The Australian government will propose to “update Australia’s...

The Australian government will propose to “update Australia’s telecommunication interception law, which predates the internet era,” said the government in a Tuesday news release (http://bit.ly/1srjewQ). It said the proposal is part of a new slate of counter-terrorism measures, to be introduced soon. The legislation will “increase intelligence collection and assessment to better understand the onshore and offshore threat,” the government said, not providing specifics. It did assure “these powers will also be balanced with proper oversight to protect the individual rights of Australians, including their right to privacy,” without elaborating. The Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday that the proposal will include a mandatory two-year data retention for telecom and Internet companies (http://bit.ly/1kkJCHv). But Australian Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull said in an interview posted to his website that such a retention timeline “hasn’t come to Cabinet yet and I'm not in a position to add to the speculation” (http://bit.ly/1zQY8L5). The U.K. government was widely criticized in recent weeks by privacy and civil rights groups for fast tracking a surveillance bill that included data retention mandates for companies (CD July 18 p16).