Australia’s picturesque island state of Tasmania lures tourists with the slogans “Go Behind The Scenery” and “Explore The Possibilities”. The Tasmanian police force is certainly heeding the call, merrily going behind the local “scenery” and exploring plenty – accessing more personal data of its residents through surveillance, on a per capita basis, than the police in any other Australian state.
Tasmanians “might also be surprised that this can occur without [the police] getting a warrant,” says lawyer Richard Griggs, who runs the Tasmanian chapter of Civil Liberties Australia.
The Global Mail has analysed national records concerning the so-called metadata accessed, no warrant required, by government agencies across Australia, from July 2007 to June 2012. (It was in 2007 that the Howard Government changed the rules; before that time, such data could not be accessed without a national security purpose.)
This metadata includes telephone details (as in the numbers a person has called, how long they spoke, and where they were when they placed the call) and email information (such as who they’ve emailed and when, and the IP addresses used). The actual content of phone calls and emails requires a separate application for a warrant.
The government is authorised to collect this information either ‘for the protection of public revenue’ (Centrelink accessed the data more than any other agency, on the basis it would find welfare cheats) or for criminal investigations. All up, government agencies in Australia accessed 1,286,369 metadata records over those five years.
A new report on national security from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) argues that “Telecommunications interception provides vital support to intelligence and law enforcement operational and investigative work and can’t be replaced by other capabilities.”
Tasmanian agencies are making full use of what capabilities they now have. The Global Mail’s analysis shows that, for reasons unknown (tip-offs welcome), the phone and email information of Tasmanians is being accessed more than any other state in the country on a per capita basis — its population as of December 2012 was just 512,422.
Read the full story, The Global Mail here
Image: Nikhil Sonnad/The Global Mail
