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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: 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]