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Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

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Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#11

Post by zmmmmm »

I am not normally one to put on a tin foil hat, but all the events of the last week seem so orchestrated that it is hard not to be cynical. Security agencies facing the sunsetting of powers granted after 9/11 "suddenly" discover all these threats the very same week that laws are due to be voted on. There seems to be almost no evidence against individuals raided, only one arrest and that on the basis of some intercepted conversations where the idea of attacking someone was mentioned (and all this, we are taking on faith from security agencies themselves which have a massive vested interest in getting new laws passed). Even if you interpret the threat literally, one individual was proposing to attack one Australian - for this we need to discard our basic freedoms protected for hundreds years (deriving from the magna carta no less)?

I think there ought to be a moratorium on passing any new laws until there is not any current terrorism scare, it is exactly not the time to be making rash judgements about what laws we need.

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#12

Post by Narkov »

Surely it's inevitable that everything will be surveiled. The quicker we realise this and "encrypt all the things" the better.

What's the point in fighting legislation when you can solve the problem with technology? If the technology doesn't exist now then this stupid legislation should spur it on.

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#15

Post by krapp »

Narkov wrote: post #12

Surely it's inevitable that everything will be surveiled. The quicker we realise this and "encrypt all the things" the better. What's the point in fighting legislation when you can solve the problem with technology? If the technology doesn't exist now then this stupid legislation should spur it on.

I think that unless the 'problem' that encryption is meant to solve is the existence of governments themselves, then it doesn't make sense to write off engagement with the political process altogether.. "encrypt all the things" only works if you somehow have the power and influence to make all the companies do all the work to encrypt all the things (against their own gain in some cases.) Without some kind of political pressure, or even better the force of law, or at the very least a bully pulpit to convince people that it's a good idea, I wonder if it's necessarily tenable. You can always do both anyway.

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#16

Post by gilgoomesh »

andrewstuart wrote: post #7

Prime Minister Abbott needs to whip up hysteria and panic to try to distract people from his government's incredibly poor performance and disastrous budget. A nice solid war along with deep fear mongering should regain control of the media message. I simply don't believe we are under threat of attack from knife wielding beheading terrorists. The poor kid who died the other day was probably just mentally ill but its t…

> no longer getting a fibre to the home national broadband network because that was too expensive

According to various leaked reports:

http://www.themercury.com.au/nbn-co-tears-faster-cheaper-ftt...

the all-fibre option might actually be cheaper than the proposed Multi-Technology-Mix that the government are building but they're simply too dogmatic to listen to their own internal reporting.

Insert your preferred conspiracy here. There are literally dozens of corruption theories that are plausible.

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#17

Post by girvo »

andrewstuart wrote: post #7

Prime Minister Abbott needs to whip up hysteria and panic to try to distract people from his government's incredibly poor performance and disastrous budget. A nice solid war along with deep fear mongering should regain control of the media message. I simply don't believe we are under threat of attack from knife wielding beheading terrorists. The poor kid who died the other day was probably just mentally ill but its t…

The funniest part is seeing the headlines: "TERRORIST SHOOTING"

No, the "terrorist" was shot, he didn't shoot anyone.

I'm more and more disgusted with my country lately.

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#18

Post by prawn »

jsmeaton wrote: post #14

So Bill Shorten (the leader of the opposition) is my member of parliament. I've written him to ask that he helps to slow the process down and read the recommendations of the joint committee. Not sure what more I can do here :/

Here is all you need to know about government and opposition in "times like these" - a satirical piece from The Shovel:

Labor Party To Close Down Until After Iraq War: http://www.theshovel.com.au/2014/09/23/labor-party-to-close-...

On hearing the news, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said, “Until this war concludes, we’ll just have two parties saying the same thing, so it makes sense to put one away for now”.

Labor leader Bill Shorten later released a statement saying “Until this war concludes, we’ll just have two parties saying the same thing, so it makes sense to put one away for now”.

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#19

Post by TerraHertz »

zmmmmm wrote: post #11

I am not normally one to put on a tin foil hat, but all the events of the last week seem so orchestrated that it is hard not to be cynical. Security agencies facing the sunsetting of powers granted after 9/11 "suddenly" discover all these threats the very same week that laws are due to be voted on. There seems to be almost no evidence against individuals raided, only one arrest and that on the basis of some intercept…

"all the events of the last week seem so orchestrated that it is hard not to be cynical"

Uh... make that the last 51 years. If you only just noticed, you're not paying attention. And I only say 51 years from picking an arbitrary point (JFK assassination) for when the deep state's evil ways became really obvious.

"If the people were to ever find out what we have done, we would be chased down the streets and lynched." -- George Bush, cited in the June, 1992 Sarah McClendon Newsletter

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Director of Central Intelligence. An observation by the late Director at his first staff meeting in 1981. This observation reveals the mentality of cynicism which infests the US Federal control structures, and the reality that these structures regard the American people with total contempt.

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#20

Post by retrogradeorbit »

"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 Göring

That'll be next. Any one who stands in opposition to these bills will be "exposing the country to danger".

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