One theory I read once is that Australia leads the way with these laws for the other members of the five eyes to eventually follow. Is there any truth in this?
The scarier but more likely version of that theory is that the Australian Govt leads the way so the other 4Eyes don't have to follow. Similar to the recent AN0N bust, as our citizen protections are more lax, the FBI etc can route data through Australia where the Govt can intercept it; once intercepted it can be shared with FVEY without consequence.
Look at the sheer amount of backhaul between just the US and Japan. Now take all that traffic, stuff it down 1/10 of the amount of fiber pairs, with a fuckload more hops. You're telling me nothing will be affected and none will notice?
Australia is often used as a testing ground since it's part of five eyes and a) people there don't have many legally enshrined rights (no bill of rights) besides stuff like right to political expression and religion, and b) the population is complacent and won't kick up a fuss about the immoral crap the government enacts.
... this is such nonsense ... do you pay any attention at all to the politics of the US, Canada, NZ or the UK? Do you really think they're in a dark room coordinating their laws with Australian government, deciding who will go first?
Purely by result I don't think you couldn't make out a difference if they did that or not.
Easy to see that the war on terror dominated security policies for the last two decades in many countries, not only the five eyes. Officials build their image on that, being tough on X.
Problem is that there isn't any effective opposition because people are afraid of everything these days.
