International Law

Australia considering cyber treaty

Australian IT reports that a proposed cyber treaty may mean new surveillance laws in Australia:

LAWS allowing police to rapidly secure evidence held on computers, and to obtain real-time access to network traffic, may be needed for Australia to join a global treaty aimed at fighting fraud and electronic crime.

Federal Attorney General's Department project director Steven Stroud said a review was being carried out to establish what legislative changes would be needed if the Australian government were to join the Council of Europe's Convention on Cybercrime.

"We're fundamentally well-placed to accede, given our cybercrime laws in the Crimes Act and the Customs Act," he said.

"But the convention requires specific actions and measures, so consideration is needed about what the obligations would be."

Mr Stroud said a number of pieces of legislation would need to be amended, "and some of these would be quite significant".

"The convention has provisions for data retention by carriers, and we don't have those laws in Australia," he said.

"There are also provisions for expedited collection of evidence held on computers, and we don't have those laws either.

"The Telecommunications Interception Act allows law enforcement to obtain material with a warrant, but there's no way police can just ring someone up and say they need something can they have it.

"These are the kinds of issues we need to explore."

The convention, which provides a standard framework for investigating and prosecuting crimes involving computers across national borders, has already been adopted by more than 45 countries.

Read more here.

Full post as published by Freedom to Differ on May 27, 2008 (boomark / email).