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The bill allows our previously Foreign-intel Spy Agency extra domestic powers to (a) assist other agencies like the police and (b) undertake mass domestic surve
by mattdw 13y ago
The bill allows our previously Foreign-intel Spy Agency extra domestic powers to (a) assist other agencies like the police and (b) undertake mass domestic surveillance with very little oversight in the name of "cybersecurity" and "economic security"
It's point (b) that's causing the real controversy, particularly since we're in the 5-eyes network and thus the GCSB are likely data-sharing with everyone else in the network (e.g. NSA, GCHQ.)
In reality the GCSB has been caught illegally spying on NZers, so the new bill is a rush-job to retroactively legalise it, but it's just ridiculously vague, and without even the protections of the US FISA court.
The oversight regime is that warrants are issued by the Prime Minister (the leader of the majority government party) and/or the Director of the GCSB (currently an old school-buddy of the current Prime Minister.) There's an auditor/investigator (one guy) who will get to review things once a year after the fact, although amendments to the bill might make it a panel of three doing the reviewing.
- mattdw 13y ago(The companion bill to the GCSB bill, the TICS bill, mandates backdoors/"interception capabilities" for the GCSB in any network or "over the top" systems, which appears to include foreign cloud services. No one is sure how that is possibly going to fly, although Microsoft and Mega have both suggested they'll be pulling cloud services out of NZ if the bill passes.)
- aidos 13y agoThe Law Society of NZ has detailed their opposition over the bill [1]. And to really get a grasp on the insanity - watch the Prime Minister likening the system to virus protection [2] - then walking out of the press conference (after saying the Law Society are wrong). [1] http://www.lawsociety.org.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/68389/Government-Communications-Security-Bureau-and-Related-Legislation-Amendment-Bill-140613.pdf http://www.lawsociety.org.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/683... [2] http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-Key-walks-out-of-press-conference/tabid/423/articleID/309655/Default.aspx http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-Key-walks-out-of-press-conferen...