Oct. 23, 2014
I mailed this letter to my representatives yesterday, and also by email.
Dear Senator,
I am a member of your constituency, the owner of a successful small
business of ten years, husband, and father.
I oppose mandatory data retention in Australia. As my representative, I
am asking you to reject any proposal implementing data retention in
Australia, and any other increased surveillance of citizens.
The concept that innocence is presumed until guilt is proven is a
cornerstone of our culture and the justice system in our nation. I value
my digital privacy. When I use the Internet, I want secure, private
communication. I don't want to be surveilled and spied upon when I am
not suspected of a crime.
Mandatory data retention will be costly to Internet Service Providers
and other technology-oriented businesses such as mine. These measures
are bad for business and bad for the economy.
Stronger surveillance does not make us safer, it make us less safe. The
presumption that entities tasked with surveilling will not make mistakes
with our data, or face any type of corruption is not correct. As you
know, corruption exists and mistakes with data often happen - they are
unfortunately inevitable.
Our systems of justice and intelligence gathering should protect
citizens against corruption and mistakes as much as they do against
other threats. We already have processes such as warrants that law
enforcement and intelligence agencies can legally use to carry out
investigations and prosecute criminals. We should not be making special
cases that will harm our culture later on just because people feel
irrationally fearful.
Courts around the world are finding data retention mandates
unconstitutional because they violate individual privacy rights. Let's
do the right thing in Australia and stop these proposals before they
become the law.
Please protect my family, my children, and myself from surveillance and
data retention. Please reject any proposal implementing data retention
in Australia, and any other increased surveillance of citizens.
Thank you for your time.
Best regards,
Chris McCormick.
Some of the text in this letter comes from the Stop The
Spies website..
