THIS IS A FOLLOW-UP TO OUR STORY: AUSTRALIA INTRODUCES NEW LEGISLATION FORCING ISP’S TO STORE WEB HISTORY FOR 2 YEARS.
Despite the criticism that has arisen since our last post, Nicola Roxon, the Attorney-General of Australia, is still backing plans for ISPs to store user data for up to two years.
The Australian Government’s proposals for a major revamp of Australia’s national security regime include the long-term custody of information about SMS, voice calls, web searches and internet downloads.
“Many investigations require law enforcement to build a picture of criminal activity over a period of time. Without data retention, this capability will be lost,” Nixon says. “The intention behind the proposed reform is to allow law enforcement agencies to continue investigating crime in light of new technologies,” “The loss of this capability would be a major blow to our law enforcement agencies and to Australia’s national security,”
This is the same woman that backed the 2009 legislation to tax alcoholic drinks that’d be attractive to younger generations. That plot made no statistical change, with surveys suggesting that it caused under-age drinkers to move to the harder liquor in order to gain more bang for their buck.
The terms of reference and accompanying discussion paper (PDF here) for the inquiry featured stronger powers for the Australian Security Intelligence Agency (ASIO) and a “one step forward, two steps backwards” pitch concerning fewer government organizations directly accessing private information but more being able to share.
Roxon reportedly recognized the financial costs of such a scheme, but the cost of privacy is surely the major concern for many tech-communication users.
The proposals also featured obligatory preservation by telecommunication providers – and seemingly internet hosts and social network services such as Facebook – of data for a period of 24 months.
Australian Liberal MP Steve Ciobo was quoted saying “I think that this proposal is akin to tactics that we would have seen utilized by the Gestapo” .
