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Articles on Civil liberties

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What if even you didn’t know your own password? Password via shutterstock.com

Why we should not know our own passwords

As searches of smartphones and other digital devices at US borders become more common, can research and computer science help protect travelers’ privacy?
Ak Orda, the President’s Residence in Astana. Nurseit Niyazbekov

Will oil-rich Kazakhstan ever embrace democracy?

An abundance of natural resources has helped Kazakhstan attract billions in investments. Despite its booming economy, the government is unlikely to move towards democracy any time soon.
Criminals who hide their computers shouldn’t go free. Computer criminal via shutterstock.com

Don’t let cybercriminals hide from the FBI

If a computer search would qualify for a warrant if its whereabouts were known, why should simply hiding its location make it legally unsearchable?
A police helicopter and a police drone fly over a street march in Baltimore, Maryland, following the April 2015 death in custody of young black man Freddie Gray. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Police militarisation takes off with weaponised crowd-control drones

The use of drones by authorities has increased around the globe. In the US, drones have been used not only for police surveillance and in operations, but also to patrol its southern borders.
President Barack Obama and his inner circle follow the assassination of Osama bin Laden, which made headlines worldwide but is seemingly unimportant four years on. EPA/Pete Souza/White House handout

Osamacide, ‘justice’ and the deadly legacy of Bin Laden

Memories of the killing of Osama bin Laden are fading, but the legacies of al-Qaeda and the war on terror’s many ‘own goals’ haunt us in the form of multiplying threats and lost civil liberties.
Anyone teaching encryption without first getting clearance from the government could soon be wearing these. banspy/Flickr

Paranoid defence controls could criminalise teaching encryption

The government’s Defence Trade Controls Act effectively makes teaching encryption a criminal act and considers even a simple calculator as a potential weapon.
Broadcaster Derryn Hinch is a prominent campaigner for US-style sex offender registries, but it is important to be aware of their limitations. AAP/Dan Peled

Sex offender registers don’t mean we can assume children are safe

Western Australia was the first state in the nation to allow public access to a sex offender register online. The public needs to understand how it works to avoid a false sense of security.
Turning the other cheek: Stephen Gough. David Cheskin/PA Archive

How the end of the ASBO could make naked ramblers of us all

Stephen Gough – widely known as the Naked Rambler – has lost his case at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which disagreed that his repeated convictions and jail terms violated his rights…
The new laws would make it easier for authorities to prevent people fighting in foreign conflicts, as happened to this man arrested in December for allegedly attempting to travel to Syria. AAP/Australian Federal Police

Bill targets foreign fighters before departure and after return

The Abbott government has today introduced the second tranche of its national security amendments – the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill 2014 – into the Senate. As its name…

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