Australian Network managers and ISPs act as government and corporate spies in Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2009 approach |
First 7 of 7 paragraphs shown The government idea for network managers and ISPs to act as government spies - empowered by the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2009 was revealed as illegal. Legal committee warning on proposed section 63E: The bill was referred to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee. The committee reported on 16 November with a recommendation that the bill be passed. There was one substantive reservation by the Liberal senators on the committee: that the proposed section 63E be amended to provide that the section not apply where an agency has requested the disclosure of the information. Proposed section 63E: This provided; - a person responsible for a network may voluntarily communicate lawfully intercepted information to an agency; - where that person reasonably suspects that the information is relevant to the commission of an offence. Not legal: "Concern had been expressed that agencies might be able to circumvent the warrant provisions of the act by suggesting voluntary disclosure. The coalition has sought advice on this point and we are satisfied that section 7 of the act would make such an attempt unlawful. There is much to recommend the view that the provision should nevertheless be amended out of an abundance of caution. However, section 7 governs the entirety of this act, creating the presumption that the interception and further communication of material is unlawful, subject only to specific authorisation. It would, I think, be ungainly to reiterate that point in disparate provisions every time the act is amended. Accordingly, the coalition supports the bill in its current form". ...Log in to read rest of Article or image. |