Difference between revisions of "Australia/Universal surveillance"

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'''Universal surveillance of Australians''' is one of the most advanced in the world, after aggressive rolling back of [[civil liberties]]. The trend has has gone in overdrive after the start of the [[COVID-19]] deep event in March 2020.
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'''Universal surveillance of Australians''' is one of the most advanced in the world, after aggressive rolling back of [[civil liberties]] with a number of remarkably wide-reaching laws. The trend has has gone in overdrive after the start of the [[COVID-19]] deep event in March 2020.
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
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==Laws==
 
==Laws==
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===Assistance and Access Act===
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In the late [[2010s]], the [[Australian]] [[government]] introduced the ''Assistance and Access Act, also known as TOLA''<ref>https://www.inslm.gov.au/submissions/tola</ref>', granting law enforcement legal powers to intercept and monitor encrypted communications, being called only second to the [[UK]]’s equally infamous [[2016 Investigatory Powers Act]], TOLA was still under review in [[2020]] and even expanded with the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020, ignoring comments from the Australia’s Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM) and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security<ref>https://theconversation.com/why-we-need-to-fix-encryption-laws-the-tech-sector-says-threaten-australian-jobs-110435</ref>.
 +
 +
===2012 Defence Trade Controls Act===
 
Under the 2012 [[Defence Trade Controls Act]] law, “supplies of technology” come under a [[censorship]] regime involving criminal penalties of up to ten years imprisonment. One commentator has suggested that it has potential to "[catch] open source privacy software, information security research and education, and the entire computer security industry in its snare."<ref>http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/12/in-australia-even-learning-about-encryption-will-be-illegal-soon/</ref>
 
Under the 2012 [[Defence Trade Controls Act]] law, “supplies of technology” come under a [[censorship]] regime involving criminal penalties of up to ten years imprisonment. One commentator has suggested that it has potential to "[catch] open source privacy software, information security research and education, and the entire computer security industry in its snare."<ref>http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/12/in-australia-even-learning-about-encryption-will-be-illegal-soon/</ref>
  
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===2015 bill===
+
===2015 Nearly unlimited warrantless mass surveillance===
 
After a 2015 bill claimed that the government had rights to carry out very broad warrantless [[mass surveillance]] of electronic media, including banning [[warrant canaries]]. The powers claimed were so broad that they have been called "nearly unlimited",<ref>http://boingboing.net/2015/03/26/australia-outlaws-warrant-cana.html</ref> but efforts continue to expand their scope and use more resources to track and monitor citizens.
 
After a 2015 bill claimed that the government had rights to carry out very broad warrantless [[mass surveillance]] of electronic media, including banning [[warrant canaries]]. The powers claimed were so broad that they have been called "nearly unlimited",<ref>http://boingboing.net/2015/03/26/australia-outlaws-warrant-cana.html</ref> but efforts continue to expand their scope and use more resources to track and monitor citizens.
  
 
===2021 Identify and Disrupt Bill===
 
===2021 Identify and Disrupt Bill===
 
In August [[2021]], Parliament passed the <i>Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020</i><ref>https://melbactivistlegal.org.au/2021/08/26/identify-and-disrupt-bill/ This link gives a longer explanation of the law</ref>, giving the [[Australian Federal Police]] (AFP), the [[Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission]] (ACIC) — and by extension, the [[Australian Signals Directorate]] the power to spy domestically.<ref>Dark web crime: how Australia’s powerful new warrants would work, the Guardian, 3 December 2020.</ref> The bill creates three new warrants, with the purported purpose of targeting “serious and organised crime” that utilise “anonymising technologies” online. The announcement of these warrants follows a $90 million injection of funding in the government’s already-existing and extensive surveillance and intelligence gathering capabilities.<ref>https://www.itnews.com.au/news/australian-govt-makes-play-for-sweeping-online-account-takeover-powers-558546</ref> The new powers will be particularly useful in the disruption of resistance to forced [[COVID-19/vaccine|COVID-19 vaccine injections]], [[lockdowns]] and related measures.   
 
