Many Australians sending emails or going on the web might be alarmed if they understood the point of new cybercrime legislation currently before the Australian Parliament.

Hypocrisy is arguably the besetting sin of modern governments and politicians. We have had months of ministers bemoaning WikiLeaks breaching American diplomatic communications, and more recently self-righteous expressions of concern about the breaches of privacy with the Murdoch press hacking into Britons' mobile phone conversations. Yet the Australian government is proposing to breach the privacy of ordinary Australians on an unprecedented scale.

The Cybercrime Bill proposes to expand the power of local police and ASIO to access Australian citizens' digital communications. Credit:istock photos

The Cybercrime Bill proposes to expand the power of local police and ASIO to access Australian citizens' digital communications, and to supply that data to foreign police and intelligence agencies. It does this by tying Australia to the European Convention on Cybercrime (2001) to which we recently became a signatory.

The aim of that convention is to create a common legal framework that eliminates ''jurisdictional hurdles'' and fosters co-operation for securing global protection against cybercrime.