Australia legalizes police "hacking" of social media

Police in Australia will be able to "hack" social media users' accounts without a court order, according to a new law that quickly passed through the approval stage.

A recent law requires internet service providers to help police hack into social media accounts and applications and spy on users. The law passed through the approval stages very quickly and now police are able to monitor and even seize the accounts of users suspected of serious crimes without a court order.

According to the publication of the Australian Minister of the Interior, the law was passed in order to take the fight against drug trafficking, terrorism and other serious crimes to a new level.

The publication notes that the law covers any offence carrying a prison sentence of three years or more and can be acts not directly related to crime or terrorism. Permission for such police action would be granted by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal instead of the courts.

Many experts have already spoken out against the law and called it a way of turning the police "into a judge, jury and executioner all in one." According to critics, both the wording and the mechanism of the law raise many questions as to its feasibility.

Source: minister.homeaffairs.gov.au

Illustration: David Clode