Over 60 agencies apply to snoop into your metadata

Bankstown City Council, the National Measurement Institute and Australia Post are among 61 government agencies that have applied to be able to access telecommunications data without a warrant.

Under legislation passed last year, which came into effect in October, telecommunications companies are required to store so-called metadata such as call records, assigned IP addresses, contact information and location information for a minimum of two years. This data can then be accessed by just 22 government agencies, including the Australian Federal Police, ASIO, state police agencies and Border Force. This is down from the 83 agencies that had access to the data in the financial year prior to the legislation passing, and was a gesture from the government to show commitment to keeping use of metadata purely for law enforcement purposes.

Attorney-General George Brandis highlighted the reduction when the legislation passed last year:

“We recognise that the right to privacy and the principle of freedom of the press are fundamental to our democracy. For these reasons, the bill contains new and strengthened safeguards. These include the provision of new oversight powers to the Commonwealth Ombudsman; a reduction in the number of agencies accessing metadata from over 80 to 21; and specific protections for journalists and their sources.”

The legislation does, however, give agencies left off the list the ability to apply to the Attorney-General to seek access. In response to a freedom of information request filed by both technology publication ZDNet and privacy campaigner Geordie Guy, this week the Attorney-General’s department revealed 61 agencies had applied for access since the law came into effect.

The names of four state government agencies were redacted on the grounds that releasing the names of the agencies would cause damage to Commonwealth-state relations.

The agencies that have requested to be given access are:

1. Australian Financial Security Authority
2. Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
3. Australia Post
4. Australian Taxation Office
5. Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC)
6. Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA)
7. Clean Energy Regulator
8. Department of Agriculture
9. Department of Defence
10. Department of Environment
11. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
12. Department of Health
13. Department of Human Services
14. Department of Social Services
15. Fair Work Building and Construction
16. National Measurement Institute
17. ACT Revenue Office
18. Access Canberra (Department of Treasury and Economic Development)
19. Bankstown City Council
20. Consumer Affairs Victoria
21. Consumer, Building and Occupational Services Tasmania
22. Consumer and Business Affairs South Australia
23. [Redacted]
24. [Redacted]
25. Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
26. WA Department of Commerce
27. WA Department of Corrective Services
28. Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection
29. Victorian Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport & Resources
30. Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
31. WA Department of Environment Regulation
32. WA Department of Fisheries
33. Victorian Department of Justice and Regulation (Consumer Affairs)
34. Victorian Department of Justice and Regulation (Sheriff of Victoria)
35. WA Department of Mines and Petroleum
36. [Redacted]
37. NSW Department of Primary Industries (Fisheries)
38. SA Environment Protection Authority
39. Greyhound Racing Victoria
40. Harness Racing NSW
41. NSW Health Care Complaints Commission
42. Victorian Legal Services Board
43. NSW Environment Protection Authority
44. NSW Fair Trading
45. NSW Office of Environment and Heritage
46. Qld Office of Fair Trading
47. NSW Office of State Revenue
48. Qld Office of State Revenue
49. Victorian Office of the Racing Integrity Commissioner
50. Primary Industries and Regions South Australia
51. Queensland Building and Construction Commission
52. Racing and Wagering Western Australia
53. Racing NSW
54. Racing Queensland
55. Roads and Maritime Services NSW
56. RSPCA Victoria
57. Victorian State Revenue Office
58. Taxi Services Commission Victoria
59. [Redacted]
60. RevenueSA
61. Victorian WorkSafe Authority

Under the legislation, the Attorney-General can, via legislative instrument, declare particular agencies to be “criminal law enforcement agencies” to get access to metadata, but the data attention legislation needs to be amended. The Attorney-General can give temporary access to specific agencies that request it, but the legislation must be amended within 40 sitting days after access is granted in order to keep that access permanently. Any change to the legislation must also be examined by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security.

Some agencies have already had their applications rejected. Crikey has confirmed that Australia Post applied after the legislation came into effect in October but was rejected. Australia Post wanted to track stolen mobile phones from the company’s retail stores by tracking their location using information stored by the carriers themselves as part of the mandatory data retention scheme.

Crikey has asked the Attorney-General’s Department to confirm which government agencies have had their applications rejected. While the department would not state whether any agencies were rejected, it did state that no temporary access had been granted to any government agencies.

In the report for metadata access for the financial year ending June 30, 2015, 83 government agencies requested access to stored metadata 371,831 times, up from 345,056 in the 2013-2014 financial year.

Added information provided by the Attorney-General’s Department.