The Australian government has proposed legislation that would allow employers to spy on their employees’ e-mail and IM conversations in order to prevent terrorism. The legislation was spurred by Estonian cyber-attacks, which was actually the work of a single 20-year-old student, and not a terrorist organization.

Currently, the Telecommunications (Interceptions) Act allows security agencies to monitor their employees’ communications without consent, a power that will end in June 2009 if no legislation is passed. This legislation aims to extend this power and open it up to the employers as well as the security agencies.