The convention that protects MPs was dealt a blow, but MPs minds may be swayed on what privacy against surveillance the law affords the rest of us.
Former ASIO head David Irvine saw data retention and metadata as effective counter-terror measures. But experience overseas is proving otherwise.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The value and utility of the NSA’s metadata retention programs – which formed the template for Australia’s metadata regime – have too often been over-exaggerated.
As Wikileaks reveals yet more details of the astonishing extent of GCHQ mass surveillance, where is the proof that bulk data collection even works?
Police in NSW will soon be equipped with body cameras – as will their counterparts on Queensland’s Gold Coast in domestic violence incidents.
AAP/Andi Yu
Police-worn body cameras could be a helpful tool for law enforcement in cases involving domestic violence. But they could also have unintended consequences.
A police helicopter and a police drone fly over a street march in Baltimore, Maryland, following the April 2015 death in custody of young black man Freddie Gray.
Reuters/Adrees Latif
The use of drones by authorities has increased around the globe. In the US, drones have been used not only for police surveillance and in operations, but also to patrol its southern borders.
Courts uphold laws on human rights online in the face of poorly drafted, draconian laws.
court by Peter Fuchs/shutterstock.com
Government could be forced to repeal DRIPA surveillance legislation after court ruling.
A massive military exercise is slated to begin this week throughout the southwestern United States, and last for the duration of the summer.
Wikimedia Commons
Four decades on, in a digital era of surveillance and data storage, Watergate remains a useful yardstick for assessing the value of source confidentiality.
Nothing sinister, just taking a quick peek.
Smit via Shutterstock
US intelligence agencies can no longer collect and store the telecommunications data of US citizens but other countries are strengthening their efforts.
Nothing of what William’s subjects had in life escaped the Domesday Book. Today, more covertly, those in power are using mass surveillance to collect all the digital details of our lives.
Flickr/Andrew Barclay
Almost 1000 years after their ruler demanded every detail of serfs’ lives, the digital age and mass surveillance are creating a new and undemocratic imbalance between citizens and those with power over them.
Exasperating both the White House and the Republican leadership
Handout/Reuters
The expiry at midnight, Sunday of three key provisions of the Patriot Act has thrown Washington into turmoil and halted surveillance programs – a panel of scholars gives their verdicts.
“I’m looking forward to the day all this needle-hunting is computerised, to be honest.”
Jean-François Millet
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals went beyond striking down the NSA’s metadata surveillance program; the court also created a road map for Congress to balance privacy and security issues
Legislation is passed in France that would see state surveillance powers scale towards those in the US and UK.
Notions of the ‘right to know’ forced Hillary Clinton to defend her use of a private email account as secretary of state - a far cry from the days when citizens didn’t even know how their representatives voted.
EPA/Andrew Gombert
The idea of the right to know as the ‘lifeblood of democracy’ is a surprisingly modern development. And in an age when transparency is prized, privacy and secrecy can still be justified in many cases.
Miriam Stannage, The White House [chainsaw], 1999, digital photograph.
Copyright and courtesy of the artist.
As governments gain greater access to private information there is a need to protect our freedoms. Artists can make a distinct contribution to this debate by offering alternative perspectives.