SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Boing Boing reports
The exceptionally broad new surveillance bill lets the government do nearly unlimited warrantless mass surveillance, even of lawyer-client privileged communications, and bans warrant canaries, making it an offense to "disclose information about the existence or non-existence" of a warrant to spy on journalists.
Despite that move away from retaining communications metadata by the EU and continuing concerns in the US about the National Security Agency's bulk phone metadata spying program, the Australian government was able to push through the amendments implementing data retention thanks to the support of the main opposition party. Labor agreed to vote in favor of the Bill once a requirement to use special "journalist information warrants" was introduced for access to journalists' metadata, with a view to shielding their sources. No warrant is required for obtaining the metadata of other classes of users, not even privileged communications between lawyers and their clients. Even for journalists, the extra protection is weak, and the definition of what constitutes a journalist is rather narrow--bloggers and occasional writers are probably not covered.
Warrant canaries can't be used in this context either. Section 182A of the new law says that a person commits an offense if he or she discloses or uses information about "the existence or non-existence of such a [journalist information] warrant." The penalty upon conviction is two years imprisonment.
During the relatively quick passage of the amendments, the Australian government made the usual argument that metadata needs to be retained for long periods in order to fight terrorism and serious crime--even though the German experience is that, in practice, data retention does not help. Toward the end of the debate, when concerns about journalist sources were raised, one senior member of the Australian government adopted a more unusual approach to calming people's fears.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Monday April 06 2015, @10:51PM
I dream of a place where a spy agency would knock at the door of a business with a warrant signed by a judge, and request the cooperation of the good citizens who work there in apprehending the specific named alleged criminal for the greater good of society.
Silly, ain't it?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 06 2015, @11:03PM
I hope you realize cops can get blank warrants presigned by a judge.
(Score: 5, Informative) by frojack on Monday April 06 2015, @11:20PM
The AC says:
I hope you realize cops can get blank warrants presigned by a judge.
Maybe in Australia, but in the US, either a State or Federal Judge commits a crime by signing a blank warrant.
Some have been hounded from office for doing so.
There are John Doe warrants issued (rarely), but even these must state enough information to prevent picking up
any random citizen. Description, crime, locations, times etc.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PinkyGigglebrain on Tuesday April 07 2015, @09:01AM
Have any been removed from office, prosecuted and been put in jail?
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by sudo rm -rf on Tuesday April 07 2015, @09:08AM
Don't know how it works in the US, but isn't "exigent circumstance [wikipedia.org]" abused like in the rest of the world?
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday April 08 2015, @02:10AM
A judge isn't involved in exigent circumstance cases in the US.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 5, Informative) by VortexCortex on Tuesday April 07 2015, @10:44AM
Oh yeah, well, I've "repaired" some government PCs and seen the blank warrants ready for cops to print out as many as they want, pre-signed, some even with boilerplate arrest language like, "When I approached the vehicle I smelled the presence of alcohol", just to be sure the cop doesn't forget to invent a probable cause. Also seen a fair share of school district miss appropriation of funds, etc. It's all in my insurance file.
Seeing things like that gets the FBI and DHS breathing down your neck, harassing you; It does not get Judges, Officials, Officers, District Attorneys or School Boards fired. The media doesn't even want to know about the corruption unless it's OK'd by the state first (for use as political propaganda).
I don't know what country you think you live in, but the USA is fucked.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday April 08 2015, @02:15AM
Wait, you are equating a document template with a blank warrant pre-signed by a judge? Are you daft?
You can download blank search warrants from the web. Getting a Judge to sign it while its still blank is a totally different thing.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2015, @07:34AM
"pre-signed"
(Score: 2, Funny) by anubi on Tuesday April 07 2015, @04:15AM
What I fear is the day this will be done via telepresence robot.
The smiling face of an empowered elite will be on the screen, pleasantly stating its demands. Failure to comply will result in the robotic combat unit parked outside coming online. The transmission likely originating from somewhere like Singapore/Malaysia/Kuala Lumpur which is heavily internet-connected as well as safely away from the infuriated people which just might overpower their robot and jam the enforcement devices they are using to impose their will on others from afar.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday April 07 2015, @06:34AM
You do realize that there are vast regions on this planet where there is no access to internet connections and even hi-resolution satellite cannot track one individual.
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Tuesday April 07 2015, @07:29PM
Yet.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1) by Ox0000 on Tuesday April 07 2015, @01:37PM
How hard would it be to build an EMP device powerful enough to disable these warrior bots?
(Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday April 08 2015, @12:48AM
How hard would it be to destroy a bot? Damned easy. Probably simply punching it with your hand would probably disable *it*.
But, in doing so, you have just given the powers that can your life miserable a reason to do just that.
Debt charges for damaging a corporate telepresence robot simply accrue to your account.
I have seen those telepresence robots and I find them extremely degrading to have to deal with someone via one of them. It simply looks to me like yet another way the elite can reinforce the claim that they are superior to me and I have to obey them. As far as I have seen, one's ability to coerce others to do his will is considered the most useful skill of business and goes by the name "leadership skill". It was my experience that in the corporate world, "leadership" skills were a helluva lot more valuable than engineering skills. One can always hire more engineers if the ones you have do not take kindly to a manager's "leadership style".
I can right now see telepresence robots used for delivering layoff notices to people, as it would provide video and audio proof that papers have been served. I can see these telepresence bots doing all sorts of "notification services" such as rent and debt collection, evictions, and other services for the elite where it would be very risky to send a human.
Look at the federal funds interest rate charts. They are all over the net. It looks pretty scary to me that if the bankers pull another fast one like they did a few years ago, there is no longer a cushion to "drop rates" in order to re-liquidate the market. Landlords up the their gills in debt will have to collect from people who have nothing to give, then evict them so as to give a clear message to the other tenants not to skip rent. Throwing a unfortunate family out on the street may not sit well with a lot of people, and physical retaliation may ensue, just as physical retaliation is sure to ensue if resistance is offered to an enforcement officer.
There are a large number of elite who do not work. All they do is keep ledgers of who owes them what, collecting usury on that which they can coin out of thin air - such as debt instruments. This elite will do whatever is necessary to work with lawmakers so their claims to that which they did not lift a finger to earn will be respected by law coined in behalf of the elite.
We are falling for it, and selling ourselves into slavery... except we have another word for it. it's called "debt".
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2015, @10:23AM
In my country the police should be feared more than the terrorists (they kill and "kidnap" more). And many of the seeds of terrorism were sown by the religious teachers and organizations that the Gov has approved.