Deakin criminologist raises concerns over mass surveillance operations in Australia and Canada.
Deakin criminologist Dr Adam Molnar has been quoted in a CBCnews article examining recent Snowden revelations that identified how Canada’s top security intelligence agency covertly collects and trawls through millions of Internet users’ file downloads as a strategy to identify extremists online. Dr Molnar raised concerns over the operational effectiveness of such blanket surveillance strategies and invited further consideration into the risks to privacy and civil liberties associated with such programs.
Constitutional lawyer and US journalist Glenn Greenwald and Canadian security expert Wesley Wark were also interviewed as part of the story. Click here to read the full article.
Also, on February 2nd, Dr Molnar was in the Australian Parliament providing evidence to the Senate and Legal Affairs Committee (SLAC) on the highly controversial mandatory data retention proposals. The testimony was part of Dr Molnar’s participation as Board Member of the Australian Privacy Foundation (APF). The APF contributed a written submission on the mandatory data retention Bill to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Security and Intelligence (PJCIS) which addresses how similar mandatory data retention legislation has been struck down in the European Union on the basis of human rights violations. The report also cites empirical evidence regarding the very limited effectiveness of bulk collection regimes, the information security and privacy risks posed by bulk collection and storage of metadata, and the threat that such warrantless mass surveillance regimes pose for civil rights, speech, and privacy in Australia. The report suggests that a targeted and proportionate approach that includes necessary safeguards and oversight is sufficient to fulfil the operational needs of law enforcement while also protecting the rights of Australians.
A copy of the report can be found here.