Under the new Surveillance Devices Act passed last week in Australia, law enforcement officials Down Under will be allowed to use various spyware applications to gather evidence during investigations. After obtaining a warrant, police will be able to install malware such as keystroke loggers, trackers, and other unwelcome applications on PCs of those targeted in some criminal investigations. Under the Act, warrants can be obtained if an officer has "reasonable grounds" and feels such surveillance methods are necessary to gather evidence.

Australian civil rights groups have been quick to criticize the new law, saying that the legislation does not do enough to safeguard the rights of Australians. Fears have also been raised about police obtaining data such as banking passwords and other sensitive information. Even more disturbing, a keylogger could capture text from e-mails never sent, Word documents never saved, and other data that is never committed to a file. The possibilities are troubling.

"No, we didn't find anything in the defendant's possession, your honor. However, we did find that he once typed the words 'dirty bomb' at one point during a web browsing session several months ago."

Australia and the US have lately been on the same page when it comes to technology-related legislation. The free trade agreement signed last summer between the two nations required Australia to enact laws very similar to the infamous Digital Millennium Copyright Act. While the US has moved moved in a different direction with regard to the spyware issue, it wouldn't be too surprising to see similar powers granted to law enforcement in the US.

All the more reason to make sure your PC is free of malware and you have the best spyware removal tools.