[The article attributes the following sentiment to Police Minister Michelle Robert:"If people had not committed crimes they would have nothing to worry about." Perhaps Michelle will volunteer for forcible DNA testing herself? I hope she will have no objections when concerned citizens forcibly extract DNA from her children, parents, and relatives -- just in case. After all, if they committed no crimes, they should have nothing to worry about. Right? Not to mention the unintended consequences: People witnessing a crime may be more reluctant to call the cops or stick around to provide vital information, knowing they may be handing over their DNA by doing so. --Declan] --- From: "Russell B. Farr" <rustleat_private> Organization: Ticonderoga Publications To: declanat_private Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 07:09:27 +0800 Hi Declan, This may be of interest to the Politech list. POLICE have been given far-reaching powers to take DNA samples from witnesses and victims of crime as well as suspects. Under the Criminal Investigation (Identifying People) Act 2002, which became law at midnight, police can forcibly take a DNA sample when a person refuses to give one. http://www.thewest.com.au/20021120/news/state/tw-news-state-home-sto79302.html (sorry, URL breaks over the line). Cheers! Russell +-+-+-+-+- Somewhere in Narrogin Brewing +-+-+-+-+-+ +- http://members.iinet.net.au/~rustle/WPA +- Writer +- http://members.iinet.net.au/~rustle +-+-+-+- Punk +-+-+-+-+-+-+- just a dolphin in the net +-+-+-+-+-+ --- Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 16:30:40 +1100 From: Red Wolf <redwolfat_private> Organization: Red Wolf Web Design To: declanat_private Subject: Article: Telstra defends eavesdropping hey Declan Thought you'd find this of interest for the Politechbot list. Australians don't have to just worry about the law enforcement community spying on them, we also have to contend with the telecommunications industry abusing their rights. I guess the moral of the story is: don't complain about bad phone service if you value your privacy. Jodi Red Wolf ----------------------------------------------------------------------- http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5525314%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html Telstra defends eavesdropping Wires NOVEMBER 20, 2002 TELSTRA did not tap customers' phones but had the right to listen in to conversations if people complained about a fault, the telecommunications giant said. Telstra admitted the company had listened in to the phone calls of Brisbane businesswoman Ann Garms during a dispute with the company in the early 1990s, and passed the information on to lawyers. But Telstra managing director of corporate and human resources Bill Scales took offence at senators asking about Telstra's phone tapping policy during an estimates committee hearing. He said Telstra had only been trying to fix Mrs Garms' phone line and would do the same for any customer who complained about a fault. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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