Last year, over 3,400 telephone interception warrants were issued in Australia, compared to just over 2,300 in the United States.
These numbers were found within submission by the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties provided an inquiry regarding plans to overall Australian security and surveillance.
Federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon’s new proposals would allow bugging of Australians through the lowering of a threshold that outlines cause for suspecting one of a crime. The current law states that taps can be attained if one is suspected of a crime that carries a seven-year sentence. The new proposal would lower that necessary number to a three-year sentence.
The Council of Civil Liberties stated that this type of power is already being over utilized by the government, and 17 times as many warrants are being granted her person compared to the U.S. own loose tapping laws.
We fail to see how this is justifiable," says the submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.
"And yet the Attorney-General seeks to broaden the types of offences in which warrants can be issued."
The ASIO and other law enforcement departments herald the measures as necessary and essential in providing more tools for tackling crime in the new age.
The proposals would not only allow tapping, but would force telcos, internet providers, and social networks to retain data for up to two years.
Terry O’Gorman, who sites as the Civil Liberties Council vice-president, stated that such provisions are already too easily accessible to police and the new measure were in danger of being “misused” for purposes such as tracking whistleblowers.
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