Police Warrant: reasonable grounds to suspect an offence?Federal and state police now have the power to use computer spyware to gather evidence in a broad range of investigations after legal changes last week.
The Surveillance Devices Act allows police to obtain a warrant to use software surveillance technologies, including systems that track and log keystrokes on a computer keyboard. The law applies to the Australian Federal Police and to state police investigating Commonwealth offences.
Critics have called the law rushed and imbalanced, saying police will be able to secretly install software to monitor email, online chats, word processor and spreadsheets entries and even bank personal identification numbers and passwords.
Irene Graham, executive director of watchdog Electronic Frontiers Australia, said the law went too far in allowing police surveillance.
"The legislation has been passed without the proper scrutiny and the ALP is too afraid to stick to their guns and oppose it," she said.
Ms Graham also believed the act could override parts of the Telecommunications Interception Act, which tightly regulated telecommunications monitoring.
In addition to redefining the kinds of surveillance devices that can be used, the Surveillance Devices Act allows surveillance for offences far less serious than those allowed under the Telecommunications Interception Act.
Warrants to intercept telecommunications can only be obtained to investigate offences carrying a maximum jail term of seven years or more. However, Surveillance Devices Act warrants can be obtained for offences carrying a maximum sentence of three years.
Ms Graham said the three-year benchmark was too low and the act went too far in setting out circumstances in which police could use surveillance devices.
A warrant could be obtained under the act if an officer had reasonable grounds to suspect an offence had been or might be committed and a surveillance device was necessary to obtain evidence.
The act also has secrecy provisions making it an offence to publish information on an application for, or the existence of, a surveillance warrant.
Electronic Frontiers is concerned that key-logging software can even record words written and then deleted or changed and thoughts that are not intended for communication.
Related:
1) : a reasonable ground in fact and circumstance for a belief in the existence of certain circumstances (as that an offence has been or is being committed, that a person is guilty of an offence, that a particular search will uncover contraband, that an item to be seized is in a particular place, or that a specific fact or cause of action exists).
And even if it does not exist they will have more opportunity to either fabricate that evidence or find something else they can smear you with.
Same as if they raided everyone's home a fair percentage will have something illegal but not otherwise criminal but simply an excuse for the spying warrant.
It can be claimed for instance that by showing a download of a captured photo generally available on the net that a person was spying on certain government infrastructure especially when it's picked up by main stream media and beamed around the country.
By Rob O'Neill and Just Us 13 December 04
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