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Comment by ObsoleteNerd | Hacker News Reader

The timing of this story was incredibly suss. Right before they launched this campaign against encryption, and it just doesn't pass the sniff-test.

Why can't they do some old fashioned police work and interview the girls? Get a warrant and physically monitor his movements to catch him visiting them, or them visiting him? You know... investigate. It's what we pay you to do.

They don't get to treat every single one of us as criminals just because they can't be bothered getting off their arses and doing some work. If I tried to make that excuse to my boss (and I'm public sector like them), they'd laugh at me and tell me to get to work or find a new job.

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They also assume he's guilty whilst simultaneously claiming they have no evidence to demonstrate to a court that guilt. That's contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Art.11).

That's a great point. The whole tone is "we know he is guilty but traditional policing methods have been unable to prove that, therefore we must have these additional powers to prove what we already know".

Also...

> Enquiries showed that he was contacting these females

What are these mysterious enquiries? Why not follow up on those? If one or more of those victims was willing to give access to their devices/accounts they'd get the evidence they needed anyway.

> What are these mysterious enquiries? Why not follow up on those?

I know this is a rhetorical question, but the answer is that the whole "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!" angle is a façade. The real reason to implement any of this is to gain more power over the populace by making meaningful resistance of the government harder.

FTR, Australia long ago gave up any pretence to being an honest supporter of the UNDHR. It has breached it many, many times in recent years, and cynically covers this fact up by referring to the individuals involved as "illegal entrants", "illegal immigrants" and "unauthorised arrivals" .. justifying a long list of heinous crimes committed against these individuals.

Do not fool yourself: Australia is on a slippery slope towards a heinous future, and ignoring the UNDHR is one of the key steps it is taking towards that event horizon. It has never given a damn about the rights of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, by way of example ..

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