Lawyers could soon have access to private phone and internet metadata in a scheme which has been criticised as being “the most intrusive of any developed country”.
New data retention laws were introduced in October 2015 requiring internet and telephone companies to retain their customers’ metadata for a period of two years.
Metadata is the information that relates to an individual’s phone calls and online activity. It isn’t the content of calls or emails, but rather relates to the time and date of calls, emails, text messages and internet sessions.
The retention scheme was initially introduced as part of the Government’s efforts to combat
terrorism, by allowing law enforcement agencies to
access the data without a warrant.
However, the Government has now launched a review into whether the regulations should be changed to allow the information collected to be used in civil cases, not just terrorism-related investigations. In particular, the Government is considering allowing access to such records in family law cases involving violence or
child abduction.
President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties Stephen Blanks said the move to open up the use of the data in this way is beyond the original justification for the data retention laws.
“This kind of permission for using this data generally in litigation represents the complete abolition of the idea that information is gathered and used only for
the purpose for which it was really intended”.
“Instead it represents the idea that if it exists and can be used for any purpose at all, then it’s
legitimate to do so. That is an idea that ought to be rejected”, Mr Blanks said
The president of the Law Council of Australia, Fiona McLeod, also has “grave concerns” about the possible extension of the powers, recently telling ABC’s 7.30 report “The regime that’s in place is one of the most intrusive regimes in the industrialised world”.
It is understood the Attorney-General’s Departments plans to deliver the findings by April 13.