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Jail the 'greedy' scam victims, says Nigerian diplomat - Technology - smh.com.au - Via The Sydney Morning Herald:
THE Nigerian high commissioner says people who are ripped off by so-called Nigerian scams are just as guilty as the fraudsters and should be jailed.
Responding to a story in yesterday's Herald, which revealed Australians lose at least $36 million a year to the online scams, Sunday Olu Agbi said Australians had failed to heed repeated warnings not to deal with shady characters on the internet.
He said media coverage of fraudulent activity stemming from Nigeria had given the country "a bad image" and "those who want to transact business with us are always very suspicious".
"The Nigerian Government frowns very seriously on these scams … and every day tries to track down those who are involved," he said. "It is not in the character of Nigerians to be engaged in this kind of scam." read more »
No such thing as privacy: top judge - Via The Sydney Morning Herald:
PEOPLE'S willingness to talk loudly on mobile phones and reveal personal information about themselves online indicates that the privacy laws may require a rethink, says the country's top judge, Murray Gleeson.
In his final public address as Chief Justice of the High Court, Justice Gleeson said yesterday that he had begun to change his view that "certain things … were self-evidently private".
"The ground seems to me to be shifting," he said.
"I used to think that having a telephone conversation was normally private. But you can't walk down the street without hearing a number of telephone conversations, some of them with people speaking loudly because of the noise of the surrounding traffic …
"When you look at the kind of information that people publish about themselves, it makes you wonder." Justice Gleeson said. read more »
Bosses' power to check email - Technology - smh.com.au - Via The Sydney Morning Herald. :
COMPANIES will be able to intercept the emails and internet communications of their employees without their consent under new laws being considered by the Federal Government to protect the nation's critical infrastructure from a cyber attack.
The proposed powers, which the Government wants in place by the middle of next year and which could affect millions of workers, have been slammed as an unprecedented and unjustifiable intrusion on civil liberties.
The Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, acknowledges concerns but said the powers were a necessary bulwark against a growing threat to national security. read more »
In Australia, Bosses May Get Power To Snoop On Emails - Via Slashdot ! YRO:
Numerous readers noted the proposal by the Australian government for legislation to allow employers to snoop on employees' email and IM conversations. This is being proposed in the name of protecting the infrastructure from terrorism. The attorney-general cited the Estonian cyber-attacks as a reason why such employer monitoring is necessary in Australia %u2014 never mind that the attacks were perpetrated by a lone 20-year-old and not by a foreign government or terrorist. The law permitting intelligence agencies to snoop on citizens without permission expires this June, leading to the government's urgency to extend and expand it. The chairman of Electronic Frontiers Australia said, "These new powers will facilitate fishing expeditions into employees' emails and computer use rather than being used to protect critical infrastructure. I'm talking about corporate eavesdropping and witch-hunts... If an employer wanted to [sack] someone, they could use these powers."
(Read Original Article - Via Slashdot ! YRO.)
Tracking device on bins ensures residents chip in - Via The Sydney Morning Herald:
Bin Brother is watching you.
When Randwick City Council began replacing its 78,000 residential garbage and recycling bins last month, a resident, Dan Himbrechts, scratched his head. Why get rid of old ones that seemed to work perfectly well?
His suspicions grew further when he noticed a small, flat, circular object hidden under the rim of his new bin. About the size of a 10-cent coin, it had the letters "TI-RFid" embossed on it.
A quick Google search and Mr Himbrechts realised what he was looking at - an electronic tracking device known as a radio frequency identification tag. read more »
NSW police to search computer networks - Via ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):
The New South Wales Cabinet has approved new powers for police designed to help them track terrorist threats, fraudsters and paedophiles through computer networks.
The proposed laws would allow police to search computers networked to those listed on a search warrant.
Police could also seize computer hard drives and memory sticks for up to seven days.
Police Minister David Campbell says police are currently only able to search computer hardware found on a premises named in a search warrant.
He says with the changes, they will be able to go a step further and search other networked computers, regardless of where they are located. read more »
Aussie Cops Want Powers To Search Any Computer - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
goatherder23 writes in with news that the New South Wales cabinet has proposed new powers for police to search computers anywhere under a search warrant, and adds: "The Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse are invoked to explain why police need the new laws, which have yet to be introduced into Parliament. Would someone please explain to them before this happens that all computers on the Internet are "networked" and that some computers may be found outside NSW (or even Australia)?" read more »
Australia engages allies in cyber warfare - Via Computerworld :
Cyber Storm II was today officially launched by the Attorney General in which five countries will engage in an international hacking exercise.
