The Australian Federal Government is to move to significantly extend the computer surveillance powers of to its domestic spy agency, the Australian Security Information Organisation (ASIO). According to reports in the Australian press, ASIO officers will be permitted to gain remote access to data stored on computer systems by hacking into them. The agency will be able to use hacking in order to assimilate foreign intelligence in Australia and pass the information on to the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS).
Attorney-General, Daryl Williams, justified the move to Parliament last week by saying it was necessary for a more efficient use of ASIOÆs resources. Under the proposed changes, the Attorney-General will have the power to authorize ASIO to access and copy computer data where it would normally be prohibited by commonwealth, state or territorial law.
The Sydney Morning Herald claims the government is acting on the recommendations of a secret report prepared in 1996 by ASIOÆs former deputy director, Gerard Walsh, on policies relating to encryption technology. At the time, the government suppressed the report and it became available only in an abridged form. However in December last year, students uncovered copies of the original which had been mistakenly sent to public libraries. Unabridged copies are now available on the internet with previously omitted sections highlighted in red. Among other things, the report claimed the absence of such investigative tools such as hacking was a privation for the Australian Federal Police, the National Crime Authority and ASIO.
The proposed changes to Australian law also gives ASIO more power to place tracking devices on people and cars.
