Metadata retention for at least 2 years mandated in Australia
The Australian parliament has legislated to mandate data retention by the country’s telecommunications companies and Internet service providers for the convenience of law enforcement agencies.
“By passing the legislation, Parliament has given our crime fighters the information they need to keep us all safe,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Friday.
The newly passed law, which will take effect in 2017, could help law enforcement agencies indict extremists who mastermind terror attacks online and through telephone communications.
Abbot said telecommunications records were used in 90 percent of counter-terror and child pornography investigations and 80 percent of probes into organized crime.
The Senate voted for the legislation on Thursday night amid uncertainty over the provision of costs to store minor parties and independents’ personal metadata for at least two years as a counter-terrorism measure.
Attorney General George Henry Brandis said on Friday his government would make a “substantial contribution” to the estimated (250 million Australian dollars, USD 196 million) a year cost for storing the data.
The opposition Labor Party also supported the legislation with a modification that requires investigators to get a warrant to have access to journalists' telecommunications records.
Metadata includes the identity of a subscriber and the source, destination, date, time, duration and type of communication, while it excludes the content of a message, phone call or email and web-browsing history.
Several countries, including the United States, have laws permitting government to have access to and retain metadata with or without a warrant.
MIS/KA
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