The conflict between the Government’s mass surveillance legislation and their new cybersecurity unit

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The Government’s new cybersecurity unit is in direct conflict with the mass surveillance laws National passed in 2013.

The announcement of the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) with its new $22million budget is being sold to NZ as some sort of big cuddly Government Department that protects NZ business from cyber attack.

Really?

In 2013, the Government passed something called the TICS legislation. It was the enabling technical legislation passed to allow the GCSB mass surveillance of NZ. What it forced telecommunications to do, was build back doors to all their networks and allow the GCSB access to those back doors. It also included a gagging clause in the legislation which meant if a network was being spied on by the Government, the network owner was gagged to even tell their own clients that their information wasn’t private.

A function of this new Computer Emergency Response Unit will be to inform companies contacting them for help with cyber attacks what their obligations under TICS are, so far from being a place where business can come to get safety, it will be a reminder of how they must build access into every network they possess so the GCSB can use it.

 

8 COMMENTS

  1. It’s going to end up as a game of whack a mole, except there are more moles than whackers….they could just stop and try playing a different game that doesn’t involve destroying other people’s lives?

  2. John Keys “cyber security” mean keeping out whistle blowers while more dodgy plans and actions lead to mass control, and wealth migration from the Kiwi pocket.

  3. It is so massively ironic that this is all being done in the name of “security” only for Key to ensure NZ operates as a tax haven/money laundry, the precise thing that high end criminals of all persuasions want so they can hide their money gained from their criminal activities and or to perform their future criminal activities with. And I just can’t begin imagine who would fit into the latter group!

    Its even more ironic than sending Judith Collins to an anti corruption summit!

  4. Pfft. 22 mill will get you a nice lavatory in the lobby but nothing in the way of countering cyber threats. Youtubers earn 22 mill, so it won’t even be able to compete against youtubers.

    There is only one metric you need to be worried about in countering threats. It all costs money.

  5. Just Key again using the public purse to silence all us lambs?

    Key is another Hannibal Lecter and probably fancies himself as such in a twisted way here read the character of Hannabal Lecter here are some striking similarities here.

    Key similarly is also one awfully sick puppy!

    http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0001399/bio

    Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Character) – Biography – IMDb

    Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen)

    Dr. Lecter is a brilliant forensic psychiatrist. He is also a serial killer and a cannibal, preparing the meat of his victims into tasty dishes for himself and serving them to unsuspecting guests.

    Although he is a killer, Lecter is still a very refined gentleman. He is meticulous in appearance, speaks very precisely, has an impeccable wit, astonishing intellect, and a gourmet palate.

    Lecter is asked by Special Agent Jack Crawford to be Will Graham’s informal psychiatrist, helping him navigate the increasingly disturbing cases Graham encounters and the resulting visions and nightmares he has because of them. In Will, Lecter sees something of a kindred spirit. He is fascinated and impressed with him and Will also feels a spark between them and they begin to work as a team, with Lecter doing his psychoanalyzing on the side.

    While legitimately captivated by Will and the cases that they work on together, Lecter has an ulterior motive. As they work with the BSU team, he gains unprecedented access to the FBI for himself and is able to tailor his killings accordingly.

  6. What a cunning scheme, yet another one. Key is a tricky man, not Mr Cunliffe, who he described as “tricky” before the last general election. John Key is tricky.

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