The Government is trying to push through sweeping changes to Australia's surveillance and intelligence laws which put our privacy at risk. Watch the video to find out more and/or sign the petition if you wish: http://www.getup.org.au/protect-us-but-respect-us--
Some of that is very scary stuff. Why on earth would ASIO need the power to "remotely control your computer legally modify, delete or even add files"? WTF?
Wr al gunna hav ta rvert ta pirat speek n e wayz boot thees prapozals iz reedickyouluss. Fack ta lejislashun, keel eet now. [Apologies to Maggie, Errol43 et al. for the bad accent. I'm not as good at it as you guys.]
I don't trust GetUp! since they put out a partition to support the Carbon Tax to make sure no one would block the Carbon Tax. I believe they are politically motivated to support and to attack certain laws and try and use people as pawns to do so. Just saying you should look carefully into GetUp! something is very fishy with them! I mean why don't they partition against ending the Reserve Bank of Australia or Repealing all the already Unconstitutional legislation?
I just thought they were lead by people who're your standard watermelon-wannabe's with improperly thought out, inconsistent moral philosophies. Hence, they actively lobby the Government to use it's monopoly on violence to shut down anything they don't approve of but at the same time want their freedoms (and especially the freedoms of anyone who happens to be part of a "repressed minority") to be maintained or increased.
And more to the point. How are we supposed to trust the government organisations with this data? [Note: Rhetorical question. I know 99% of us don't trust them, I just needed a segue to the URL.] Just the other day there was proof that ASIO has failed in the past: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/canada-spy-case-rocks-asio-20120724-22nob.html He only managed to do this for nearly FIVE years before they twigged.
As bad as it all sounds, I'm willing to bet they wouldn't even know what to do with all that data. They could mine it for information, but to achieve what exactly? They'll create so much work for themselves that they'd need to have 100,000 employees just to sort through a portion of it and take any kind of action. As far as I can tell, it stems from empire building within their ranks and even the attorney general's area. Conroy wants an NBN, which would no doubt contribute to his desire to also filter/block/manage all of Australia's internet access too. So this kind of BS is coming from several different angles. But all they'll do is create work for themselves and annoy people a lot. If they annoy people enough, then the "turn off the stupid filter/data retention" party will no doubt rise up and get rid of it all. I guess a lot of the population doesn't realise what it all means yet, but they'll find out. I used to be really concerned and upset by all of this, but technology, encryption, data volume and reduced Govt revenues/taxes are all working directly against this kind of stuff. They're fighting reality, and they'll have to give in eventually.
^^^ I think you're right. Protecting your fiefdom and empire building are natural outcomes for the public service since they have no objective measure on the value of what services they spit out (positive or negative). Without a small government mentality and/or a strict monetary system (i.e. gold standard) actively restricting the growth of the parasite within the economy it just keeps getting bigger and bigger until the host gets sick or dies. This is a natural and predictable outcome (and has been continuously predicted since the 1800's if not earlier).
Did you know that when you visit the AFP website they log the previous websites you have visited, the current tabs open, previous search terms and search terms you used to find the page?
I think they already have more than 100,000 employees/volunteers. About 15-20 or so years ago, there was an article in either the Age or SMH, stating that currently in Australia, 1 in 3 adults are actively spying for the government in various ways, from infiltrating various groups, universities to monitoring workers etc.
There's probably a fairly good chance that these things are already occurring on a massive scale. The news is that they are seeking to enshrine permission in legislation.
In my own opinion, the these people are fairly incompetent when it comes to this kind of stuff, and technology. They can barely manage themselves.
What is your opinion based on? Is it fact or just your personal distaste for the government. Just because you don't like them doesn't mean you should underestimate them.
Sorry. If I could find it, I would have posted it. Perhaps your sleuthing skills would be better than mine?
It's not based on something that i'd like to discuss further. It's not a matter of 'dislike'. The Govt is made up of ordinary people, with ordinary problems - not a set of evil genuises working in tandem. All you have to do is look at where Govt has failed in the past, when it really shouldn't have, and you have your answer. The Govt can have the power, legal basis, and the mandate - but that does not mean that it will have innovation, flexibility, ingenuity, or even control. In fact those are things that lacks more of, the larger it gets.
