TOTT News

The government is pushing ahead with plans for a national facial recognition database.

Controversial ‘driver assistance technology’, including black-box data recorders, which monitor everything from a vehicle’s speed to ‘driver condition’, could become mandatory for all new cars in Europe after an approval from the EU.

Experts have warned that international ‘standard approvals’ will force Australian companies to import most new model cars with the same surveillance technology installed.

Federal and state governments have both passed successive legislative amendments in recent years that threaten fundamental rights to protests and freedom of speech in Australia.

The latest installment, amendments to the Crown Land Management Act in Victoria, have been described as “a fundamental attack on democracy”, leaving many experts calling for an audit of increasing draconian measures introduced in the last decade.

The Australian government has passed anti-encryption legislation compelling companies to grant authorities access to encrypted information, in a move analysts say will have vast implications for digital privacy.

The new law, which passed the Senate 44-12 this week (final bill here), will force companies to reveal technical characteristics of digital systems that could help intelligence agencies exploit weaknesses that have not been patched.

The Australian government has released details of a new telecommunications bill that grants agencies new powers to access encrypted communications data, including enhancing the obligations of companies to provide assistance and new warrants to covertly obtain evidence directly from devices.

In the following piece, Ethan Nash breaks down the legislation, including historical and technical contexts, details of both major schedules in the drafted legislation, and reasons for concerns associated with the broadened power scope granted.

Numbers were strong in Brisbane. Photo: TOTT News This weekend, upwards of 3,000 people marched across Brisbane in opposition to the G20 Leaders’ Summit currently taking place at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Center. The protesters – including indigenous groups, anti-capitalists, opponents to transnational corporations and many more – rallied in unison, sending an emphatic […]

The Peoples’ Summit is be a three-day festival of symposiums, idea-sharing, art, creative activities, education and action. It is taking place in various locations in Brisbane November 12-14, before the G20 Leaders Summit. This event aims to bring together local and international thinkers to collaborate on broad themes: The Economy: Growth vs Sustainability, Environment, Climate […]

Scenes at marches over the last week paint a picture of what is to come. Photo: Courier Mail It’s finally here: The week long schedule of collective events for the 2014 G20 Summit kicks off in Brisbane today, and it is imperative that everyone who lives or plans to be in Brisbane understands the new […]

TOTT News – Presenting independent, alternative coverage of the G20 Summit in Brisbane One of the biggest weeks in Brisbane; one of the largest events to ever take place in Australia: As preparations for 2014 G20 Leaders’ Summit begin to take shape, and the city is rapidly transformed in anticipation of guest arrivals from the […]

An in-depth look at all three draconian laws.