Australian data retention laws to be used to combat download piracy

Australian equivalent of Communications Data Bill will enable a wide range of agencies to access internet users' database, admits police chief

Australia's equivalent of the Data Communications Bill will be used to fight online piracy - not just reserved for security purposes, according to the country's federal police commissioner, Andrew Colvin.

Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecoms companies will be compelled to retain information about their customers' usage for two years under legislation being debated in the Australian parliament this week. But the admission by the police commissioner indicates that the plan is already been extended beyond national security to outright policing of people's internet usage.

Under questioning, Colvin indicated that a range of government agencies would be able to access the database of users' internet information for a range of purposes - including "civil investigation of online copyright infringement", according to Australian press reports.

"I haven't even touched on some of the other range of crimes. Absolutely. Any interface, any connection somebody has over the internet, we need to identify the parties to that connection," said Colvin at a press conference.

He continued: "Illegal downloads, piracy, cyber crimes, cyber security. All of these matters, our ability to investigate them is absolutely pinned on our ability to retrieve and use metadata."

While Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull sought to calm the furore caused by Colvin's admission, he admitted that the data retention plan would have widespread usage. He claimed that the data retention plans would not affect the way in which rights holders currently try to combat online piracy.

"Rights owners use different programs... [to] identify the IP addresses of the computers that are infringing copyright, and then they seek from the ISPs, and they are able to do this with a subpoena, the details of the rights holder. Generally, they do this in real time, so the two years of holding this data probably doesn't make a lot of difference," said Turnbull.

He continued by pointing out that investigations of internet users under the Telecommunications (Intercept and Access) Act would only enable access to data "where it is 'reasonably necessary' for legitimate investigation and must consider the privacy impact".

However, "rights holders" have already indicated that they will cross-reference IP addresses they fish from peer-to-peer networks with the official internet-usage databases that will be set up under the Act.

For campaigners against the EU Data Retention Directive of 2006, which successive UK governments have sought to implement in the UK under various Data Communication Bills, the admission provides further proof that official online monitoring can and will quickly turn into highly intrusive official internet surveillance.

The official push across the world for databases that can store internet users' online activities comes despite the extent of internet surveillance being employed by the US National Security Agency and Britain's GCHQ.