In a move that certainly brings George Orwell’s 1984 to the Australian shores, a new big brother tactic has passed parliament and although it’s remained quiet under the media; we aim to make it known.
These new cyber-data laws mean authorities can order telecommunication companies and internet service providers to track the internet history of web users suspected of cyber-crime. This – as you would probably expect – begins at piracy, file sharing and your activity as an individual on the net. So what does this cyber law mean for Australians?
The new legislation states that the law will permit companies providing internet services to store a record for up to two years with national security laws clarifying that not only would no notice or warrant be required, but that all of your internet activity would be accessible for a total of two years on an offshore server, marking you as “a person of interest”
Is this a significant change? Yes. Under the preceding laws, Australian state and federal police would have had to gather enough evidence on a suspected cyber-criminal in order to secure a warrant to even begin the process of REQUESTING the Telco to hand over the data.
This new legislation is quite under the radar and so there is very little that can be verified, however, in this current climate, it is very clear that privacy on the internet is fading further daily. We will keep you posted as soon as we get more details.
