VPN’s all vary in price, but they are usually around the $5 per month price point.
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“Our industry intelligence tells us that the implementation process is way behind schedule – with many ISPs affected by the legislation still struggling to understand their obligations and therefore still compiling their implementation plans”, CEO of Internet Australia Laurie Patton said yesterday. The Tor Browser, which provides anonymity via a different way, is free but can be very slow, since it relies on an encrypted communications network run by volunteers interested in privacy.
What has this got to do with piracy? While the government will be able to see that you use those services, they won’t know who you’re talking to or what you’re saying. It doesn’t collect data from non-Australian email providers, for example. They could then use this to sue individuals for copyright infringement.
The scheme has been forecast to cost between $188.8 million and $319.1 million to set up, and around $4 per customer per year to maintain.
The government said the new measurers were all in the name of protecting the country from terror threats and were a response to the increase of Australian jihadists fighting overseas and local attacks.
News_Rich_Media: WARNING – Graphic Content: Journalist David Bond decides to find out how much private companies and the Government know about him by putting himself under surveillance and trying to drop off the radar.
Either way, costs will end up coming from Australian taxpayers directly or indirectly.
A few communcations data was retained in the past on an ad hoc basis, but the new law enforces and expands what data must be retained – which now includes what parties were connected, duration of calls, location of callers, volume of data exchanged, device information, IP addresses and email addresses.
Specific issues include the ability to store the metadata offshore, the lack of specifics on how the data should be encrypted, lack of requirement for it to be destroyed, as well as wider concerns about the potential “honeypot” the data troves create for malicious actors.
Questions remain over what obligations will be placed on telcos to secure data properly.
The data retention regime represents a massive invasion of the privacy of all Australians, while subverting the principle of presumption of innocence by treating all of us as potential suspects.
When will the legislation become effective?
“It is no surprise that many service providers won’t be compliant when the legislation comes into force – many of these because they are still waiting to hear from government as to whether their implementation plans have been approved”, he said.
Are there any good safeguards introduced by the bill?
He said while the content of the communications will not be stored, authorities will have access to a range of other personal information.
“If it is still this Attorney-General in a couple of years, I fear they will make it work”, he said.
The approval of new agencies to the list is at the discretion of the Attorney-General.
From October 13, the Commonwealth Ombudsman will also have oversight of metadata access but this is only after metadata requests are made.
Technology lawyer Leanne O’Donnell pointed to a 2011 study that found data retention had no effect on the crime rate or effectiveness of criminal investigations in Germany.
The law was pushed through parliament despite opposition from Australian citizens, the Green Party and six independent senators, mirroring the way the UK’s equally controversial Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act was pushed through parliament in July 2014.
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“We continue to discuss the funding for this program with the Government and other stakeholders and we are hopeful that there will be a sensible solution that does not impact on our customers or shareholders”, Telstra said in a statement.
