[LINK] More about Govt snooping our internet uses

[Jan Whitaker]

Web snooping policy shrouded in secrecy

Asher Moses
June 17, 2010 - 12:56PM

The federal government is hiding controversial plans to force ISPs to 
store internet activity of all Australian internet users - regardless 
of whether they have been suspected of wrongdoing - for 
law-enforcement agencies to access.

Political opponents and other critics of the scheme have described 
the draft policy as "alarming" and accused the government of going 
"on a fishing expedition for as much data on the public as they can 
get". One ISP executive has 
<http://apcmag.com/government-isp-snooping-policy-totally-insane-linton.htm>described 
the plan as "a nanny state gone totally insane".

The Attorney-General's Department has been holding consultations with 
industry about implementing a "data retention regime", similar to 
that adopted by the European Union after terrorist attacks several years ago.

<http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/big-brother-wants-all-your-bits-and-bytes-20100611-y3p3.html>Reports 
last week 
<http://www.zdnet.com.au/govt-wants-isps-to-record-browsing-history-339303785.htm>suggested 
data that ISPs would be required to store included contents of 
communications such as web browsing history.

Yesterday, a spokesman for Attorney-General Robert McClelland denied 
web browsing histories would be stored, saying the government was 
only seeking to identify "parties to a communication", such as 
senders and receivers of emails and VoIP calls.

However, it is difficult for the public to get a clear picture of the 
policy because the government has sworn all parties to secrecy.

Peter Coroneos, chief executive of the Internet Industry Association, 
criticised the government for not being transparent and open with the 
public about its intentions. Coroneos said he was forbidden by 
confidentiality agreements from discussing any details of draft 
proposals he has been provided.

"The decision at this stage to keep the process under wraps is the 
decision of the government. It's not the decision of the industry," 
he said in a phone interview.

"We still argue that there be an open and transparent process here."

Greens communications spokesman Scott Ludlam also criticised the lack 
of transparency, saying in a phone interview he had a researcher 
investigating the scheme to "try and work out how it fits in to the 
government's supposed grave concerns and fears about online privacy".

"To me there seems to be some profound contradictions going on 
there," Senator Ludlam said, adding that the policy "on first glance 
looks quite alarming".

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has recently fired barbs at 
Facebook and Google over privacy failures and their alleged disregard 
for the sanctity of users' personal information.

Colin Jacobs, spokesman for the online users' lobby group Electronic 
Frontiers Australia, said the government appeared to be trying to 
access whatever passes through any ISP in this country, while 
displaying "no regard whatsoever for our privacy or our civil liberties".

"What has emerged in recent days has been a clear picture of a 
government on a fishing expedition for as much data on the public as 
they can get," Jacobs said.

"It's not just a fishing expedition, it's casting a driftnet for the 
communications of all Australians regardless of whether they have 
ever been suspected of the slightest wrongdoing.

"Combined with the censorship policy, a pretty unhappy picture is 
emerging of this government's attitude towards our digital lives."

Some commentators have said the copyright lobby would inevitably try 
to 
<http://apcmag.com/opinion-snooping-law-would-make-copyright-suits-afact-of-life.htm>use 
the scheme to hunt down and prosecute illegal file sharers, but 
Sabiene Heindl, head of the music industry's anti-piracy arm, Music 
Industry Piracy Investigations, said: "We have no present intention 
to do that."

McClelland's spokesman defended the lack of transparency, saying the 
government had consulted broadly with industry about the plan but "it 
would not be appropriate to disclose policy discussions which are the 
subject of consultations with the industry".

"These consultations have involved identifying the parties to a 
communication, where and when that communication is made and the 
communication's duration," the spokesman said.

"It does not include the content of a communication such as people's 
conversations or contents of an internet banking session, for example."

It is understood that earlier reports that web browsing history would 
be included were based on earlier drafts of the policy which 
stipulated content such as this would be logged and stored. The 
government appears to have since stepped down on this aspect of the 
scheme, although nothing is set in stone.

ZDNet.com.au, which originally reported that web browsing history 
would be logged, has 
<http://www.zdnet.com.au/inside-australia-s-data-retention-proposal-339303862.htm>stood 
by its original report, quoting sources yesterday as saying claims 
that URL history would not be retained were "not accurate".

"The government has not as yet made any decision in relation to a 
data retention regime. However, any arrangement will strike the 
appropriate balance between individual privacy, commercial 
imperatives and community expectations that unlawful behaviour is 
investigated and prosecuted," McClelland's spokesman said.

Coroneos, who is able to comment more generally on similar data 
retention regimes adopted by EU states, said the industry in 
Australia already had a track record of assisting law-enforcement 
agencies and questions the need for a "blanket" regime covering the 
communications of all internet users.

"[Users] have legitimate privacy expectations and assume that their 
online communications and browsing activities are private unless 
they've been clearly informed otherwise," he said.

"Secondly, there's a question of whether the harm being being 
addressed is outweighed by the economic or social burden of the 
measures proposed. Are we cracking a nut with a sledgehammer here?"

Coroneos also raised concerns about security of the information that 
will be stored by ISPs and the expected high costs of implementing 
any scheme, which would inevitably be passed on to end users.

This story was found at: 
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/web-snooping-policy-shrouded-in-secrecy-20100617-yi1u.html 




Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

_ __________________ _