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Just an update on things happening in Australia, it's pretty big news here but I haven't seen a thread on it so, here's some back-story (and some things I think are related): On September 15th, Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and other speakers held a conference in NZ to talk about, among other things, Snowden's revelations on how the New Zealand, Australia, Canada, USA and the UK Governments collude on spying, and how they to ignore every single guideline of the privacy laws against their own citizens: The Moment of Truth: (Starts at 22:00 mark; Snowden at 1:00:00 mark) ...Just two or three days before this conference is due, Australian Government decides to heighten it's "Terror Threat Level" to "High", a ridiculous gesture to scare the public, and frame in Australian's mind How Much They Need Their Security Agencies: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-12/australia-increases-terrorism-threat-level/5739466 It has not gone down as yet: http://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/Securityandyourcommunity/Pages/NationalTerrorismPublicAlertSystem.aspx ...One week later, police call a suspected Islamic radical on his mobile and ask for a meeting at the police station - this someone who has posted pictures of himself in camo and a balaclava, in front of an flag of Islam, on FaceBook, apparently along with images of ISIS members. His posts include: "Lets not put the focus on other things. The main message I'm sending with these statuses and photos is to the dogs AFP and ASIO who are declaring war on Islam and Muslims" ...They do not approach this obvious radical with basic precautions - and both police officers end up being stabbed, with the man being shot dead. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/terror-suspect-shot-dead-after-two-police-officers-stabbed-in-endeavour-hills-20140924-10l5d4.html Never Letting A Tragedy Go To Waste, Attorney-General Brandis has pushed for new National Security Laws, which effectively could make the whole of the Australian internet monitorable legally - makes whistle-blowers and journalists unprotected and liable for prosecution as law - and this is now followed by a push for 2 years of internet data retention. http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/consumer-security/parliament-bullied-to-pass-national-security-laws-says-greens-senator-scott-ludlam-20140924-10lir9.html The Greens party, some independents, and the only Libertarian politician with a seat (David Leyonhjelm, LDP), push a for modification to limit this massive over-reach for power - a futile gesture as both major parties, without exception (to my understanding), both voted in favor of the new reforms. Probably most revealing video on the attitudes of the current Attorney-General (by the commie Greens, but helpful to understand what's happening): Final Words as new reforms go through: Some other related videos: Data retention now the latest push: A year ago, the Australian security advisers refusing to even name the agency that's censoring websites off the internet, let alone what they are blocking. (Around 08:00 mark).