I found a couple of articles mentioned on Slashdot about a new surveillance laws in Australia, and one about some unexpected information ‘cleansing’.

A chilling story from the SBS World News Australia about how Carmel Travers, a film maker was visited by the Australian government:

"The government officials responsible claimed they were from the Attorney-General’s Department, and spent a day trawling through her computers, looking for sensitive information. When they found any, they smashed the hard drives with a hammer to make sure it was really erased. They referred to the process as ‘cleansing’. . . .

These new anti-terrorism laws hang like the sword of Damocles over anyone who becomes caught up in the world of national security. In this case, no warrants were issued under the ASIO act as everyone agreed to the cleansing. If they had resisted, they could have faced possibly five years in jail, and even talking about the fact that the cleansing had taken place would have been a crime. It raises the question of how many secret raids, destruction of research and even intimidation of witnesses may have have taken place."

The Sydney Morning Herald also has a story about how a new Australian law allows government surveillance of any civilians without a warrant if they have ever corresponded with someone suspected of a crime. We all know how broad that definition can be…

Already on its way to your country.

The Register has an April Fools story about China buying Google.

Although it is just a joke, the article does illustrate the dangers of Internet companies that gather your personal data.

Knowledge is power. Your personal data in the wrong hands is power over you. Your personal data is being aggressivly harvested by these companies and will probably never be deleted, even after you push the delete button. Someday Google won’t be run by two college kids from Stanford anymore.