and technical capability notice.
They keep insisting they're not asking for backdoors. Here's what the explanatory bill says: The type of assistance that may be requested or required under the above powers include (amongst other things): * Removing a form of electronic protection applied by the provider, if the provider has an existing capability to remove this protection. * Providing technical information like the design specifications of a device…
I wonder if the bureaucrat(s) or technocrat(s) who originally wrote or co-wrote this bill, has a technology background or is a white label lawyer from one of the big legal firms who often write legislation for the Australian Parliament on an expensive consulting basis? Or just an in-house lawyer from the A-G's office - whose expertise is purely legal rather than technological?
Many of these clauses are so vague ("Providing technical information like the design specifications...") that they show either a fundamental lack of practical technology knowledge, or, are deliberately vague so that the arms of the Orwellian Australian federal government octopus can create the intended backdoor without explicitly calling it a backdoor. Maybe both are true?
Was it William Shakespeare who once proffered: is a backdoor by another, obfuscated name, still a backdoor?
Re: Australia Wants to Take Government Surveillance to the Next Level
#55Is anyone actively organising against this bill? I feel that ever since the Iraq war protests failed ever time some thing like this happens, people complain a little bit, but don't actually manage to change anything. I was wondering if there are any groups out there that are actively protesting this that I could join, or if not, if any one is interested in forming one? It seems to be an issue that will affect the maj…
People seem to just express their anger at news facebook pages these days, but are far too apathetic to actually go outside and do something about it.
There also seems to be a growing "anti-complaining" feeling around people's interactions, where it at least appears that a large number of people find it amusing to actively attack those who are highlighting a problem.
Re: Australia Wants to Take Government Surveillance to the Next Level
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Constitution and Declaration of Independence are legal documents setting out the foundations of a government and a nationstate, not some divine text from a higher power. The founding fathers were not a group of infallible prophets.
That’s not what geggam is saying. The underlying philosophy of the Bill of Rights as stated by the founders/framers is that the rights are “natural” rights which all are imbued at birth, and that the rights listed are not exhaustive but merely representative. In fact, the founders were wary of a Bill of Rights specifically because by enumerating some of them the list might be seen as complete. But the notion is that…
In fact, the founders were wary of a Bill of Rights specifically because by enumerating some of them the list might be seen as complete.
Right, which is why we have the 9th and 10th amendments. Unfortunately they are effectively ignored, along with the Enumerated Powers clause, meaning our government effectively has unlimited power. :-(
Re: Australia Wants to Take Government Surveillance to the Next Level
#57The headline is a little misleading. It's much more terrifying than that. It isn't just Australia. It is the US, Australia, Canada, UK, and New Zealand all together (known as the "Five Eyes")[1]. Australia is just the country that put the memo together. > The "Five Eyes", often abbreviated as "FVEY", refer to an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.…
Gee, I hadn't heard of that. The Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam only learnt of it when the Attorney-General raided ASIO, Australia's version of the FBI, in 1973. Wikipedia says UKUSA is pronounced yoo-koo-SAH. Rather appropriate - yakuza are "members of transnational organized crime syndicates"...
Re: Australia Wants to Take Government Surveillance to the Next Level
#58Is anyone actively organising against this bill? I feel that ever since the Iraq war protests failed ever time some thing like this happens, people complain a little bit, but don't actually manage to change anything. I was wondering if there are any groups out there that are actively protesting this that I could join, or if not, if any one is interested in forming one? It seems to be an issue that will affect the maj…
People seem to just express their anger at news facebook pages these days, but are far too apathetic to actually go outside and do something about it. There also seems to be a growing "anti-complaining" feeling around people's interactions, where it at least appears that a large number of people find it amusing to actively attack those who are highlighting a problem.
Ask someone who was an environmentalist for a couple of decades if shooting the messenager is a new or growing phenomena. It definitely isn’t, and is always at its peak issue makes people feel powerless, and they know that it would take personal sacrifice to make a difference. Few people like being told that rough seas are ahead, and the only way to make it through is with extensive teamwork, compromise, and putting aside petty personal issues.
Of course it’s often enhanced by orgsnizations which benefit from the status quo. For a long time being in favor of EV’s fell into the “tree hugger” category of ridicule and censure, and only when it became possible to adopt the tech without significant personal sacrifice did that change. The idea of organizing people and exercising mass political power is obviously hard, potentially risky, and involves more than making a 5 minute video or paragraph of posting. If people have already chosen not to do that, they tend to resent the people loudly reminding them that there is another way they simply chose to ignore.
Re: Australia Wants to Take Government Surveillance to the Next Level
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
For those that don't know about the FVEY, here is a good documentary about it: https://ispydoc.com
I skimmed it and that site seems highly sensationalist. I don’t know if that a good documentary. A couple of things from the site: “Operating independently from its governments...” Are the agencies involved not part of their governments? Am I missing something? “Hackers Can Disable a Sniper Rifle—Or Change Its Target...” It wants me to post this to social media. What’s the context of this quote? It gives none. It see…
I didn't go to the site, but the part about being able to hack sniper rifles is correct. It wasn't some complex nation-state level hack, it was just standard IoT device with poor security integrated into a rifle. The hack was done on the consumer version of one brand of rifle, thought the Army had ordered some for evaluation purposes. Here's an article about it:
https://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-can-disable-sniper-rif...
Re: Australia Wants to Take Government Surveillance to the Next Level
#6040 years ago my parents emigrated from an authoritarian South-East Asian country with a dubious human rights record to come to Australia where their kids could enjoy freedom and opportunity away from all that.
Today, I see this announcement in the news and I am wondering which country I can emigrate to with my own kids because I am disgusted with the increasing authoritarian bent of our government, as well as our plummeting human rights record...