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The nation’s top spy chief agrees that foreign powers are active at a broader level across Australia’s online space.
ASIO chief Mike Burgess identified China as the nation’s top hacking threat, with its understanding of the domestic telecommunications network now so sophisticated, it could “turn them off, should they need to”.
“They are working actively to understand our systems,” ASIO chief Mike Burgess told the Mitchell Unlimited podcast.
“I believe in some cases they could do it today,” he said.
Mr Burgess urged calm among Australians, as it was unlikely our communications systems would be turned off unless we were at war.
But he warned people should not have highly sensitive conversations in their cars or near their phones, given foreign governments’ ability to listen in.
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Fuck China, US, South Korea and our own companies that spy on us everywhere we go and everything we do. It is mostly an education thing - people don’t understand what the fuck they are doing and buying. They don’t understand how much of their life sits on someone else’s computer where it can be used for practically anything. Blaming it all on China without explaining the real risks is a misdirection. It does nothing to protect people from all the other abuses, some of which our intelligence community will be complicit in supporting.
It isn’t in our sovereign interests for so much of our data and services to be controlled by big companies, often foreign, but it generally isn’t in our individual interests either.
They’re worried the Chinese will understand our systems before we do.
Always has been bitch, let’s go get you some fruit.
Lot of sinophobia being drummed up this year. Almost like they’re manufacturing consent for when shit goes south. Personally i’d just stop sucking up to an insane actor taking a sledge hammer to the delicate trade underpinning keeping a loose peace but i’m not a vaunted politician what would i know.
“But he warned people should not have highly sensitive conversations in their cars or near their phones, given foreign governments’ ability to listen in.”
The thing he didn’t say out loud is that the same warning applies to our own governments abilities to listen in lol
Mr Burgess urged calm among Australians, as it was unlikely our communications systems would be turned off unless we were at war.
Okay…is it not also true that every major defence decision being made at the moment is in relation to the possibility of war in the Pacific against China? I’m not sure why everyone (see federal ministers interviewed by Four Corners tonight) is so blasé about the potential threat of China when it comes to surveillance, whilst simultaneously behaving like China is the enemy when it comes to defence.
I’m not saying a return to the Coalition’s days of antagonism is warranted, but it feels like we’re not doing a very good job of walking the tightrope between China and the US at the moment. Both major powers seem to be getting what they want out of us, but are we getting what we want? Do we know what we want? Or are we sort of just winging it in the moment and hoping we don’t get dragged into a conflict?
