New Email Monitoring Laws Proposed

New Email Monitoring Laws Proposed

By Greg McNevin

April 14, 2008: New laws proposed by the Federal Government could give employers the right to sift through their employee’s inboxes and otherwise monitor their computer networks in the name of preventing cyber-attacks.

Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland claims that the new laws are being developed by the government as a means of countering terrorism, and would include changes to the telecommunications act.

“At least 90 per cent of networks exist outside government but there's no powers for corporate network supervisors to intercept such communications unless they have specific authority from the employee," Mr McClelland told Fairfax newspapers.

“There needs to be protocols and guidelines developed so companies can protect their own networks.”

The laws have drawn criticism from civil rights groups, who claim that new powers given to employees could be abused, however, according to Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard the proposed alterations are about beefing up Australia’s national security.

“We want to make sure that [Australia’s computer networks] are safe from terrorist attack," Ms Gilliard told Channel Nine.

“Part of doing that is making sure we've got the right powers to ensure that we can tell if there's something unusual going on in the system.”

If the legislation is passed the new laws could come into effect by the middle of 2009.

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