Snowden says Australia watching its citizens ‘all the time,’ slams new metadata laws

https://img.rt.com/files/news/3f/4e/d0/00/snowden-work-russia-nsa.jpg

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden accused Australia of undertaking mass surveillance of its citizens and passing laws on the collection of metadata that he says do not protect society from acts of terrorism.

Snowden, addressing the Progress 2015 conference in Melbourne via satellite link, criticized Australia's new metadata laws, which allow the government and intelligence agencies to keep a constant watch on citizens.

"What this means is they are watching everybody all the time,” the former NSA contractor-turned-whistleblower said. “They're collecting information and they're just putting it in buckets that they can then search through not only locally, not only in Australia, but they can then share this with foreign intelligences services.”

Australia has passed controversial laws that require telecommunications firms to retain their customers’ phone and computer metadata for two years.

Snowden decried this disturbing trend, warning that regardless of what you are doing “you're being watched."

He compared Australia's mass surveillance system to that being used in the UK.

"Australia's role in mass surveillance around the world is similar to the UK and the Tempora program," he said.

http://www.rt.com/news/257193-snowden-australia-surveillance-metadata/

The individual banks are watching our transactions. The schools are watching students' academic progress. The employers and supervisors are watching our work performance. Telstra is watching our telecommunications. Drivers on the road are watching the actions of other drivers.

What is this Snowden guy's actual point? I already know that people monitor my activities "all the time". The police have records of every person of legal criminal responsibility, no matter if they have committed an offence or not. Just the other week, I was pulled up by police for an identification check. They asked if I had seen suspicious activity, and I told them what had been happening in the area. It was their way of monitoring who I was, and if I could help them in their job.

Does Edward Snowden have a job these days? He seems like a person more concerned about the rights of terrorists, rather than the safety of citizens.

UnSubRocky wrote on Aug 30^th, 2015 at 4:26am:

The individual banks are watching our transactions. The schools are watching students' academic progress. The employers and supervisors are watching our work performance. Telstra is watching our telecommunications. Drivers on the road are watching the actions of other drivers. What is this Snowden guy's actual point? I already know that people monitor my activities "all the time". The police have records of every person of legal criminal responsibility, no matter if they have committed an offence or not. Just the other week, I was pulled up by police for an identification check. They asked if I had seen suspicious activity, and I told them what had been happening in the area. It was their way of monitoring who I was, and if I could help them in their job. Does Edward Snowden have a job these days? He seems like a person more concerned about the rights of terrorists, rather than the safety of citizens.

Would you trust this bloke enough to employ him?

You do have a choice, its not compulsory to carry a mobile phone.

I suspect what he says is true.

As usual dope Abbott is converting Australia to a NAZI state and the rightards are all cheering.

Redmond Neck wrote on Aug 30^th, 2015 at 5:18pm:

I suspect what he says is true

I suspect that you would have been as equally sucked in by Lord Haw Haw and Tokyo Rose.... :D

Quote:

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden accused Australia of undertaking mass surveillance of its citizens and passing laws on the collection of metadata that he says do not protect society from acts of terrorism. Snowden, addressing the Progress 2015 conference in Melbourne via satellite link, criticized Australia's new metadata laws, which allow the government and intelligence agencies to keep a constant watch on citizens.

The laws were not passed to protect society from terrorism so that's a false flag from Snowden,

Only a paranoid fool would think that the government is going to watch everyone all the time, how do such stupid people get airtime.

Redmond Neck wrote on Aug 30^th, 2015 at 5:18pm:

I suspect what he says is true. As usual dope Abbott is converting Australia to a NAZI state and the rightards are all cheering.

you are joking right??

we can't even catch the most obvious of Terrorists before they start opening fire in a café...  ::)

re Mechanic.

I don't think he meant that.  At the moment, if we suspected a terrorist, then he can be watched, but the operation must be approved by a judge.  And the recent amendment enable us to detain suspects on terrorism charges without this approval I think for ?7 days.   

What he mean is that the government have / developing a system that can watch everyone, phone records, conversations, etc, without been suspected of a crime, and without approval of the court.   Now, we can debate about if the any system in existence in Australia can effective do this, but even a partial capable system would mean that millions of Australian's privacy and freedom would be spied upon.  Is this truly what we want? 

President Elect, The Mechanic wrote on Aug 30^th, 2015 at 7:51pm:

Redmond Neck wrote on Aug 30th, 2015 at 5:18pm: I suspect what he says is true. As usual dope Abbott is converting Australia to a NAZI state and the rightards are all cheering. you are joking right?? we can't even catch the most obvious of Terrorists before they start opening fire in a café...  ::)

Police mostly spend their time seeking terrorists in donut shops and bars.

Steampipe wrote on Aug 30^th, 2015 at 5:04pm:

You do have a choice, its not compulsory to carry a mobile phone.

I switch my phone off... during the movies. And if I'm really worried, I take the battery out.