In August [[2021]], Parliament passed the <i>Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020</i><ref>https://melbactivistlegal.org.au/2021/08/26/identify-and-disrupt-bill/ This link gives a longer explanation of the law</ref>, giving the [[Australian Federal Police]] (AFP), the [[Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission]] (ACIC) — and by extension, the [[Australian Signals Directorate]] the power to spy domestically.<ref>Dark web crime: how Australia’s powerful new warrants would work, the Guardian, 3 December 2020.</ref> The bill creates three new warrants, with the purported purpose of targeting “serious and organised crime” that utilise “anonymising technologies” online. The announcement of these warrants follows a $90 million injection of funding in the government’s already-existing and extensive surveillance and intelligence gathering capabilities.<ref>https://www.itnews.com.au/news/australian-govt-makes-play-for-sweeping-online-account-takeover-powers-558546</ref> The new powers will be particularly useful in the disruption of resistance to forced [[COVID-19/vaccine|COVID-19 vaccine injections]], [[lockdowns]] and related measures.   
 +
 +
The Identify and Disrupt Bill included the legal power to "create and modify data on personal devices" and '''takeover practically any account that connected to the internet from that device or network''' for the investigation of any crime that carries a 3 year sentence, even creating loopholes for [[judges]] to authorize network activity warrants for other jurisdictions if the location of the device is unknown or cannot be reasonably determined, even if the device may be located in a foreign [[country]], with all companies and individuals also forced to comply with, risking a 10 year jail sentence if not doing so, specifically also lowering the minimum age for compulsory questioning on [[terrorism]]-related matters to 14 years, with Minister of Home Affairs [[Peter Dutton]] calling MPs in parliament opposing the bills "Enemy of the State".<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2020/dec/10/australian-politics-live-coalition-scott-morrison-industrial-relations-christian-porter-covid-19-politics-business-economy?page=with:block-5fd16c108f08afb1724b7615#block-5fd16c108f08afb1724b7615</ref>
  
 
The Bill provides three new warrants:
 
The Bill provides three new warrants:
  
−
*Data Disruption Warrants, which allow the AFP and the ACIC (or another person on the law enforcement officer’s behalf) the ability to “add, copy, delete or alter” files on a [[computer]] or device, so as to “frustrate the commission of crime”<ref>https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/ems/r6623_ems_e2ab793d-9b5f-47db-aa3e-0498cb581918/upload_pdf/JC003346_Revised%20Explanatory%20Memorandum.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf</ref> where a law enforcement officer “reasonably suspects” that one or more “relevant offences” are “being, are about to be, or are likely to be” committed.<ref>https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6623</ref>
+
*Data Disruption Warrants, which allow the AFP and the ACIC (or another person on the law enforcement officer’s behalf) <b>the ability to “add, copy, delete or alter” files on a [[computer]] or device</b>, so as to “frustrate the commission of crime”<ref>https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/ems/r6623_ems_e2ab793d-9b5f-47db-aa3e-0498cb581918/upload_pdf/JC003346_Revised%20Explanatory%20Memorandum.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf</ref> where a law enforcement officer “reasonably suspects” that one or more “relevant offences” are “being, are about to be, or are likely to be” committed.<ref>https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6623</ref>
 
*Network Activity Warrants, which “allow agencies to collect intelligence on serious criminal activity being conducted by criminal networks” by intercepting communications and using surveillance devices on computer networks. The AFP and the ACIC are permitted to do “any thing reasonably necessary to conceal” their access and modification to computers, allowing the warrant to be conducted secretly. This is available where there is a “reasonable suspicion” that monitoring the network activity of a “criminal network of individuals” is “relevant to the prevention, detection or frustration of one or more kinds of ‘relevant offences.’”
 
*Network Activity Warrants, which “allow agencies to collect intelligence on serious criminal activity being conducted by criminal networks” by intercepting communications and using surveillance devices on computer networks. The AFP and the ACIC are permitted to do “any thing reasonably necessary to conceal” their access and modification to computers, allowing the warrant to be conducted secretly. This is available where there is a “reasonable suspicion” that monitoring the network activity of a “criminal network of individuals” is “relevant to the prevention, detection or frustration of one or more kinds of ‘relevant offences.’”
 
*Account Takeover Warrants, which provide agencies with the ability to take control of a person’s online account “through the modification of data” for the purposes of “gathering evidence to further a criminal investigation.” This is available where there is a “reasonable suspicion” that one or more “relevant offences” are “being, are about to be, or are likely to be” committed; an investigation is either imminent or in progress, and taking control of the “target accounts” is “necessary for enabling evidence to be obtained.”
 
