Beyond Green launches campaign to have Australian public cc George Brandis in all their e-mails
AN AUSTRALIAN activist group has launched a campaign to give the country’s top attorney exactly what he wants. But he isn’t likely to be very happy about it.
GEORGE Brandis is so curious about our communications that one helpful group of Australians has pledged to “cc” the attorney general in all their e-mails.
That’s the not-so-subtle premise of a new campaign launched yesterday which is either a misguided attempt at patriotism or an ingenious display of civil disobedience.
Presumably, the latter.
The organisation responsible for the initiative is called Beyond Greenand seek to run creative activist campaigns to “introduce innovative, necessary and brave policy into Australian political culture.”
Ben Pennings is the convener of the group and is one of the masterminds behind the stunt.
He says that the Curious George campaign — which likens Mr. Brandis to the eponymous children’s character — is exactly what the politician is asking for with the data retention plan he’s been championing.
“They want to know what we’re up to, they want to know who we’re talking to” so here it is, he says.
Given that the senator is noticeably absent on “electronic graffiti” platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, Mr. Pennings sees this is an easy way in which people can send the senator all the information he’s been coveting.
Like a DDoS attack used by hackers, the campaign (if embraced by enough people) would effectively render the e-mail account useless.
As to whether that constitutes harassment, the Beyond Green convener feels that it pales in comparison to the harassment that is charging the Australian public for spying on their own population.
It’s not just the intrusive nature of the new scheme that the group is concerned with, but also the exorbitant price tag that accompanies it.
The projected cost of the data retention plan is $400 million a year “and it’s likely to be a bit more than that,” said Mr. Pennings.
The concern over a price rise was included in the data retention report released by the government last week.
It turns out the cost modelling carried out for the government by consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers did not include the cost of encrypting the data for protection against external access — something that will be unequivocally necessary.
After just over two months of operation, Mr. Pennings says the independent group has around a hundred volunteers.
The Curious George campaign, which launched yesterday, represents one of their first actions and thus far over 300 hundred people have signed up to include Mr. Brandis in their daily e-mails.
Given that people are just beginning to hear about it, Mr. Pennings is expecting that number to increase dramatically. “People love it,” he said “they find it hilarious.”
As for senator Brandis, he has always maintained the need for data retention.
In an interview on ABC TV’s 7.30 program, Mr. Brandis responded to questions about the ineffectiveness of data retention by imploring the Australian public to trust the authorities.
“There are a variety of views about this, but I can assure you … that the overwhelming view of the policing and law-enforcement authorities is that this [metadata] is an essential tool in relation to crime,” he said.
So far this morning, Mr. Pennings hasn’t received any response from the office of the attorney general but if anything, he expects gratitude.
“Given the budgetary position, I think they would be happy is we saved them some money,” he quipped with a tone full of indignation.
When it comes to Australia’s new data retention scheme, he has a single, and defiant mantra:
“If you can’t beat them, join them.”
And so it has begun:
Harassing senators off the line pic.twitter.com/KE1SHS58Du
— Luke Vurens (@LukeVurens) March 2, 2015— Emily Lockwood (@elockwood_) March 2, 2015Technically not “cc-ing” but gets the point across.
News.com.au has contacted Mr Brandis’s office who have chosen not to comment.
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