[LINK] To protect human rights, identify and disrupt Australia’s “hacking Bill”

[Kim Holburn]

https://www.accessnow.org/to-protect-human-rights-identify-and-disrupt-australias-hacking-bill/

>
>             *What’s wrong with the hacking Bill*
>
> The surveillance overreach is extremely damaging for people’s privacy. The Identify and Disrupt Bill grants extensive hacking 
> powers to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) through three new 
> warrants: a *data disruption warrant*, a *network activity warrant*, and an *account takeover warrant*. These warrants allow the 
> authorities to *“disrupt” – add, copy, delete, or alter – **the data of suspected**offenders*; *hack into their devices and 
> networks* to discern identity; and *covertly take over their accounts and lock them out*. Civil society has rightly criticised 
> <https://www.zdnet.com/article/australias-new-hacking-powers-considered-too-wide-ranging-and-coercive-by-oaic/>the hacking Bill 
> for being “wide-ranging and coercive”, devoid of safeguards and detrimental to privacy.
>
> There have been efforts to improve it, but not enough. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) 
> <https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Intelligence_and_Security>in Australia has recommended 
> <https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportjnt/024617/toc_pdf/AdvisoryreportontheSurveillanceLegislationAmendment(IdentifyandDisrupt)Bill2020.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf>33 
> changes to the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020 
> <https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6623>, subject to which it may 
> be passed by the Australian Parliament. The recommendations made by PJCIS include integrating greater oversight, judicial review, 
> consideration of privacy implications, sunset clauses, and assurance that it will only be used for the most serious offences. We 
> welcome the changes PJCIS recommends, but *t**hey are not sufficient to warrant passage*. In the interest of human rights, 
> lawmakers should reject the Bill outright or ensure additional reforms to protect people from the collective adverse impact of 
> Australia’s increasingly disproportionate surveillance laws.
>


-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
+61 404072753
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request