What You Need To Know About Australia's New Metadata Laws

As of today, telcos are required by law to store your metadata.

But… what if they aren’t ready to do so?

According to ABC News, the “vast majority” of Australia’s internet service providers (ISPs) say they are not able to collect the metadata of users at this time. In fact, a full 84 per cent of them have made the admission.

The controversial metadata bill only passed in March, so the ISPs have been given until April 2017 to become fully compliant.

This allows punters a little extra time – not much – to wrap their heads around the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill. So, let’s get into it.

Okay then. What information of mine is being stored?

Glad you asked. From October 13 onwards – yes, today – all Australian telecommunication providers and ISPs will keep a log of its users’ email, internet, mobile and landline activity for up to two years. The Government and its law enforcement bodies can request this information even if you are not suspected of a crime.

The content of your texts and conversations won’t be captured; rather, who you contacted and when (not to mention, where you conducted the interaction from).

Your browsing history won’t be collected either, though you should still be worried, because Google is already storing those embarrassing search enquiries for you. Yet, your IP address at the time of your browsing as well as length spent online will be measured and stored.

What conclusions can even be reached with this kind of vague information?

A bit! ABC reporter Will Ockenden shared his metadata publicly and it became immediately apparent what his daily routine was, where he lived, worked and regularly traveled to and from, not to mention where his parents reside (based on his Christmas Day activity).

Oh, right then. Why does the Government want to know where we spend Christmas?

They don’t, probably. It’s hoped the data will help law enforcement agencies fight terrorist activity, cybercrime and child exploitation, among other offences.

Does this kind of data monitoring work?

The bill was initially introduced to help combat terrorist threats at home and abroad, following in the footsteps of the United States (whose widespread NSA surveillance of citizens was leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden). A 2014 report by an American think tank, however, found that the “surveillance of American phone metadata has had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism and only the most marginal impacts on preventing terrorist related activity.” A similar mandatory data retention scheme in Germany led to an increase of 0.006 per cent in its crime clearance rate.

Can this information be hacked?

Well, most things can be hacked, as we’ve learnt time and again this year. iiNet in particular raised their fear of a potential data hack in 2014. Certainly having all this info stored somewhere could make it tantalising for hackers who want to make a big, splashy breach, which is why the data needs to be secured by the ISPs.

Who’s going to pay for that?

About $131 million was put aside in the 2015 budget to help telcos upgrade their systems (after all, the data needs to be stored somewhere). However, the telcos are saying that isn’t enough to set up their requisite data warehouses. Potentially, electricity costs might need to be covered by the consumers too. Basically, either through taxes or increased ISP charges, the Australian people will likely be funding data retention.

What if I don’t want my metadata stored?

Handily, our new Prime Minsiter, Malcolm Turnbull, advised everyone on how to circumvent the laws back when he was Communications Minister.

So, if you use a VPN or communicate through third party apps like Gmail, WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, you’ll be able to keep some – though not all – of your information private.