In this week’s Twisted Wire, Julian Burnside describes the case of a Mr Hussain, whose passport was cancelled because of an adverse assessment by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). The case was difficult to defend, because the criteria used to reach the determination were never revealed. Burnside uses this as an example of how ASIO operates with no accountability.

Does it make sense to extend the access that bodies such as ASIO have to more data, unless, at the same time, reforms are introduced to provide lawyers with access to the information the body uses to reach its decisions?

Also this week, John Stanton, CEO of the Communications Alliance, talks about new powers for Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which will allows the regulator to step in and make determinations, irrespective of the telco industry’s new consumer protection code.