Email spy plan about national security

Email spy plan about national security

www.abc.net.au

They would be allowed to check their staff's emails and internet communications without their consent.

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has told Channel Nine the proposed changes would step up national security of Australia's computer networks.

"We want to make sure that they are safe from terrorist attack," she said.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well the US has been doing this for a while rather unofficially but now, the Australia government has officially come out and told us they will be spying on us. How is this any help to our national security?

Lucky the 'terrorists' are not intelligent, or else this public spy campaign would never work. The terrorists are so inferior there is no way they could put this memo into circulation:

"No discussion of bombing plots during office hours. Thankyou have a nice day."

Come-on this is just another ploy to take away what little freedom and what little privacy we have left, just so the government can keep just that little bit more of an eye on us.

www.abc.net.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

Well it appears i am not the only one that has a problem with this:

Cyber snooping plan under attack

Civil libertarians say employers could become quasi spies under proposed laws giving companies the right to monitor workers' emails in a bid to protect Australia from cyber terrorism.

The federal opposition has also questioned the need for the law changes, saying employers should not be burdened with the job of watching over Australia's national security.

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Civil liberties groups are outraged over the proposed law changes, which the government hopes to have in place by the middle of next year, saying there is a heavy onus on the attorney-general to make out his argument that the powers are needed.

"Individual employers under this proposal become effectively an arm of the intelligence services and the police, and the consequences of that are just enormous," Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman said.

"It's extremely Orwellian," he said.

External Source

I am glad to see that some arms of the government are not going to ignore this issue and let it slide on through easily.

[edit on 14/4/2008 by SilentShadow]

Anyone sending sensitive material in a email is most likely going to use an encryption scheme such as PGP with an extremely long bit key. This type of spying is only going to affect normal citizens sending normal email that has nothing to do with any terrorist activity. I love how they spout this cowdung under the guise of national security and people actually believe it!

I will be sending future email encrypted, even a birthday greeting to my sister. There is no reason any government should be able to spy on its citizens without any reason at all.