Without the content of a message, you’re privacy can’t be breached, can it? What the hell is metadata anyway? Thankfully the Attorney General has posted a clarifying letter which makes it quite clear they will be pursuing the EU model (which has already been declared unconstitutional in Germany, Romania and the Czech Republic).
The metadata applies to:
landline, mobile telephony, internet access, internet email and internet telephony.
And the metadata contains:
- the source of a communication
- the destination of a communication
- the date, time and duration of a communication
- the type of a communication
- the users’ communication equipment or what purports to be their equipment
- the location of mobile communication equipment
Let’s break this down. Millions of Australians have smart phones which are constantly using the internet to check for new email, download updates, synchronize calenders etc. Every time this happens, their location (presumably which mobile phone towers they are connected to) will be monitored and stored.
If this model is followed, the minute to minute movements of millions of Australians for two years will be monitored and stored. If that isn’t a gross invasion of privacy, I don’t know what is.
Edit: Rodney posted the video below which tells the story better than I ever could.
The extent of how much your telco can store, and just how much of a picture they can build up of your movements, social connections and the political implications etc is perhaps best illustrated by Malte Spitz and his story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_jtAnlejBs4
That is brilliant, I’m embedding it in the post.
It is still somewhat vague especially “the destination of a communication” does this mean they record
http://en.wikipedia.org/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria
because there is a big difference
For now I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it is just the IP address.
I get it, but I’m not imaginative enough to come up with any situations where my location (approximate?) could be used by BB against me or to my detriment. Can you give me some?
It’s not about “making a case against you”, it’s about privacy. Most people aren’t criminals, and shouldn’t be treated as such.
But just to play bogeyman, using location I could determine whether you attended a particular protest, visited a brothel, who your associates are, if you’ve ever gone to an abortion clinic, the list goes on.
I’ve never felt more smug about my 7 year old Nokia flip phone.