Vent IT: Big Brother Kev has his eye on you
- 17 April, 2008 15:22
- Comments 15
Computerworld Vent IT is your opportunity to unleash carefully proposed thoughts or wild raving rants. At the end of each week we invite you to comment on a story that piqued our interest. Let it all out and tell us what floats your boat or gets your blood boiling.
So to this week's inaugural topic...
A wise man once said those who give up liberty to purchase temporary safety deserve neither. So what price will Australians pay if proposed amendments are passed to allow law enforcement agencies to install wiretaps in public telephones, Internet cafes, and mobile phones without a warrant?
Access the story here
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;81561031
Privacy groups were again outraged and the public confused, following a separate announcement by the Attorney General this week that your boss will somehow join the fight against terror by reading your e-mail office jokes. What seemed like a belated April Fools prank, turned out to be a set of sweeping "quasi-police" reforms to make the law's favourite gadget, the wiretap, more accessible. With the 15th season of Big Brother about to restart - is this life imitating art?
Access the story here
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1138979225
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Comments
Howard Dahdah
Big Brother Kev
It is worrying that Kevin Rudd is just as radical as John Howard in his treatment of the good citizens of our country. I thought the change in governments would also signal a change in the conservative thinking that has shaped our nation for the past 11 years. Shame on Kev
pasc
Lost the plot already?
I can deal with the fact that the attorney general wants police to have access to email, im and mobile phones. But why the lack of warrants? That's just asking for things to go wrong.
And why involve employers?
Fuzzy
A world gone mad
Are things really so dire that employers need to screen us all for possible terrorist threats?
Has the world gone mad?
And Big Kev was doing so well... he's no longer my favourite nerd =-/
Anonymous
Super-boss?
What scares me the most isn't that they want to read our email, it's that they think terrorists IM their plans to their fellow terrorists from their work computer, and that employers are somehow going to catch them. They're probably using facebook anyway.
Rodney Gedda
Government "openness"
So much for a government that was spruiking itself to be more transparent with the people.
Anonymous
Terror?
For some reason there seems to be this determination that there is going to be an imminent terror attack.
Civil liberties are being curbed too much already with out the need to screen emails. What's next? Censorship of international news for fear of giving people ideas?
Anonymous
What if.....
So lets say the law gets passed, what will happen to employers who are found not to have screened their potentially 'terrorist' employees activites online?
Are they then liable for not safe guarding the country?
Darren Pauli - Computerworld journalist
Storm in a teacup
Police still need a warrant to wiretap. As far as I'm aware we're not yet a police state. What they need is <em>additional</em> warrants if they all of a sudden need to tap a mobile phone or a pay phone in addition to whatever they got the warrant for. Why be worried that the cops may record your voice if they are tracking someone else? Unless you're a bloody thug you've got no reason to worry. Its making it easier for our law, the <em>good guys</em>, to track <em>criminals</em>.
Andrew Hendry
What if the boss is a terrorist???
Even if I was inclined to engage in terrorist related activities I certainly wouldnt be silly enough to send something related to that over a work email client. IT, developers, sys admins and the rest can all see your emails anyway, so unless your disseminating copies of the terrorist's handbook or sharing photos of potential terrorist targets with colleagues then there isnt much to worry about for the average joe, because no email is private no matter where you are.
My only concern is, as is natural, will those laws enable them to prosecute me for other illegal activities. If they catch people looking at child porn because of these laws, great, that is a fantastic added benefit. But what if I'm a hardcore movie and music pirate, or a tax cheat, or a whistleblower, and they use those powers under the guise of preventing terrorism to prosecute me, that is a worry.
........As does our bosses being able to discover just how much time workers waste sending each other stupid emails of sporting accidents, animal attacks and other weird and whacky crapola...and what if my boss is a terrorist?!?!?
andreww
No to interception
I'm a bit worried about employers intercepting emails. What will happen if my employer sees that i'm receiving job alerts from careerone. I may get into a bit of trouble.
Anyone else in this situation?
pasc
As far as they're concerned, everyone is a thug
Are you really saying you've never broken the law? Never broken the speed limit? Never drank until you turned 18? Never stayed a little too long in a no parking zone while you jay-walked back across the street?
This is why we should be worried. There are so many laws out there, and anyone can be turned into a criminal if the state decides to prosecute. That's why we shouldn't trust them.
Howard Dahdah
No to interception
No, i prefer Seek
Mitch T.
learn from america's mistakes
2 million americans are in prison, mostly for drugs (a nice form of escape if your country treats you like garbage)
the government doesn't trust the people
the people don't trust the government
all that happens with this sort of legislation is a return to the McCarthy era of "reds under the bed"
only now it's Al Qaeda under the bed
Anonymous
Howard would not have got away with it
What has Employers snooping on emails got to do with terrorism? It is one thing for the police to obtain warrants. It is quite another to allow indescriminate privacy violations by Private people and certainly without a warrant.
Howard would not have got away with this. But the Librals will support any measure that increases the power of the powerful. The irony of a Labor government.
Anonymous
No Privacy
I have news for all you people, Australia has NO PRIVACY LAWS, for years PMs tried to get Privacy Laws passed in Aus, but no one was interested also public lack of interest has allowed this sort of stuff to happen.
Queensland Health have been "illegally" releasing peoples med/ Psych files to its Lawyers for 9 yrs I have this in a letter.
That its been releasing People's files from its Hospitals without telling the people.It was on Ch7 Brisbane on 6pm news...and no one care a stuff!
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