The spying game
The capability for the government to spy on your communications has been in place since well before the events of September 11, 2001. Australian law dictates that all communications carriers must allow law enforcement and intelligence agencies to intercept the signals and data they relay. Thus, equipment used in Australia is equipped with an interception capability.
The Government's role in actually developing this technology is seldom spelled out, however. The Defence Signals Directorate, Australia's equivalent of the United States National Security Agency, actually employs engineers in research and development to develop voice and data interception technology.
The technical capability of Australia's DSD is impressive, it even shunted off mobile phone triangulation software to the United States Government in the '90s, according to an inside source who spoke to ZDNet Australia on a strict condition of anonymity.
Fortunately, says the source, the agency takes its charter very seriously. It's not allowed to spy on Australian citizens, and by all accounts the bureaucrats who run the show make sure that doesn't happen. Other bodies, like the Australian Federal Police, are allowed to spy on Australian citizens, but only if they have an interception warrant, which is granted by the courts. ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation), on the other hand, can intercept communications on the authority of the Attorney General and it doesn't need a court granted warrant.
Thankfully, since September 11, 2001, the Government hasn't given agencies carte blanche to engage in open-slather spying. But it has altered legislation to allow agencies to spy on suspected terrorists, if a warrant is obtained.
But let's look at the interception capability of the Australian government:
* Fixed line interceptions
We've known for a long time that the government has the capability to intercept calls made from fixed line telephones. All manner of agencies and state authorities can intercept calls, subject to due process.
* Text messages
Think very hard before sending that text message about blowing up the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor. Telecommunications companies store SMS messages after they have been delivered to phones, and law enforcement agencies can apply to the courts for warrants to seize them as a "stored communication".
* GSM interceptions
The government can not only listen to your calls, courtesy of interception capabilities built into GSM gear by companies like Ericsson (and others), but they can pinpoint your location, too. Some of this technology was developed at the Defence Signals Directorate by the Australian government, sources told ZDNet Australia.
* International telephone calls
Thanks to facilities like Pine Gap in the Northern Territory, the Australian government can spy on the communications of countries like North Korea and China using signal intercepts relayed to the Australian ground station from satellites. This can include phone calls or radio communications, including military communications about troop movements. Pine Gap's staff is split between Australian and US personnel. It's the largest CIA-manned facility outside the United States, and a building block of the US-Australia alliance. Also used for over the horizon radar.
* Internet communications
ISPs in Australia (carriers) are required to offer interception capabilities to government agencies. An AFP agent, for example, can turn up to an ISP with an interception warrant, and the service provider can set up a VPN (virtual private network) tunnel to send data directly to the agency's facilities.
But despite a solid interception capability, it's entirely possible for terrorists and criminals to communicate anonymously and privately over the Internet by using encryption technologies. Dr Eugene Spafford of Purdue University in the United States has advised US Presidents Clinton and Bush Jr on Internet security. Spafford told ZDNet Australia terrorists are using the Internet for everything from communications and coordination efforts to the distribution of propaganda.
"They're good at using technology for communication; satellite phones ... several terrorist groups of different forms, revolutionaries in different countries use the computer as a means of communicating anonymously," he says. "It's not possible to trace from cell to cell. It [the Internet] is good for that."
And there are products available that make intercepting your phone calls virtually impossible. Les Goldsmith, of Electronic Surveillance Detection, an Australian company that offers Technical Surveillance Counter-Measure (TSCM) services, also sells GSM compatible mobile phones equipped with strong encryption. If both callers are using one of these phones, which use military grade encryption, the call cannot be intercepted.
"If you want to make sure that there is no opp for someone to intercept your call, the only way to do that is to use end-to-end encryption," he told ZDNet Australia in a telephone interview. "If there is a GSM intercept it's going to just receive encrypted data."
The Cryptophones are popular with government agencies and some large corporations that are eager to ensure foreign nations or competitors aren't listening in, Goldsmith says. "We try to stay away from the criminal element," he adds.
Indeed, a document held by an Australian intelligence agency discussing the dissemination of fundamentalist videos -- including those showing beheadings -- shows little can be done. Here is an excerpt from the discussion paper seen by ZDNet Australia:
"One of the terrorists' problems with sending out videos in 2003 was their size -- this has inadvertently been resolved by the release of new Californian software titled YouSendIt. It creates anonymous [emphasis added] Web sites with multiple links for viewing software which can also be compressed. There are now more than one million file transfers a day using this software. The US has no means of legitimately stopping messages and beheading videos from being disseminated from a large number of international sites."
Nasty people with nasty motives can hide behind encryption and anonymity on the Internet ... something the Attorney General is trying to counter. In fact, Australians are being snooped on like never before.
In May, Attorney General Phillip Ruddock announced an AU$87 million funding boost for the Australian Federal Police's surveillance program. The money, to be spent over four years, will be used on new equipment and a coordination centre designed to organise collected intercepts.
"The quality and quantity of intelligence coming into and out of the AFP has increased enormously in the past four years," a statement touting the initiative said. "The AFP will ... establish a single facility to manage the collection, monitoring, recording and evidence preparation of terrorism-related electronic surveillance material."
