The less government supervision of agencies and departments, the more outrageous their behaviour. The money-fraud regulator, ASIC, apparently thinks it is entitled to censor the internet, as do federal police and spooks. No, we the people are entitled t…
Cartoon with thanks to John Ditchburn, InkcinctCivil liberties and human rights lost out in Budget 2013. Not only did they lose to the police, security-like agencies and the spooks by not receiving funds, but some civil justice and human rights areas we…
Which of the big US e-companies have respect for your data, and protect your privacy?
As candidates throw themselves at your doorstep and shopping centre, here’s a question to ask them, says Richard Griggs: what would you do with our liberties and freedoms? Would you legislate to give us more, or take them away as has been done for the p…
An Act of Congress purports to permit the USA spookdom to spy on all the world’s communications transiting any American junction box. Loosely defined, that’s virtually every byte of data – phone, voice, document, video, photo, music, etc – on earth. As…
CLA has been censored by a Parliamentary Committee, which is refusing to publish online a submission by CLA. The reason, the committee says, is that the CLA submission reflects poorly on a public official. But the CLA submission is merely reporting what…
Religious organisations should not have an automatic right to discriminate, Civil Liberties Australia says. Instead, there needs to be an independent mechanism in place to balance competing interests and make decisions case-by-case. The ABC carried a de…
“The number and variety of threats to civil liberties of Australians during 2012 approached almost unprecedented levels,” says John Roskam, head of the Institute of Public Affairs. When commentators from all sides of politics start sounding warnings, it…
Just under way is the government’s latest move to close down public access to information. Dr Allan Hawke, known for his knowledge of dummy runs on the Canberra Raiders board, has started to review Australia’s FOI and Privacy regime, with clear ‘wink an…
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the world’s leading fighter for e-freedoms, says Australian Attorney-General Nicola Roxon is promoting a “wish-list of Australia’s intelligence agencies” in proposals for greater surveillance now before parliament. Po…
