On March 19th, 2015 Australia’s Parliament’s House of Representatives passed the recently amended Data Retention Bill. The bill forces Australian internet service providers to collect and store metadata from their customers and allow police warrantless access to the internet browsing history of all Australians. Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott praised the new bill and the politicians that worked to pass the bill in Parliament by saying, “The Australian Federal Police advised me that 90 percent of counter-terrorism investigations involve the use of metadata, as do some 90 percent of child abuse investigations. I want to thank the chairman of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security…the Ministers and Shadow Minister involved but we can’t stop there. We must always be acting to keep our country safe.” It appears that the Australian government will continue to pass new legislation that infringes on citizens’ privacy for the sake of national security.
Source: Luke Hopewell, “Data Retention Bill Passes Aussie House of Reps,” Gizmodo Australia, March 19, 2015, http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/03/data-retention-bill-passes-parliament/.
Student Researcher: Jack Macharyas (Indian River State College)
Faculty Evaluator: Elliot D. Cohen (Indian River State College)