[htgb]

Not really. See the trial against the founders of The Pirate Bay for example, and the controversies surrounding it. Also, the FRA surveillance. Also, according to the ISP Bahnhof, the police at least used to submit lots of data requests without a court order and for non-serious crimes.

AIUI, Bahnhof and other VPN providers stay in the clear by avoiding storage of data in the first place. They can be compelled to hand over any data they have, but not to log any additional data. (ISPs etc are forced to log more data IIRC.)

At least there's nothing like the Australian laws for forcing and gagging developers.

[guerrilla]

> At least there's nothing like the Australian laws for forcing and gagging developers.

Actually I'm not so sure that's true. I'm pretty sure similar gag orders have been mentioned in episodes of P1's Gräns. Might want to double check that...

[nichch]

Could you elaborate on the Australian laws?

[vermilingua]

There are two major pieces of legislation [1][2] that have been enacted in the last few years that have eliminated any expectation of privacy and security in Australia.

The AABill introduced warrants that can be handed down without judicial oversight that compel the recipient (individual or institution) to grant (or, critically, develop the means to grant) read access to any system to the government; while simultaneously acting as a gag order preventing disclosure of the warrant's existence. Violating this gag order would incur jail time.

The IDBill introduced warrants that allow the government to "disrupt data by modifying, adding, copying or deleting data in order to frustrate the commission of serious offences online" and further allows them to impersonate the online profiles of a person deemed significant to a criminal investigation.

Both of these bills were rushed through parliament with minimal opportunity for public comment. Where public comment (from the legal, tech, and human rights arenas) was made, it was universally negative. We have just ousted the government that drove these bills, but the new government (supposedly considerably more left leaning) supported both these bills with minimal opposition and has made no public plans to repeal or amend this legislation.

A previous Prime Minister once said (not in regards to these particular laws): “The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia.”

[1] Assistance and Access Bill (2018): https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislat...

[2] Identify and Disrupt Bill (2021): https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislat...

[spartanatreyu]

As an Australian, I may or may not be able to discuss said laws.

This should or should not tell you enough...

[dannyw]

Ass. Access Act.