Comments on: Australian Attorney General says that public scrutiny of spying bill would not be in the public interest

By: Feenicks

Feenicks — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 03:05:00 +0000

A whole lot of related info on the govt’s plans and responses to it are available here if anyone wants any further reading. http://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/National_Security_Inquiry

The transcripts of the hearings are mighty facepalm worthy as we hear luddite senators try, and largely fail, to come to grips with internet communications technology.

There is, as far as i know, precedence for sharing draft legislation, so in my opinion the reasons given for deny the FOI are pretty bunk.

By: Daemonworks

Daemonworks — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:53:00 +0000

We really need to outlaw those things. They have no place in society.

By: digi_owl

digi_owl — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:22:00 +0000

With no outward threat to worry about, nations seems to invariable turn on themselves.

By: curgoth

curgoth — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:09:00 +0000

No, it’ll probably just show up as an appendix in some upcoming omnibus bill.

By: RedMonkey

RedMonkey — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:25:00 +0000

The proposed internet snooping law in Canada – Bill C-30 appears dead - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/john-ibbitson-the-quiet-death-of-the-internet-surveillance-bill/article4602164/ - it still might not be dead, but it’s resurrection in its current form appears unlikely.

By: ocker3

ocker3 — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:16:00 +0000

I’m not so much concerned about what the current Labor Gov would do with this database, I’m more concerned what would happen if/when the current opposition got into power, I think there’s a serious chance they’d happily allow the music/movie industry to mine that data and start slamming filesharers.

By: czak ivanovic

czak ivanovic — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:03:00 +0000

http://pirateparty.org.au/media/documents/FOI-Request-Mr-Rodney-Serkowski-Re-Draft-Legislation-Decision-Letter.pdf

The whole letter.

It’s fairly common for drafts of bills, internal working documents, and research, not to be shown until they are presented to parliament for first reading. It’s not really a great practice, but it is common.

Stopping or slowing down the collection of information is a great short term goal. But if you want to see real change, amend the freedom of information act to allow better oversight.

By: Michael D

Michael D — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:01:00 +0000

We seem to be moving into a new form of feudalism in “democratic” countries where the governments have forgotten that the people own them, not the other way around. I do not predict that this will come to a good ending for one side or the other.