The UK and US appear to have diverged on the issue of internet surveillance, and that has serious implications for the efforts of Australia’s security establishment to impose data retention.
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ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPARTMENT
‘Banality of evil’: new documents lift the veil on data retention
New documents shed light on the enthusiasm of the Attorney-General’s Department to move forward with (and think large on) data retention, and the resistance it encountered from industry.
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Farewell to McClelland, a ministerial cipher for the security state
Robert McClelland’s time as attorney-general were lost years representing how Labor has been co-opted by the security establishment. Farewell.
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The tax office and the expensive muzzle on complainants
A special investigation finds the tax office is aggressively pushing aggrieved taxpayers into settlements to protect its own people. One investor tells Crikey he’s been ruined by fighting big firms hired by the ATO.
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Assembling the building blocks of global net regulation
It’s become clear that the Australian government is working to launch an international attack on online privacy.
READ MOREData definitions in the spotlight as A-G dept fronts inquiry
There is still confusion about what data would be retained under the federal government’s highly contentious data retention proposals — and it arises from the government itself.
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Are the govt’s Assange redactions
unjustified?
New FOI documents on Julian Assange reveal little — except the breadth with which bureaucrats interpret FOI exemptions.
READ MOREGovernment unveils huge wishlist of new surveillance powers
A major parliamentary inquiry will examine government proposals to significantly extend surveillance powers — including to Twitter and other social media.
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Paper reveals govt’s national security
crackdown
After more than two months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, the high-powered Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security has agreed to a government reference on a major national security review.
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Government ducks and weaves on Assange
After extraordinary delays in responding to FOI requests about Julian Assange, the government has served up a whole lot of nothing.
READ MOREHow ASIO’s non-existent war on illegal fishing is faring
ASIO’s powers were expanded earlier this year, we were told, to help combat illegal fishing. So this week ASIO was asked how the war on illegal fishing was faring …
READ MOREGovt moves to repair the cybercrime bill — but not improve it
The government’s amendments to the controversial cybercrime Bill are in, but they do little to repair it.
READ MOREEven government MPs want cybercrime bill fixes
A parliamentary committee, including government senators, wants aspects of the controversial Cybercrime Bill wound back.
READ MOREASIO gets its new powers — and no one will tell us why
Labor and the Coalition combined to give ASIO new powers last night. We still don’t know why.
READ MOREASIO: fishers of men
The Attorney-General’s department, struggling to explain why ASIO needs wider powers, chooses the fish.
READ MOREMysteries of the ASIO amendment survive Senate scrutiny
A senior attorney-general bureaucrat has struggled to explain to a Senate committee the rationale for amendments broadening ASIO’s remit to spy on organisations overseas and tried to duck questions about whether the amendment would enable ASIO to spy on WikiLeaks.
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