A Window for Change: Why the Australian Metadata Retention Scheme lags Behind the EU and USA

2020 marks the timeframe for the mandatory review of the metadata retention regime by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.  The data retention regime was controversially enacted under the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Act 2015 (Cth), permitting a dataset of metadata to be retained for every telecommunications user across Australia. Metadata is a highly sensitive form of information about the individual. It shows a telecommunications user’s friends, family and other social contacts; their location; date, time, duration and form of a communication; and a host of other information which may include web browsing activity such as the URL accessed.  It differs slightly from ‘content’, which refers to the message itself, like the body of an email or a live phone call. Metadata can be even more revealing than content, as it enables agencies to create a comprehensive digital picture of individuals’ movements, contacts, interests and associations. An individual’s metadata is accessible without a warrant if, at any time in the future, that individual falls under suspicion of contravening any law – not just relating to serious crime.

In this blog post published on AusPubLaw, Genna Churches and Monika Zalnieriute continue their commentary on the data retention regime after being called to give evidence before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security on 14 February 2020.