CommsWire daily newsletter - 29 October 2020

CA calls for restricting state agencies' access to metadata The lobby group representing the telecommunications industry has called on the government to accept recommendations made by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and repeal two sections of a law which have allowed numerous state agencies to gain access to Australians' telecommunications metadata.

CommsWire - 24 January 2017

Optus flies high with $75 million Flight Centre deal Optus Business has inked a $75 million, five-year deal with Flight Centre to deliver collaboration and communication services to support the retail travel group?s ongoing technology transformation strategy.

CommsWire - 20 January 2017

All metadata is not personal, Federal Court rules The Australian Federal Court has effectively ruled that part of the metadata of an individual stored by telecommunications companies does not constitute personal data and therefore need not be handed over to said individual.

The retention and disclosure of location information and location identifiers

This article describes how Australia?s metadata retention and disclosure regime addresses the retention and disclosure of location information and location identifiers by locally licensed providers and those that do not require a licence to operate in Australia. The paper argues the retention limitations in respect of over the-top-content and communications services are undermined by the actions of the agencies to harvest location information and conduct Big Data analytics. So does the...

It?s only the beginning

This article examines aspects of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Act 2015. It shows how the law provides a tactical advantage to investigators who pursue whistleblowers and investigative journalists. The article exposes a discrepancy in the way ?journalist? is defined across different pieces of legislation. It argues that the explosion of data generated by the so-called Internet-of-Things (IoT) lead to a loss of user control which will enable non-stop...

Metadata Retention and the Internet

The Metadata Retention measures being considered in Australia make some sweeping assumptions about the semantics of IP addresses and their association with individual subscribers to the Internet. But are these assumptions warranted? The exhaustion of the free pool of IPv4 addresses has prompted a new generation of Internet services that treat IP addresses as ephemeral shared conversation tokens, and retaining address use metadata in such an environment is an exercise in futility. The regulatory...

CommsWire daily news - 11 August 2014

ANALYSIS  Government backtracks on metadata, while Optus warns of costThe Government now says that metadata will not include your browsing history. But there is still confusion over just what it does include ? and how much it will cost.

CommsWire daily news - 8 August 2014

OPINION     Three Stooges ? data retention turns to farceIt?s becoming all too familiar. Government policy made up on the fly, ministers shooting from the lip, the public being taken for fools. Welcome to data retention 2014 style.