PROPOSED laws that would allow the web and telecommunications data of all Australians to be stored for two years have been dubbed ''characteristic of a police state''.
The federal government has sent its contentious discussion paper on changes to the national security legislation to a parliamentary inquiry rather than introduce it as legislation. In July, the Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, acknowledged the privacy and financial costs of the scheme, saying ''the case has yet to be made'' for the controversial plan.
In a heated submission to that inquiry, Victoria's Acting Privacy Commissioner, Anthony Bendall, dubbed the proposals ''characteristic of a police state'', arguing ''it is premised on the assumption that all citizens should be monitored''.
'Not only does this completely remove the presumption of innocence which all persons are afforded, it goes against one of the essential dimensions of human rights and privacy law: freedom from surveillance and arbitrary intrusions into a person's life,'' he said.
The government says its proposals are under consideration only, and it has sought the views of the multi-party inquiry on the plans in its discussion paper.
These include allowing authorities to access anyone's computer to get to a suspect's device, or to ''enter a third-party premises for the purposes of installing a surveillance device''.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/internet-data-tracking-proposal-seen-as-a-police-state-20120828-24yvn.html#ixzz24weWpHgO
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