They plan on protesting against the introduction of the new legislation

Aug 7, 2012 07:09 GMT  ·  By
Anonymous plans on protesting against the Australian privacy and security reform
   Anonymous plans on protesting against the Australian privacy and security reform

The Anonymous community is warning Internet users of a bill proposed by Australian officials that’s meant to reform privacy and security laws.

“We are all familiar with draconian bills such as SOPA and CISPA which aim to prevent online piracy, but this paper and its recommendations are Orwellian in their scope and power,” the hacktivists wrote on the AnonPR blog.

They explain that the legislation would force ISPs and websites – including search engines and social networks – to monitor online activity and store logs for a period of two years.

“Australians would be forced to hand over all online passwords to Banking sites, social networking sites and websites such as eBay to law enforcement if asked to do so, or face jail time,” Anonymous representatives added.

“But the true death of online privacy comes with the proposal that everything you do – from social networking, emails, web browsing, chat sessions, Skype sessions and so on would be monitored, stored and made available to government intelligence agencies as and when needed.”

They warn internauts that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) will gain the power to remotely access any computer, even without a court document.

“This horrifying breach of personal privacy must not be allowed to take shape. Hackers have shown countless times the ease at which they can access and retrieve personal data stored by corporations, and now the Australian governments want to force them to store even MORE in an attempt to spy on its own people and pry into the private lives of innocent Australians.”

Anonymous has become involved in many protests against cybersecurity laws: in some cases they came out victorious and some of their battles have been lost.

For instance, in Ireland, despite numerous hack attacks and protests, the European Union (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2012, also known as the Irish SOPA, became a law back in March.

On the other hand, the Canadian C-30 Internet monitoring bill, proposed by Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, has been declared dead.