If you are suspected of being a bit naughty in Australia, your mates in power can spy on your social media and email accounts and you won't even know it. By " you " I mean "us " and this makes me feel a bit uncomfortable and dare I say violated.
Seriously, have we truly come to this? Being spied on by our federal police if they suspect that we are up to no good?
The Australian parliament passed some sneaky legislation that gives federal police near-unrestricted powers to spy on any Australian citizen – by gaining access to their social media and email accounts without their knowledge – if they have been ‘suspected of criminal activity..
I read this on The Gateway Pundit and searched for any articles in Australian media about this Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020, which is just waiting for Royal Assent so that it becomes Law.
If you think that this is to protect our children from pedophiles or to ensure that terrorists and drug traffickers are going to be targeted, I have a bridge to sell in Sydney.
Could it be used to spy on all of us? If the Federal Police feel that it is reasonably necessary and proportionate? I have to wonder.
Maybe I have a tinfoil hat on or maybe I have a healthy dose of cynicism in this modern overly policed, overly ruled, and overly governed country we used to call Australia - but has now become a penal colony again?
About 15 years ago, I woke up about dawn to hear a loud voice calling out " Is there anyone here? Are you alright? " I staggered downstairs to find a police officer standing in my lounge and my home had been burgled while I slept.
My belongings had been rifled through, my home tainted by an unwanted intrusion and my sense of safety was forever changed by this burglar who entered my sanctuary uninvited.
To this day, I am uncomfortable with strangers or impromptu visits to my home: my sense of security has been destroyed.
When I read this disturbing article, I felt somehow wary and uncomfortable: The idea that the government could rummage through my emails or my posts and ramblings on social media " just because " they suspected that I might be up to no good.
Years ago, I would never have imagined that the government would bother with a boring old biddy like me, but these days, in Australia, who knows what is deemed " reasonably necessary and proportionate. "
According to The Guardian,
On Tuesday, the home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, introduced amendments to implement some of the proposed safeguards, including a sunset clause so the new powers would expire after five years and stronger criteria to issue warrants.
Andrews said the amendments would mean data disruption warrants would need to be “reasonably necessary and proportionate” and data disruption and account takeover warrants would need to specify the types of activities proposed to be carried out.
The important issue here is this:
Who defines what is REASONABLY necessary and proportionate? The same people who think it is reasonably necessary and proportionate to wrestle someone to the ground for not wearing a mask?
What horrifies me is that many of the left seem to blame this woman for resisting and it was " her fault " for not " doing as she was told. "
Have we come to this? In our country?
That was a year ago and things have only gotten worse here.
The same person who thinks it is reasonably necessary and proportionate to arrest someone sitting in a park to rest instead of walking constantly?
The problem is that laws are becoming increasingly oppressive and unreasonable and disproportionate.
What the hell have we become as a Nation?
We are now building isolation camps so that naughty people or people suspected of being ill are able to be " safely housed " in purpose built facilities.
I don't know why, but I seem to remember similar camps built to isolate people in Europe.... but I could be imagining it.
Apparently, it is for our own good and that of the Nation.
Whew. Otherwise, I might be anxious.
Kieran Pender, the top lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, spoke with The Guardian about the government’s “rushed” power grab”
“[the bill’s powers] are unprecedented and extraordinarily intrusive, they should have been narrowed to what is strictly necessary and subject to robust safeguards”
“It is alarming that, instead of accepting the committee’s recommendations and allowing time for scrutiny of subsequent amendments, the Morrison government rushed these laws through parliament in less than 24 hours”
We are being forced to accept rules, regulations, laws and restrictions for " our own good. "
If we object, the leftie luvvies and the powers that be come down on us like a dose of salts.
Why only this morning I spoke with a dear family friend who is terrified that the government will take his loved one away from him.
When we are frightened to speak, to email, to write, to interact or to think, we are not living in a free country.
We are prisoners and the people that we used to look up to for protection have now become our jailers.
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