Mobile phones as tracking devices (Australia)

[Lunar Loops]

This from The Australian:

Mobile phones as tracking devices

Gary Hughes | July 23, 2007


ASIO and law enforcement agencies will be able to track the movement of people through their mobile phones secretly, without obtaining a court warrant, under new laws, legal and civil liberty groups are warning.
Agencies will also be able to monitor the sending of emails, trace where people browse on the internet and check the destination of mobile telephone calls without warrants, under planned changes to telecommunication interception legislation.
Data able to be secretly collected in "real time" includes the geographic location of mobile phones whenever they are turned on and linked to a relay tower.
"Thus the effect (of the changes) is to grant ASIO and criminal law enforcement agencies the ability to use a person's mobile phone, effectively, as a tracking device," the Law Council of Australia says.
Warnings that such powers could be abused or misused are contained in submissions to a Senate committee inquiring into the proposed provisions of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill.
Under the new legislation, ASIO and law enforcement agencies will be able to collect details about electronic communications, such as the address fields of emails and the source and destination of mobile calls.
But warrants will still be required to access the contents of communications.
Designated senior officers within an agency will have the power to authorise the collection of telecommunications data on suspects for up to 90 days where it is considered necessary.
The Law Council says in its submission that the ease with which agencies will be able to gather the information makes the new laws "far more amenable to misuse or overuse by law enforcement agencies than existing provisions".
It says warrants should have to be obtained to allow the collection of real-time telecommunications data that would allow mobile telephones and their owners to be tracked. "While telecommunications data does not include the content and substance of a person's private communications, it nonetheless reveals information about crucial matters such as their associations and their whereabouts," the council says.
Civil liberties group Electronic Frontiers Australia says in a 35-page submission that new mobile telephone technologies would make it easier for agencies to track an individual's movements.
Allowing surveillance of web browsing without a warrant was the equivalent of secretly filming a person as they went about their daily lives, EFA says.
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties said it was vital that such information only be collected after obtaining a warrant, which provided safeguards for people who were otherwise "defenceless".
"The nature of modern communications exacerbates the risk of a slippery slope to excessive access," the council says.
It says there are dangers that innocent third parties could be wrongly caught up in the wide electronic net cast around suspects.
The Attorney-General's Department told the inquiry that the collection of both historic and ongoing telecommunications data was a "very important tool for national security and law enforcement agencies in investigating serious crime and terrorism offences".
The NSW Government yesterday unveiled a series of anti-terrorism measures including tighter regulation of the sale of SIM cards. NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney announced plans to introduce a 100-point identity check for people wishing to buy a mobile phone SIM card.

[Divine Winds]

thats the new freedom.


youre not with al queda are you?

[Lunar Loops]

Originally Posted by Divine Winds

youre not with al queda are you?

Oh yes, a regular cave raver with a flock of pigeons at my disposal.

[Joe Duffy]

God be with the days of one-way pagers, code words and public telephones.

[Divine Winds]

Google developing eavesdropping software
Audio 'fingerprint' for content-relevant ads
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09...ping_software/
(much more on this if one looks)

there is a reverse microphone capability on cell phones too...
not to mention the microwaves...
(mush more on this if one looks)

but like all such things it must be there for our safety...

http://www.infowars.com

http://www.prisonplanet.com

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com

http://www.nw0.info

get active or get radio active!

[Coconut]

It's nice to see some people awake to this kind of crap. Obviously DF has some of the most open-minded people around. *Proud to be here*

I'd just put a slight warning on advertising Alex Jones' websites. A lot of his work is good but he's a sensationalist and a lot of his work is inaccurate and alienating to the public. Can't always win, I suppose.

[Stiney]

Huh, good timing. Something similar although half arsed going on in Ireland aswell.
(from the irish times website)

[top]Mobiles targeted in drug strategy

Pay-as-you-go mobile phones will have to be registered in future under a Government plan to tackle drug dealers and related crime.
Pay-as-you-go mobile phones can be purchased over the counter with no requirement to register the number with a name or address.
In an interview published today, Minister of State with responsibility for drugs strategy Pat Carey said he believed a requirement to register such phones would help tackle the "rampant use" of mobile phones in prisons, as well as the small-time drug dealers operating in the "shopping centre car park, the church car park or the local football field".
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One today about the move, he said: "We are anxious to have it introduced as soon as it is technically possible to do so."
Mr Carey said that up to now, policy had been to try to reduce the supply of drugs but that it was clear that policy had to keep pace with modern technology and that it needed to be monitored.
"We have seen how valuable the ability to track mobile phone traffic has been in bringing criminals to justice in recent times," he said. The Minister accepted there may be civil liberties concerns with such policies but that he believed the fact lives were also at stake would override those.
Mr Carey said the measure was included in the Fianna Fáil and Green Party Programme for Government.]



Because of course dealers always use thier own mobile phones.

[Coconut]

Ireland's slowly following Anglo-America down the path to a Big Brother society. What a surprise.

[Felonious Skunk]

Well us dumb-ass Amerikans won't be truly happy till we've draggen the rest of the world down with us.

It's lonely at the bottom, y'know...