Sydney, Aug. 29 (ANI): Proposed laws in Australia that would allow authorities to collect and store the web and telecommunications data of all citizens for two years has been dubbed as a 'characteristic of a police state'.
The government has sent its contentious discussion paper on changes to the national security legislation to a parliamentary inquiry rather than introduce it as a legislation.
According to The Age, in a heated submission to that inquiry, Victoria's Acting Privacy Commissioner, Anthony Bendall, dubbed the proposals 'characteristic of a police state', arguing 'it is premised on the assumption that all citizens should be monitored'.
"Not only does this completely remove the presumption of innocence which all persons are afforded, it goes against one of the essential dimensions of human rights and privacy law: freedom from surveillance and arbitrary intrusions into a person's life," he said.
The government said that its proposals are under consideration only, and it has sought the views of the multi-party inquiry on the plans in its discussion paper, the report said.
According to the report, the government is also considering increasing the scope of search warrants from 90 days to six months and establishing an 'authorised operations scheme' to protect ASIO officers from civil or criminal liability.
The government is proposing to bring changes to law saying that telecommunications intercept laws, which date from 1979, have become hopelessly outdated.
But civil liberties groups and telcos have slammed the proposals in submissions to the inquiry, the report added. (ANI)
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