Secrecy, privacy, security, intrusion

In June 2018, we were driving home behind a Commodore sedan for around 7km when the sun started to hit his rear number plate producing a series of blinding flashes which momentarily blinded me.

I reported it to the Transport Dept and provided a video clip from the GoPro with the audio removed for obvious resaons.

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Correct. That’s what I meant by “specific” and “that aspect of surveillance”.

We already have facial recognition covered. Refer Insane Clown Posse above.

For vehicle number plate surveillance, you will need to take public transport and use an unregistered travel card.

Or you could just #StayHome !

In this case, you don’t want to do that. You want the public record to show that “you” were at home at all times.

I’m not an expert but I believe that a Faraday cage is better at blocking the outside (prevent phone from receiving) than blocking the inside (prevent phone from transmitting). So in theory phone surveillance might still work. It depends in part on whether the surveillance relies on the completion of any kind of handshake - assuming 100% effective screening of anything being received by the phone but a somewhat leaky screening of anything being transmitted by the phone. The handshake may be important because otherwise the detection of the phone may be unauthenticated and hence able to be forged.

That would seem to cover the situation.

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and in other news (mixed): Charges against News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst still possible after High Court throws out AFP warrant - ABC News

The warrant used by Australian Federal Police officers to search the home of News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst last year has been thrown out by the High Court, but police will be allowed to keep the materials they seized in the raid. (my emphasis)

The Commonwealth had asked the High Court to find it should be allowed to keep the material, even if it was obtained illegally.

I wish I could argue that. Yes, officer, most of my income this year was obtained illegally but I would like to be able to keep it.

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The list will no doubt expand over time. Then, of course, there’s the occasional hacker.

The problem is that, over time, sections of the media and politicians have so effectively eroded our trust.

Scientists have been working on that. Here’s the best outcome to date:


It’s a bit front-heavy. :upside_down_face:

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A very unlikely scientific endeavour.

Science says contact tracing is necessary,

What’s your solution?

P.S.
When we consider privacy under Australian Law we are starting from a very low base.

We do not need to agree with how it is. It is what is.

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The one that’s already working for Australia. You do realise, I hope, that contact tracing is already carried out.

We’ll just have to agree to disagree on whether the risks of the high-tech approach are worth taking.

Received a phishing email on my icloud account today. Here’s what it looked like, so if you use Apple at all, do be careful and dont click links. Its been forwarded to reportphishing@apple.com

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Our past (and, unfortunately, our present) comes back to haunt New Zealand.

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An article regarding claims that Tesla vevicle has been hacked.

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My car has a SIM. When I took delivery it was almost like having a new PC with the myriad settings and data sharing and T&C agreements. It periodically requires me to reconfirm or change what data I am willing to share with the manufacturer’s system. In return it provides real time traffic, map updates, system updates, etc. Data sharing can vary from none to almost everything. It seems rudimentary compared to what Ford is doing.

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That to me is terrifying. It is another profit centre for the car maker, and another way to shrink your ever-smaller circle of privacy.

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Interesting, and a bit of an aside. It might also affect the other obvious such as warranty.

Both our vehicles have stickers attached by the tyre company that provided the last replacement. This details pressure settings that are different to the handbook recommendation.

I’d guess the insurer and vehicle importer also need to know. Will they share nicely?

It might be simpler to just use an Uber, wear a clown mask and pay cash. (2 out of 3 are doable)

Car makers generally go for lower pressure - which provides a ‘smoother’ ride but uses more petrol.

For a start, it means that even if you leave your mobile phone at home, you are still being tracked for that part of the journey that is done in the car - even if you avoid a myriad of cameras and toll sensors.

I think this is a bad direction to be going in but I suppose the government will do nothing (they are part winners, part of the problem) and manufacturers will foist it upon us.

How long before you void your warranty unless you consent to keeping the car online to the manufacturer?

Don’t you need an app / account for that? Let’s assume that the car used by the Uber driver itself has the latest in tracking technology.

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And

It seems impossible for the modern world to function without. I suspect I was being a little cheeky. Even wearing a funny mask and paying cash is no assurance of anonymity. You also risk exposure through being so conspicuous.

Many give up so much information. Mostly to invisible foreign businesses, and with hardly a concern for the outcome because we get something (access to a service, trinkets?) in return. Have we reached the point where the only choice remaining is with which enterprise/s we will be sharing our life’s data?

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The government up to its old tricks, expanding the surveillance state.

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill 2020

One fun item, among many:

34FF Involvement of lawyers

Removal of lawyer for disrupting questioning

13(6) If the prescribed authority considers the lawyer’s conduct is unduly disrupting the questioning of the subject, the prescribed authority may direct a person exercising authority under the warrant to remove the lawyer from the place where the questioning is occurring.

Can’t have those pesky lawyers holding the government and its agencies to account.

Bill: Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill 2020 – Parliament of Australia

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I thought ASIO was currently permitted to question subjects without a lawyer being present - so this might involve a slight improvement on current requirements.

Of course, the devil is in the details, and I am not likely to read all of them.

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It could be that ASIO doesn’t have to offer whether the detainee wants the assistance of a lawyer like done by other enforcement agencies?

I wonder if it might be for covert or undercover operations…where one doesn’t know who they are talking to rather than an interrogation room?

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My first exposure to software that monitored web activity and email correspondence in the workplace dates back nearly 20 years. Sys Admins have had access to various tools to observe activities directly on internal networks for much longer, but it was time consuming in comparison.

Some may now ask, have we reached the bottom of the barrel?

Time and motion assessment, 21st century version. Hopefully it dies a quick death, like it’s 20th century predecessor. Reliability and quality of outcomes count?

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It seems like very old news.

I was the same and if anyone works in the public sector or big business and used their resources (computer, smartphones, remote access) to access the internet, it will be monitored and controlled/restricted.

Inductions, HR meetings and refresher training on security, employment agreements/policy and IT changes (such as new systems) all provided reminders of appropriate use of provided resources. We were also told of disciplinary action should one chose to flout the rules.

Occasionally when going to a benign website, the internet security ‘marshall’ software would pop up saying that its system had detected access to the particular website and the access had been logged. The first few times and calls to the IT service desk revealed the ‘marshall’ was not fully perfect and recorded the occasional false positive access. After a while one ignored such automatic notifications when the arose and one was doing the right thing.

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