Australia: 90% of Web Surveillance Document Censored to Stop ‘Premature Unnecessary Debate’
July 23rd, 2010Via: Sydney Morning Herald:
The federal government has censored approximately 90 per cent of a secret document outlining its controversial plans to snoop on Australians’ web surfing, obtained under freedom of information (FoI) laws, out of fear the document could cause “premature unnecessary debate”.
The government has been consulting with the internet industry over the proposal, which would require ISPs to store certain internet activities of all Australians – regardless of whether they have been suspected of wrongdoing – for law-enforcement agencies to access.
All parties to the consultations have been sworn to secrecy.
Industry sources have claimed that the controversial regime could go as far as collecting the individual web browsing history of every Australian internet user, a claim denied by the spokesman for Attorney-General Robert McClelland.
The exact details of the web browsing data the government wants ISPs to collect are contained in the document released to this website under FoI.
The document was handed out to the industry during a secret briefing it held with ISPs in March.
But from the censored document released, it is impossible to know how far the government is planning to take the policy.
The government is hiding the plans from the public and it appears to want to move quickly on industry consultation, asking for participants to respond within only one month after it had held the briefings.
