Snowden warns Australia: 'You are being watched'

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Former National Security Agency contractor and American whistleblower Edward Snowden has sharply criticised the Australian government's data retention laws, calling them a "radical" departure from liberal society.

Snowden labelled the laws "dangerous," while speaking via satellite from Moscow on Friday at the Progress 2015 congress in Melbourne. "This is not things that governments have ever traditionally been in power [to] claim for themselves as authorities," he said.

Australia's data retention scheme was passed in March, and requires telecommunication and Internet companies to retain the metadata of their customers — from the location of devices to IP addresses — for two years. Government agencies will be able to access the data of millions of Australians without a warrant, unless they are accessing the metadata of a journalist for the purpose of investigating a leak.

Snowden compared Australia's mass surveillance apparatus to "pre-criminal investigation," and said that the huge amount of information collected about Australian citizens can be easily shared internationally, among government organisations.

"What this means is they are watching everybody all the time, they're collecting information and they're just putting it in piles that they can search through, not only locally, not only within Australia, but they can then share this with foreign intelligence services," he said. "The ultimate result there is the fact that regardless of whether or not you're doing anything wrong, you are being watched."

The whistleblower, who has sought asylum in Russia, also suggested such surveillance schemes have done little to protect society against the type of terrorist attacks they are intended to prevent.

"Nine times out of 10 when you see someone on the news who's engaged in some sort of jihadist activity, these are people who had a long record, and the reason these attacks happened is not because we didn't have enough surveillance, in fact, it's because we had too much," Snowden said. "We didn't prioritise the cases we had because we had wasted too many resources on watching everybody who didn't present a threat."

He also drew attention to the impact Australia's data retention law may have on journalists and a free press, suggesting it would have a dampening effect on the ability of sources and whistleblowers to contact reporters.

"If there is, for example, a leak that happens in the Australian intelligence services that reveals to the newspapers that these services have been abusing their powers ... They can go, 'Well, which employees from this agency had contacted press organisations?' And immediately they have a list of suspects."

Investigative reporter Ross Coulthart detailed the impact the metadata laws have on the press in Australia during his keynote address at the Press Freedom Dinner in Sydney on May 1. He urged journalists to use over-the-top services to protect their sources and avoid government detection.

Snowden warned it is "fair to say" his National Security Agency files would reveal more about Australian surveillance in the future.