Privacy – Page 17 of 19 – Pirate Party Australia

Pirate Party Continues To Condemn Internet Censorship Efforts

Posted on June 24, 2011

Pirate Party Australia continues to consider the continued policy of Internet censorship advocated by the Australian government to be misguided and irresponsible[1]. Pirate Party Australia also welcomes the findings that ISP filtering is ineffective by the Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety in their Interim report released recently[2].

The Joint Select Committee found that the biggest obstacle to taking down illegal content such as child pornography is not lack of legislation but bureaucracy of multinational hosting companies. It found no evidence that legislation based ISP level content filtering will be better than the voluntary framework currently in place. In fact the Joint Select Committee reports that under the voluntary framework more content can be removed compared to what is provided for in the Broadcasting Services Act.

Cybercrime Convention To Make All Australians Suspects

Posted on March 23, 2011

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Pirate Party Australia has submitted to both the Attorney-General’s consultation process and the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties regarding the proposed accession to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime.

“The Convention itself deals with offences related to infringement of copyright, fraud, child pornography and network security offences – and there is no doubt that in order to combat some of these things, greater cross-border law enforcement co-operation is necessary — however the Cybercrime Convention contains serious flaws that demand we reject the proposition that Australia should accede to this treaty — it is a fundamentally imbalanced treaty that detracts from the good intentions and benefits the treaty may carry within it.” said Rodney Serkowski, Party President.

Australian Government Must Protect Its’ Citizens

Posted on December 3, 2010

The Australian government, and governments generally, have a duty to protect its citizens and represent them abroad — irrespective of their race, religion or political persuasion. Statements by representatives of the Australian Government run counter to these responsibilities towards Julian Assange, an Australian citizen.

Mr. Assange has faced calls from the United States for his arrest, with Mike Huckabee, a former Republican presidential hopeful, reportedly saying that those responsible for the leaks were guilty of treason and should face execution.¹

Government’s War On Privacy Continues

Posted on June 11, 2010

[PDF Version]

It was revealed today that the Australian Government has been making inquiries regarding a policy of storing the browsing history of every Australian Internet user¹ in another move that displays the federal governments contempt for the privacy and civil liberties of the Australian people.

“Pirate Party Australia is shocked and appalled by the news that the Australian Labor Party is now considering this sort of indiscriminate data surveillance. Pirate Party Australia was formed to campaign for privacy and Internet freedom and this is a direct attack on every Australian’s right to privacy.” said Rodney Serkowski, Party Secretary.

Pirate Party Condemns The Encroaching Surveillance State

Posted on June 3, 2010

[PDF Version]

Recently NSW Stateline[1] observed the inter-agency group Crimtrac give a presentation on the future of policing, which involved the implementation of new and hi-tech surveillance methods and the development and use of databases containing biometric data.

“The story highlighted the push by law enforcement to get access to more surveillance powers, continuing the degradation of the privacy of Australian citizens,” said Simon Frew, a spokesperson of Pirate Party Australia.