Privacy rights in Australia are under attack

Recently Michael Keenan, the Australian Minister for Justice introduced a bill to include digital currencies in the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act.

The motivation for this bill is because of the risk that criminals will use digital currencies to escape detection. While the bill may help in catching criminals who use Bitcoin, it’s not needed. See: Bitcoin Transactions Aren’t as Anonymous as Everyone Hoped.

However, this bill will mostly serve to erode Australians’ civil rights and make it harder and more expensive for us to use digital currencies.

We have the right to not identify

According to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

As an individual, the Privacy Act gives you greater control over the way that your personal information is handled. The Privacy Act allows you to:
know why your personal information is being collected, how it will be used and who it will be disclosed to
have the option of not identifying yourself, or of using a pseudonym in certain circumstances

Who is affected?

People who have family or friends in high risk countries
Anti-money laundering laws disqualify entire nations from sending/receiving money. Digital currencies like Bitcoin has provided an alternative for people from high risk countries to receive support from their families in Australia, but soon they can also be denied Bitcoin services in Australia.

Local bitcoins traders across Australia, who help people buy and sell Bitcoin will face 2 years prison time for a first offence and up to 7 years prison time maxium. Given this is already happening in the US, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Australian traders next.

Bitcoin ATM operators — granted there are not many; possibly under 20 in Australia according to coinatmradar.com. Many of them will not be able to fulfil the requirements of identifying customers and will be hit with high compliance costs, further increasing the price to buy digital currencies or causing them to shut down.

The general population of Australia will be slower in adopting digital currencies. Other small countries like Jamaica are already actively building cryptocurrency awareness because they can see the economic opportunity it presents.

The bill is incompatible with civil and political rights

The proposed bill claims that it is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Section (1) of this act includes:

human rights means the rights and freedoms recognised or declared by the following international instruments:
(c ) the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights done at New York on 16 December 1966 ([1980] ATS 23);

In the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 2 Section 2:

The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to guarantee that the rights enunciated in the present Covenant will be exercised without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Because human rights guarantee no national discrimination, I submit that this bill is incompatible with the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

What can you do?

Share this article and if you have time, contact your local MP or media outlet.