*Account Takeover Warrants, which provide agencies with the ability to take control of a person’s online account “through the modification of data” for the purposes of “gathering evidence to further a criminal investigation.” This is available where there is a “reasonable suspicion” that one or more “relevant offences” are “being, are about to be, or are likely to be” committed; an investigation is either imminent or in progress, and taking control of the “target accounts” is “necessary for enabling evidence to be obtained.”
 +
 +
Interestingly the advisory boards called for an independent board of publicly chosen individuals as the act made defending the warrants not necessary (even after scandals of untrained personnel within the divisions responsible), nor any requirement to inform an individual afterwards. The bill and process of introducing gathered a large wave of critics<ref>https://tutanota.com/blog/posts/australia-surveillance-bill/</ref> from judges, activists, and companies like Mozilla (a small player with ~5% in worldwide market share) who owns [[internet]] browser [[Firefox]]<ref>https://digitalrightswatch.org.au/2021/09/02/australias-new-mass-surveillance-mandate/</ref>, with the bill seemingly not affecting [[cybercrime]], still costing Australia $3,5 billion in 2020.<ref>https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/audio/cyber-crime-costs-australian-economy-3-5-billion-per-year</ref>
 +
 +
===Citizenship revoked based on secret information===
 +
In August [[2021]], proposed legislation allow a [[visa]] to be cancelled or a person's [[citizenship]] revoked on the basis of confidential information provided by government agencies. The information provided by gazetted agencies - such as foreign law enforcement bodies and other Australian agencies - can be used without the person knowing the information is being used or having a chance to respond to the information itself<ref>https://www.sbs.com.au/news/legal-experts-have-criticised-the-government-s-proposed-amendments-to-visa-and-citizenship-laws/0287a0ce-229d-44f6-b3bb-4e86bcc46d5f</ref>. The ''Identify and Disrupt Bill'' allows intelligence agencies to put false information on to a persons devices, which could then be stamped as "confidential" and used to revoke a citizenship.
  
 
==CCTV==
 
==CCTV==

Revision as of 10:54, 29 October 2021

Concept.png Australia/Universal surveillance 
(Universal surveillance)Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
Interest ofAnnika Smethurst

Universal surveillance of Australians is one of the most advanced in the world, after aggressive rolling back of civil liberties with a number of remarkably wide-reaching laws. The trend has has gone in overdrive after the start of the COVID-19 deep event in March 2020.

History

Pine Gap

In the 1970s, Prime Minister of Australia] Gough Whitlam attempted to close Pine Gap, a CIA run universal surveillance in Australia. He was removed from power in US Deep state-run bloodless coup in 1975.[1]

Laws

Assistance and Access Act

In the late 2010s, the Australian government introduced the Assistance and Access Act, also known as TOLA[2]', granting law enforcement legal powers to intercept and monitor encrypted communications, being called only second to the UK’s equally infamous 2016 Investigatory Powers Act, TOLA was still under review in 2020 and even expanded with the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020, ignoring comments from the Australia’s Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM) and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security[3].

2012 Defence Trade Controls Act

Under the 2012 Defence Trade Controls Act law, “supplies of technology” come under a censorship regime involving criminal penalties of up to ten years imprisonment. One commentator has suggested that it has potential to "[catch] open source privacy software, information security research and education, and the entire computer security industry in its snare."[4]

2015 Nearly unlimited warrantless mass surveillance

After a 2015 bill claimed that the government had rights to carry out very broad warrantless mass surveillance of electronic media, including banning warrant canaries. The powers claimed were so broad that they have been called "nearly unlimited",[5] but efforts continue to expand their scope and use more resources to track and monitor citizens.

2021 Identify and Disrupt Bill

In August 2021, Parliament passed the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020[6], giving the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) — and by extension, the Australian Signals Directorate the power to spy domestically.[7] The bill creates three new warrants, with the purported purpose of targeting “serious and organised crime” that utilise “anonymising technologies” online. The announcement of these warrants follows a $90 million injection of funding in the government’s already-existing and extensive surveillance and intelligence gathering capabilities.[8] The new powers will be particularly useful in the disruption of resistance to forced COVID-19 vaccine injections, lockdowns and related measures.

The Identify and Disrupt Bill included the legal power to "create and modify data on personal devices" and takeover practically any account that connected to the internet from that device or network for the investigation of any crime that carries a 3 year sentence, even creating loopholes for judges to authorize network activity warrants for other jurisdictions if the location of the device is unknown or cannot be reasonably determined, even if the device may be located in a foreign country, with all companies and individuals also forced to comply with, risking a 10 year jail sentence if not doing so, specifically also lowering the minimum age for compulsory questioning on terrorism-related matters to 14 years, with Minister of Home Affairs Peter Dutton calling MPs in parliament opposing the bills "Enemy of the State".[9]

The Bill provides three new warrants:

