p2pnet news view Freedom | Politics:- If you’re Australian and you think it’s okay for your noble leader, Kevin Rudd, to decide what you should see and do online, then you probably won’t be too distressed — or surprised — to learn various agencies, “including the spy agency ASIO, are bugging the telephones of Australian citizens at a rate of more than 20 times their US counterparts”.

The statement comes from Australian IT which says federal parliamentary estimates revealed about 3,000 Australians had their phone calls tapped every year.

In fact, Greens senator Scott Ludlam thinks there’s something, “rather peculiar happening in Australia,” says the story.

“We are per capita vastly more likely to have a telephone intercept than a citizen of the US,” he told the legal and constitutional affairs committee, continuing that on a per capita basis, “Australians were 23 times more likely to have their phones bugged than Americans”.

ASIO chief David Irvine, who took over at the agency six weeks ago, admitted he was “surprised by the figures,” says the post, adding:

“ASIO is one of a number of agencies, including the Australian Crime Commission, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, the Federal Police and state and territory police and intelligence agencies, that can apply for telephone intercept warrants.”

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see and do online – Australia ‘voluntary mandatory’ Net censorship, May 27, 2009
Australian IT -  ASIO bugs 3000 calls a year, May 29, 2009