If Nicola Roxon has her way, Big Brother could soon be watching all of us.

But he won’t be alone.

The proposal for internet and telecommunications companies to retain and store sensitive user information for a period of two years, effectively ‘tracking’ customers under the guise of increased national security and criminal investigation, is ringing alarm bells around the country.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-05/data-retention-plan-likened-to-gestapo-tactics/4243402

While it may be argued that such measures will assist police and other more shadowy entities like ASIO to keep tabs on what is being said and done and by whom (think suspected paedophiles, terrorists, etc), it is considered by others to be an invasion of privacy and, possibly, counter-productive, as storage by companies ill-equipped to protect such data for long periods of time is like red-rag to a bull for cyber criminals.

As was proven by the hacker group Anonymous, who gained access to AAPTs data (see ABC news report contained within the link provided), anyone with the know-how could use and abuse the sort of data the report is calling to be stored, putting at risk hundreds of thousands of personal and financial records.

And while the AFP states that content of private emails and searches is not what is at issue, they have also admitted that extension of the report to include such access would, in an ideal world, be what they would like. On a more alarmist note, what are the implications for any kind of internet political dissidence?

How valid is the government’s claim to need this sort of access to people’s data and how far will it extend?

Yes it is needed.
Is freedom served by letting criminals murderers and terrorist have the protection of our freedom?
So my e mails and lots more are to beheld, OK by me.

Belly wrote: “Is freedom served by letting Is freedom served by letting criminals murderers and terrorist have the protection of our freedom?
So my e mails and lots more are to beheld, OK by me.”

Dear Belly,

I think you have a lot to fear. Governments use information to keep tabs on dissenters. Police don’t confine their attentions to ‘criminals murderers and terrorist’. They go after anybody the government tells them to go after. They will find reasons to shut them up. Under Jo the Special Branch of the Queensland Police kept tabs on unions and worked to limit their effectiveness. As a good union man you would have been an object of surveillance. I am not a criminal, murderer or terrorist , but I have been active politically in opposing government policy. During the Bougainville War I supported the Bougainville rebels against the PNG armed forces. This was legal, but there was a car sitting at the edge of my driveway. I asked the men in it for identification, but they made excuses not to reveal their identity. I suspect they were ASIO. Freedom is served by limiting government access to private communications. It is not OK by me that the government should have access to my private communications. A man’s home is his castle and so are his communications.

Not okay by me. I just wrote a bigger piece on the Julie Bishop article on this so won't repeat all of it here.

This is a bridge way too far and is indicative of growing disconnect between the State and the citizen and what it means to be a democracy.

As one friend puts is very well "Animal Farm" was never meant to be used as a manual.

I think it's naive to think criminals have no idea about encryption or VPNs.

It's the same story with internet filters, it's only going to affect luddites.

H,

This time I agree with you. Once again the nanny state knows best. As with the internet filters, it is not difficult or expensive to completely bypass any surveillance. For $5 a month I can get a false IP address to block tracking of bit torrent and site surveillance, which makes the 2 year data storage worthless and for $10 - $15 a month I can get fully encrypted data transfer rendering even live surveillance useless.

If I had evil intentions and knew that my internet was permanently monitored, this is the very first step I would take. If big brother wasn't watching, people might not feel the need to take precautions.

This is yet another Labor initiative that costs taxpayers money, and gives no benefit.