  • Data Disruption Warrants, which allow the AFP and the ACIC (or another person on the law enforcement officer’s behalf) the ability to “add, copy, delete or alter” files on a computer or device, so as to “frustrate the commission of crime”[10] where a law enforcement officer “reasonably suspects” that one or more “relevant offences” are “being, are about to be, or are likely to be” committed.[11]
  • Network Activity Warrants, which “allow agencies to collect intelligence on serious criminal activity being conducted by criminal networks” by intercepting communications and using surveillance devices on computer networks. The AFP and the ACIC are permitted to do “any thing reasonably necessary to conceal” their access and modification to computers, allowing the warrant to be conducted secretly. This is available where there is a “reasonable suspicion” that monitoring the network activity of a “criminal network of individuals” is “relevant to the prevention, detection or frustration of one or more kinds of ‘relevant offences.’”
  • Account Takeover Warrants, which provide agencies with the ability to take control of a person’s online account “through the modification of data” for the purposes of “gathering evidence to further a criminal investigation.” This is available where there is a “reasonable suspicion” that one or more “relevant offences” are “being, are about to be, or are likely to be” committed; an investigation is either imminent or in progress, and taking control of the “target accounts” is “necessary for enabling evidence to be obtained.”

Interestingly the advisory boards called for an independent board of publicly chosen individuals as the act made defending the warrants not necessary (even after scandals of untrained personnel within the divisions responsible), nor any requirement to inform an individual afterwards. The bill and process of introducing gathered a large wave of critics[12] from judges, activists, and companies like Mozilla (a small player with ~5% in worldwide market share) who owns internet browser Firefox[13], with the bill seemingly not affecting cybercrime, still costing Australia $3,5 billion in 2020.[14]

Citizenship revoked based on secret information

In August 2021, proposed legislation allow a visa to be cancelled or a person's citizenship revoked on the basis of confidential information provided by government agencies. The information provided by gazetted agencies - such as foreign law enforcement bodies and other Australian agencies - can be used without the person knowing the information is being used or having a chance to respond to the information itself[15]. The Identify and Disrupt Bill allows intelligence agencies to put false information on to a persons devices, which could then be stamped as "confidential" and used to revoke a citizenship.

CCTV

Full article: Rated 5/5 CCTV

As of 2017, Australia was continuing to expand mass surveillance, spending $18.5M on iOmniscient, a system which "works by analysing images recorded by existing CCTV cameras.”[16]

Data retention

The Australian Department of Home Affairs said in December 2018 that it would take "considerable time and resources" for it to determine how many agencies across Australia's three tiers of government have accessed metadata held under the nation's data retention laws.[17]


 

Related Quotation

PageQuoteAuthorDate
H. V. Evatt“We must be aware of setting up a security organization which has political views, and which regards the left-wing man who goes too far to the left, as being a criminal. We must prevent any attempt to set up an espionage system for spying on our own people. The security service was never intended to be a secret police organization. Now it wants to run the police of Canberra and everything else, and it is only kept from doing so by public opinion.”H. V. Evatt19 October 1955
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References

  1. ↑ http://one-just-world.blogspot.com/2016_02_01_archive.html
  2. ↑ https://www.inslm.gov.au/submissions/tola
  3. ↑ https://theconversation.com/why-we-need-to-fix-encryption-laws-the-tech-sector-says-threaten-australian-jobs-110435
  4. ↑ http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/12/in-australia-even-learning-about-encryption-will-be-illegal-soon/
  5. ↑ http://boingboing.net/2015/03/26/australia-outlaws-warrant-cana.html
  6. ↑ https://melbactivistlegal.org.au/2021/08/26/identify-and-disrupt-bill/ This link gives a longer explanation of the law
  7. ↑ Dark web crime: how Australia’s powerful new warrants would work, the Guardian, 3 December 2020.
  8. ↑ https://www.itnews.com.au/news/australian-govt-makes-play-for-sweeping-online-account-takeover-powers-558546
  9. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2020/dec/10/australian-politics-live-coalition-scott-morrison-industrial-relations-christian-porter-covid-19-politics-business-economy?page=with:block-5fd16c108f08afb1724b7615#block-5fd16c108f08afb1724b7615
  10. ↑ https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/ems/r6623_ems_e2ab793d-9b5f-47db-aa3e-0498cb581918/upload_pdf/JC003346_Revised%20Explanatory%20Memorandum.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf
  11. ↑ https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6623
  12. ↑ https://tutanota.com/blog/posts/australia-surveillance-bill/
  13. ↑ https://digitalrightswatch.org.au/2021/09/02/australias-new-mass-surveillance-mandate/
  14. ↑ https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/audio/cyber-crime-costs-australian-economy-3-5-billion-per-year
  15. ↑ https://www.sbs.com.au/news/legal-experts-have-criticised-the-government-s-proposed-amendments-to-visa-and-citizenship-laws/0287a0ce-229d-44f6-b3bb-4e86bcc46d5f
  16. ↑ http://anonhq.com/australian-govt-ramps-18-5m-citizen-surveillance-capability-iomniscient-technology/
  17. ↑ http://corpau.blogspot.com/2018/12/home-affairs-cannot-be-bothered-listing.html
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