back to article Telstra wants civil litigants to pay up front for access to metadata

Telstra has put a new wrinkle on Australia's simmering data retention debate by suggesting that it charges for access to retained telecommunications sought by civil litigants. The suggestion is found in Telstra's submission to the government inquiry into whether retained telecommunications data should be made available in …

  1. frank ly

    Civil Litigation?

    I'm trying to think of civil cases where ISP 'metadata' would be of interest. All I can think of is a divorce case where one party claims the other was going wild on internet dating sites. Any other ideas?

    1. Bubba Von Braun

      Re: Civil Litigation?

      Lets see..

      - Employers seeking to sue an employee who leaks to news media

      - Employers suing whistle-blowers

      - Defamation litigation

      - Injury Insurance claims

      - Traffic infringements (sms while driving comes to mind)

      - Stalking/AVO

      Divorce is now no fault, so no need to go to the expense of proving infidelity

      1. frank ly

        Re: Civil Litigation?

        This is an example of my monday morning 'abilities'. I thought it was ISP metadata, not telecommunications data.

        1. P. Lee

          Re: Civil Litigation?

          >isp metadata not telecommunications data

          "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."

          George Orwell, Animal Farm

          1. czthomas

            Re: Civil Litigation?

            ...or alternatively we can ignore literary fiction and just read the legislation which is clear on what this "metadata" actually is.

      2. czthomas

        Re: Civil Litigation?

        Accidents, including workplace accidents.

        The Australian Lawyers Alliance says,

        "22. Data outlined in s187AA is currently available to parties to civil proceedings pursuant

        to a subpoena or court order in any number of circumstances. Our members (the

        majority of whom are personal injury lawyers) currently access metadata routinely

        in civil proceedings as needed, depending on the facts in issue in the case. "

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is fair

    After all, the government imposed a huge cost to ISPs by requiring them to keep all this data. Initially it was promised that it would be for criminal investigations, but as expected, the scope has crept to include this also.

    Keeping and retrieving the metadata is far from cost neutral, so the ISPs are absolutely justified in asking for users to pay for it.

    1. czthomas

      Re: This is fair

      They've been keeping it since 1979. It isn't very bulky. There was no "huge costs", just "huge whingeing".

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: This is fair

        If you actually believe your statement, and you are a shareholder of an ISP then you should demand an audit to find out what they are actually spending the money on. However, I think the assertion is just a whine itself.

        1. czthomas

          Re: This is fair

          I did a few sums 2 years ago and my conclusion was that assuming I had good data deduplication and compression, I could keep 1 year of Australia's data retained under the Data Retention Act on a $150 USB HDD from Dick Smith.

          And seeing as the Telcos were already keeping this stuff, it's not clear how this would have any impact on them.

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