The wargame is a follow-up to last years' Cyber Storm and will test the national security of Australia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand between March 11 to 14.
AG Robert McClelland joined UK deputy high commissioner Tim Gurney, Australian Federal Police (AFP) commissioner Mick Keelty and ambassadors from the US and Canada to launch the event in Canberra today. read more »
Cyber Storm II Set To Begin - Via Slashdot:
mr sanjeev notes that Computerworld is running a story about Cyber Storm II, set to run from March 11th until the 14th.
The exercise will test the security of the US, Australia, the UK, New Zealand, and Canada. The organizers' goals are to test preparedness and responsiveness in relation to real-time threats. The previous Cyber Storm test identified "eight specific areas in need of improvement." We recently discussed the details of the tests themselves. read more »
Judge on privacy: Computer code trumps the law - Via Privacy : Tech news from CNET :
Australian High Court Judge Justice Kirby says computer code is more potent than the law--and that legislators are powerless to do anything about it.
Technology has outpaced the legal system's ability to regulate its use in matters of privacy and fair use rights, said Kirby, speaking Thursday night at an Internet Industry Association (IIA) event.
Kirby said the judicial system has faced difficulties in coping with changes the Internet and computing have brought. read more »
Australian government revs up license plate cameras - Via Privacy : Tech news from CNET :
CrimTrac, the Australian government's criminal information and intelligence agency, is taking the first steps toward developing a nationwide automatic number plate recognition system to capture the vehicle details of suspects and citizens alike.
Australia already has some ANPR systems fitted to existing road surveillance equipment, including speed cameras, to scan and read the license plates of passing vehicles at a rate of up to five or six cars a second. Once captured, the data is checked against a database featuring a "hot list" of registration numbers and plates. read more »
Australian Government To Mandate Internet Filters - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
ratzmilk writes "The Australian government is mandating the creation of 'clean' internet feeds. To be optionally made available to schools and homes that request it, the feed would offer built-in filters of 'pornography and inappropriate content'. Said Senator Controy: 'Labor makes no apologies to those that argue that any regulation of the internet is like going down the Chinese road ... If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography, then the Rudd-Labor Government is going to disagree.'"
Australia's controversial national ID program hits the dumpster - Via arsTechnica :
Opponents of Australia's controversial Access Card received an early Christmas present earlier this month when the incoming Rudd Labor Government finally axed the controversial ID program. Had it been implemented, the Access Card program would have required Australians to present the smart card anytime they dealt with certain federal departments, including Medicare, Centrelink, the Child Support Agency, or Veterans' Affairs. read more »
Australia Scraps National ID Plan - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
IPU = Imaginary Property Unicorn writes "The proposed Australian 'Access Card', a universal ID that would be required for any Australian wishing to use Medicare, Centrelink, the Child Support Agency, or Veterans' Affairs, has been scrapped by the incoming Rudd Labor Government. The card would have contained an RFID tag with the person's name, date of birth, gender, address, signature, card number, card expiration date, and Medicare number, but there were also provisions to add more personal data later on. It seems that Rudd Labor is not eager to copy the American REAL ID Act."
Censorship in the Anglosphere: the UK and Australia: "
The growing global censorship of the Internet often goes unseen in the English-speaking Net, because so much of it takes place in other countries, and in other languages. But that doesn't mean that there aren't contemporary threats to Internet free speech in the English-speaking world. read more »
Proposed reforms of Australian privacy law - a sign of things to come?:
The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) recently published its recommendations to reform Australia’s privacy laws. The investigation was called for by the Attorney-General of Australia, to a large degree in light of “rapid advances in technology that affect how information is gathered, stored and communicated.” As stated in the introduction to the publication, “The ALRC’s recommendations to government do not automatically become law. However, the ALRC has a strong record of having its advice taken up.” read more »
Privacy laws outdated in internet age: report - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): The Australian Law Reform Commission has released a blueprint for a sweeping overhaul of Australia's privacy laws.
The Commission has drafted 301 proposals after staging the largest public consultation process in its history.
They include abolishing the fee for silent telephone numbers, expanding the powers of the privacy commissioner, and introducing a new law enabling individuals to sue for invasion of privacy. read more »
- Big Victory for Limits to Copyright LawThe 10th Circuit Court recognized First Amendment constraints on Congressional powers in copyright law.
- Internet Anonymity Tool Used for EavesdroppingA security researcher found a way to use Tor to spy on private communications.
read more »
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