Category: Press Release

Press releases

Freedom Not Fear Sydney Rally Announced

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As part of a global day of action, a coalition of activists have called a Freedom Not Fear rally and barbecue in Sydney’s Hyde Park on Saturday September 15 at 12pm. The action is supported by a range of organisations including Pirate Party Australia, Support Assange and WikiLeaks Coalition, Electronic Frontiers Australia, the NSW Fire Brigades Employees Union and Privacy.io.

There will be speakers and workshops covering a range of issues, including censorship, surveillance, governmental transparency, encryption and whistleblowing. There will also be music and (council permitting) a barbecue.

“We think it is important to show our opposition to censorship and the rising surveillance state,” said Simon Frew, Deputy President of Pirate Party Australia and one of the organisers. “We encourage everyone who is concerned about the erosion of our civil liberties to come along and show their support for a free society. Since the beginning of the War on Terror, there has been a continual erosion of our rights and it is time to say enough.”

“We think a big part of the day is celebrating the freedoms we have and sending the message that we need more. It is healthy for society to hear dissenting voices, to have opposing opinions and to have free debate. We need to start pushing back, campaigning for a freer society, and we see this as a good start,” Mr Frew continued.

More workshops and stalls are welcome. Interested individuals and organisations should contact [email protected] to express interest and work out the details. For more information, see the http://freedomnotfear.net/.

Pirate Party Releases National Security Inquiry Submission

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The deadline for submissions to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security’s (PJCIS) Inquiry into potential reforms of National Security Legislation was August 20, and today, PJCIS allowed for the publication of submissions. Pirate Party Australia submitted a comprehensive response to the discussion paper.

In the lengthy submission the Party comments on many points in the discussion paper, including:

  • Strongly objecting to penalties for individuals who refuse to assist in decrypting information or provide their passwords, eroding a person’s right to avoid self-incrimination;
  • Strongly objecting to keeping all Internet users’ browsing and email history for two years, introducing an arbitrary violation of privacy; and
  • Suggesting adding controls to various powers that certain agencies have to breach individuals’ privacy.

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Pirate Party Raises Concerns about Cybercrime Bill Imbalance

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As the Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 has recently passed, the Pirate Party continues to advocate the limitation of surveillance to court-ordered specific cases where reasonable grounds for suspicion are provided.

Pirate Party Australia has previously recommended in 2011 that Australia does not accede to the Convention on Cybercrime due to it being “fundamentally unbalanced”[1].

“In our submissions regarding the Convention of Cybercrime and the recent National Security Inquiry, we argued – and will continue to argue – against overly intrusive schemes which would unduly put at risk the privacy of Australian citizens,” said David W. Campbell, President of Pirate Party Australia.

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Pirate Party Demands Inquiry into Assange Abandonment

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Pirate Party Australia are ecstatic over the decision of the Ecuadorian Government to provide political asylum to Australian journalist Julian Assange, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, a whistleblower-centric media organisation.

The Party remains extremely dissatisfied with the Australian Government’s lack of support for the journalist. Mr. Assange was to be extradited from the United Kingdom to Sweden for questioning over sexual abuse allegations, but broke his bail conditions by applying for asylum and staying at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

“Why has Ecuador, a nation with a poor record for respecting press freedom[1][2], accepted an asylum application from an Australian citizen, while our own government has continually refused to provide any form of assistance to Julian Assange?” asked David W. Campbell, President of Pirate Party Australia.

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Pirate Party Warns about Aggressive Surveillance Trends

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Pirate Party Australia is deeply concerned about the increasing international trend of widescale surveillance, such as the possible implementation of the Trapwire surveillance system in Australia, due to the significant potential for abuse.

Yesterday, the Sydney Morning Herald revealed[1] ties between a government contractor and a company manufacturing sophisticated surveillance equipment that claims to detect “suspicious activity”, which ultimately means activity that marks a person as suspicious without the person actually committing any crime. To increase its efficiency, the system collects information from its multiple installations and combines it, even across borders.

“These systems claim to detect ‘pre-crime’ activities and tag individuals as suspects automatically. Such systems, when deployed in the public space, are an encroachment on the privacy of the users of public spaces,” said David W. Campbell, President of Pirate Party Australia. “They have the effect of suppressing the legitimate activities of law abiding individuals, who become justifiably worried about being mislabelled and prosecuted.”

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