Refusal to assist authorities could land people with 10 years in jail.
The Australian government has put forward its Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020 that would hand the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) three new warrants for dealing with online crime. The first warrant is a data disruption warrant, which according to the Bill’s explanatory memorandum is intended to be used to prevent «continuation of criminal activity by participants, and be the safest and most expedient option where those participants are in unknown locations or acting under anonymous or false identities». The second is a network activity warrant that would allow the AFP and ACIC to collect intelligence from devices that are used, or likely to be used, by those subject to the warrant. «This means that data does not have to be stored on the devices, but can be temporarily linked, stored, or transited through them,» the memorandum states. «This will ensure data that is unknown or unknowable at the time the warrant is issued can be discovered, including data held on devices that have disconnected from the network once the criminal activity has been carried out.» The last warrant is an account takeover warrant that will allow the agencies to take control of an account for the purposes of locking a person out of the account. «Any other activities, such as accessing data on the account, gathering evidence, or performing undercover activities such as taking on a false identity, must be performed under a separate warrant or authorisation,» the memorandum said. «Those actions are not authorised by an account takeover warrant.
