Australia ratifies cybercrime convention
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Australia's Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has announced that the government has formally signed the European Convention on Cybercrime.
Doing so was the final step in becoming party to the convention, after the Cybercrime Amendment Bill passed through Australia's Parliament in 2012.
The A-G said the move will “will help combat criminal offences relating to forgery, fraud, child pornography, and infringement of copyright and intellectual property”.
Among other things, the convention includes controversial data retention provisions that are still the subject of an inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. Most of the telecommunications industry has resisted internet data retention on the basis of cost, and because of the challenges distinguishing between “metadata” – which the government says is the limit of its requirement – and the content of communications.
The Attorney-General stated that “Becoming party to the Convention ensures Australian legislation is consistent with international best practice. It enables domestic agencies to access and share information to facilitate international investigations and help countries in the region build capacity to address cybercrime.
“Australia will be able to benefit from reciprocal powers offered by the 38 other nations [the other signatories to the convention]”, he said, adding that the Cybercrime Amendment Act had also created new privacy protections, safeguards and reporting requirements for the exercise of new and existing powers.
He also states that a warrant is required “to access the content of a communication”. ®
COMMENTS
Cyber
Is the prefix cyber used outside of politics, certain internet sexual activities and Doctor Who? After 35 years in IT, I have yet to hear it used in the workplace.
Oh great, another loss of sovereignty
expect more laws to enforce intimidation by oligopolists in fake democracies. To the tune of "This was unintended" when the goons kick in doors to confisticate another 9 year olds laptop. And Dr No is whining about broadband costs rising 3 times. This is why it will rise, nothing to do with the re-implementation of the old Telecom network, aka NBN.
The UNDHR, like its counterpart the US Constitution, is a piece of toilet paper written up in a more idealistic age for the sole purpose of quietening the proles. It doesn't actually mean anything; it isn't a law, because there's no means of enforcing its ideals.
The only rights you have are what you can a) take by force and b) retain by concealment from those who would take them by force - either alone or in concert with others. It's called "the law of the jungle", and it's the only absolute law, enforced by physics, that applies universally to all life, intelligent or not. You either hunt or hide. Everything else is window dressing.
I've noticed that when I've posted these sentiments before, I seem to attract a few downvotes. I probably will this time, too. But it does make me wonder; do the downvoters not understand basic physics or something? A stronger force will overpower a weaker force. A force will take the path of least resistance. It's not something you can argue with. It's just the way this universe works.
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