PRIVACY ON THE NET. SHOULD WE WORRY?
Would you be happy to have your Internet history made available to law enforcers to track your activity?
It may sound rather harmless techno speak: “data retention”. But critics say it amounts to constant government surveillance of the civilian population and “Gestapo tactics“.
They see forcing Internet service providers to store our web history for the benefit of law enforcement as a serious infringement of our freedoms. This is the spectre of an insidious Big Brother electronically keeping tabs on every move we make, every email we send.
However, those at the sticky end of crime fighting – especially cyber crime fighting – say data retention for two years is an essential tool. Without it, telcos and internet service providers can delete our telecommunications at will.
The two sides are now pitted against each other as a Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security examines controversial proposals to change Australia’s national security legislation.
The Attorney General, Nicola Roxon seems to have shifted ground on the most controversial of the proposals. A few months ago she questioned why data retention was needed at all.
Attorney General, Nicola Roxon
”I am not yet convinced that the cost and the return – the cost both to industry and the [civil liberties] cost to individuals – that we’ve made the case for what it is that people use in a way that benefits our national security” she told Fairfax media.
That was then. This is now.
”Many investigations require law enforcement to build a picture of criminal activity over a period of time. Without data retention, this capability will be lost,” she said.
The Australian Federal Police High Tech Crime chief, Neil Gaughan would be chuffed. He’s long called for data retention laws in Australia, similar to those that exist in most European jurisdictions, Argentina and the United States.
What does the AFP see as the threat?
The internet is the new battleground in the fight against child exploitation, terrorism and cyber crime. Criminals are changing the way they plan their hacking attacks and encryption technology has given them the upper hand, Gaughan says.
“Encryption is extremely difficult for us. It’s very expensive, very clunky, very slow to decode encrypted internet protocols. What the Act is asking is for is that companies be required to provide law enforcement with decoded information so that we don’t have to go through that clunkiness.”
The AFP also wants the ability to install tracking software on a suspect’s computer and snoop in on social networking and Skype communications.
But, controversially, Gaughan argues data retention is essential to tracking criminal activity.
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4 Responses to this article
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Kerry Cleary September 6, 2012
The dreaded big brother not only looking over our shoulder, but keeping our websites, keystrokes etc. What about passwords etc to bank accounts, super accounts, stock exchange, medicare etc?
There is no fool-proof way to protect data except Don’t Keep It!
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Rowdy September 6, 2012
Encrypt everything then if you want privacy, use VPN and the TOR network. Make it so hard for them because we don’t need this intrusion in our lives and the costs will be huge to keep all that data on your providers servers which WILL be passed onto the consumer. If they want to catch the crims them they will have to get off their fat bums and actually do the work themselves, not rely on the ISPs to do it for them and leave us potentially exposed to hackers who would just LOVE to get their hands on that data and they will as has been clearly demonstrated by anonymous.
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sami September 6, 2012
Doesn’t bother me personally, to be honest. I haven’t got any secrets and if anyone wants to use my data to try and steal my money, the jokes on them- I haven’t got any
Anyway I can understand how this can be an issue for many people. I guess all you can do is protect your personal information. Don’t put stuff on the web, cos if someone really wants your info they’ll get it, data retention or not.
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Aeron Winters September 6, 2012
I hope this idea never sees the light of day. There is just way to much risk to our personal information if it is stored unencrytped on servers held by an ISP. Some ISPs are run from peoples garages, I mean how can that provide security for anyone’s personal data. I could care less about anyone knowing the websites I visit, but it’s the other stuff like my online banking and all the online purchases I make that could really mess up my life. We have had our credit card details stolen (once online, twice by someone using a scanning device while we were using the card in the shopping centre). It is such a hassle to have the card cancelled and replaced. Luckily, or our credit card provider picked up on it and contacted us immediately and stopped any bogus transactions from going through. I should add that the thieves used the card number to make new fraudulent cards overseas. Imagine how much easier this would be if our data was stored unencrypted on some server somewhere. I do all my banking online (like most do I suppose these days) and have done for more than a dozen years. I would not want anyone to wipe out my bank account because my data was stored unencrypted.
