Aussie spies could tap entire internet; Symantec settles on new CEO

The Australian Senate last week passed laws that would allow ASIO to monitor every device on the internet, according to news reports.

The laws passed the Senate 44 votes to 12, with bipartisan support from Labor, according to Fairfax.

The bill in question - National Security Legislation Amendment Bill (No 1) 2014 - will now move to the House of Representatives. And with a Coalition majority in the lower house, the legislation’s passage through that house seems likely.

According to Fairfax, the bill would mean ASIO needed just a single warrant to access a limitless number of computers on a computer network when attempting to monitor a target.

Commentators claim that this would allow ASIO to monitor the entire internet, as it is a ‘network of networks’.

Fairfax said Greens Senator Scott Ludlam proposed an amendment that would limit the number of computers ASIO could access with a single warrant to just 20 - but the amendment failed to gain support from Labor or the government.

“What we’ve seen … is, I think, a scary, disproportionate and unnecessary expansion of coercive surveillance powers that will not make anybody any safer but that affect freedoms that have been quite hard fought for and hard won over a period of decades,” Ludlam told Fairfax after the bill was passed.

ASIO will reportedly be able to copy, delete, or modify data stored on any of the computers it has a warrant to monitor.

The laws would also allow journalists and whistleblowers to be imprisoned for up to 10 years for disclosing classified information, according to Fairfax.

However, Attorney General George Brandis reportedly said that the new bills did not target journalists specifically, but rather those who leaked classified information.

Symantec’s leadership quest over

Michael Brown has been appointed permanent CEO of Symantec, effective immediately. Brown had served as interim CEO since March 2014, after then-CEO Steve Bennett was fired.

Schulman said at the time that the decision to let Bennett go was “the result of an ongoing deliberative process, and not precipitated by any event or impropriety”.

But an unnamed New York Times source said that the board voted to oust Bennett after deciding he was not moving quickly enough to innovate on new products and growth initiatives.

Now, Symantec chairman Dan Schulman said that “after conducting a broad and thorough search” the board has “unanimously chosen Mike to lead Symantec into the future”.

Schulman said that, as interim CEO, Brown “made significant improvements to Symantec’s operating and financial performance and brought additional talent to our industry-leading team”.

A special committee of Symantec’s board of directors worked with executive search firm Russell Reynolds over the last six months to find a new CEO. According to Symantec, the search reviewed more than 100 qualified candidates, “more than 30 of whom were actively vetted”.

David Mahoney, head of the board’s CEO search committee, said, “We received interest from world-class candidates, including current and former CEOs and technology leaders from successful public companies. Mike went through this same rigorous process and distinguished himself among the candidates.”

Brown himself said he was “honoured” to be named CEO. “In my time as interim CEO, Symantec has made significant progress to strengthen our business and accelerate our innovation, and I am proud of the individual and collective efforts of Symantec’s team.”

Symantec said that since Brown’s appointment as interim president and CEO in March, the company has “returned to year-over-year revenue growth”.

Brown joined Symantec's board of directors after the company merged with Veritas Software in July 2005. He previously served as chairman and CEO of Quantum Corporation.

Brown is expected to share the company’s strategic plan with shareholders, customers and employees before the end of October.

Image courtesy Takver under CC