#NSA loses bulk #metadata as Asio gains it? -rolls eyes-

We Aussies used to joke that being behind the rest of the world was a good thing because it allowed us to avoid the mistakes made by other countries. Sadly, that comforting myth has now been blown out of the water. We are not learning from others’ mistakes; it’s just taking us longer to make the same ones.

As reported by Venturebeat, the US passed a law to stop the NSA from sucking up bulk metadata six months ago. That law is now coming into effect. From here on in, the NSA will have to seek permission to access the metadata of individuals and groups – i.e. it will now have ‘oversight’ instead of being a loose cannon. Thank you Edward Snowden.

You can read the complete article here: https://wordpress.com/read/post/feed/26908997/874653569

Now if only Australia had a government with vision instead of one that runs around like Chicken Little screaming ‘the sky is falling! the sky is falling!’

For far too long, this country has been governed by men who cling to power by making us afraid.

• They began by demonizing refugees [John Howard],
• then they scared us about the economy [Joe Hockey]
• and ISIL – ‘They’re coming to get us’ [Tony Abbott].

Now they want us to accept constant, unsupervised surveillance in the name of ‘safety’. This despite knowing that the covert surveillance of metadata carried out by the NSA did not work.

But we shouldn’t be surprised because the sky was never really falling. Or at least not where our leaders want us to look. It’s falling in the areas they don’t want to touch – like dirty coal and climate change.

Wake up Australia. We’re being conned, and it isn’t even as if we don’t know it. We are turning a blind eye to all that’s genuinely wrong with the world because it suits the government to keep us afraid. Fear makes us malleable and easily led.

Not quite the brave, up-yours, larrikin attitude of the Aussie, is it?

We can do better, Australia, a lot better.

Meeks