ISV: Internet filter threatens national security
- 23 March, 2010 16:54
- Comments 7
The Federal Government’s proposed ISP-level filtering may have “unintended consequences” on Australia’s national security, local software player, Ey3, claims.
In an open letter, the independent software vendor (ISV) predicted encrypted Internet traffic would increase significantly if a filter was put in place. This would result from highly skilled individuals circumventing the system through technologies like an encrypted virtual private network (VPN), it claimed.
According to Ey3 director, Luke Elin, increased VPN will spell higher and more difficult workloads for government intelligence agencies monitoring Internet traffic.
He also pointed to a recent user survey conducted by broadband community site, Whirlpool, which found 92.6 per cent of respondents did not support the Internet filter. The website boasts more than 300,000 users, several of which are involved in the ICT industry.
“If only these 300,000 plus technically competent people start routinely using encrypted VPN technology, it will make the already difficult job of monitoring Internet traffic and communication [signals intelligence] for the purpose of Australia’s national security significantly more difficult,” Elin said in the letter. “Modern VPNs are very easy to use with minimal cost – from as little as $100 per year.
“VPNs give users a secure, private and very likely completely anonymous Internet connection, making it virtually impossible [or at least very difficult and resource-intensive] for law enforcement and other authorised agencies to monitor criminal and terrorist-related activities that might be occurring.”
Elin expressed support for Canberra Senator, Kate Lundy’s proposal of a filter with the option to opt-out to avoid mass adoption of encrypted VPN technology.
His comments come off the back of the Federal Government’s decision to release submissions received on its Internet filter discussion paper during a public consultation process.
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Comments
robin
There are already lots of "not so high skilled individuals" using VPNs. In Europe it is getting common and more and more offer is coming. Governments will have to find better ways to spy on its users. Excellent info about the subject in tuvpn's blog: http://blog.tuvpn.com/category/english/
Mark Newton
I warned of EXACTLY this vulnerability back in 2008, in an article in CIS Policy Magazine:
http://www.cis.org.au/policy/Summer08-09/newton_summer08.html
The Government has had a year and a half to think about it since then, and they clearly don't care.
It's one thing to put the future of the Australian Internet into the care of a bunch of bureaucrats who have absolutely no idea what they're doing; It's something else to hand it over to those same people and have them reject free offers of education.
- mark
James
I already use a VPN to the USA and Europe depending what I am accessing, and I have 256bit encryption on my newsgroup server.
Also I use open DNS servers and I have been doing these things since the Labor changed it from optional to mandatory censorship.
As I am against this filter I have also been telling all my friends and people I work with how to bypass this filter, and yes I am one of those 300,000 users of whirlpool
mille
I work for a large organisation that employs fairly aggressive URL filtering, and have to tell you it's an absolute pain. There are so many times when I have a work-related need to access a website, usually for engineering information, only to find that it's blocked for some seemingly capricious reason.
Once the general public starts experiencing the pain of regular URL blocking, especially when the inevitable scope creep sets in, I assure you it will be no time before VPN traffic becomes normal even for average Internet users. People are simply not going to put up with it.
And so we will wind up with less speed, greater node congestion and outages, more expense, and an immensely more difficult national security challenge. In the end, what will the filter have achieved? Absolutely nothing. What a waste.
Alison
I woul consider myself an average computer user, and a very conservative, previously law abiding citizen. The idea of mandatory government internet filtering here in Australia horrifies me and if it is made law I will be employing a local nerd (I know at least 5 people who have offered to do this for me so it can't be that difficult) to set up a VPN for my computer and the rest of those in our business to access the internet without government intervention. I suspect we are talking about a lot more than 300,000 users here!!
peterg
VPNs do not provide complete anonymization, as the VPN company is sunject to the laws in the country in which it operates. They do provide an encrypted connection so that your ISP cannot spy on your internet channel. I now use mine routinely with the attitiude of "stuff you conroy, you are not going to invade my privacy and I dont trust the likes of you and your ALP with ANY information about me - Nunnya business". Its sad I have to feel this way about a government in a supposedly democratic county, but that is where the ALP is headed on this issue.
Are the corporate backers <owners> of the ALP now frantically buying futures in VPN and CCTV companies , I wonder?
Medley
Shame on the incompetent and parastical bureaucrats who are the government of the day.
And that idiotic excuse, that of kiddie porn lovers, which is an issue that most of society doesn't care about or find very threatening should be flushed down the toilet.
Kiddie porn lovers are rated about #1000 in terms of today's society hit list.
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