Industry Working for Clarity on Data Retention Proposal

Sydney, 26 August 2014: Communications Alliance and a group of its Carriage Service Provider (CSP) members are working with the Attorney General’s Department and the Department of Communications in an attempt to provide greater clarity and precision to a Government proposal for a data retention regime.

Such clarity is what the telecommunications industry called for in the wake of the Government’s 6 August announcement that it intended to create such a regime.

The telecommunications industry respects the needs of security agencies to be able to access data that is already retained for commercial purposes by CSPs and which is useful for the investigation of serious crime and/or national security issues – and, indeed, there is a long history of productive cooperation between security agencies and CSPs on such issues.

We are equally mindful of the need to balance this against the privacy and other rights of consumers and the potential additional costs that may be generated for Government, CSPs and/or consumers, depending on the nature of the regime and requirements that the Government may propose.

The telecommunications industry firmly believes it will be important for any proposal to be subject to appropriate public scrutiny and debate – and for such debate to be duly considered in any Government decision-making.

ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS ALLIANCE

Communications Alliance is the primary telecommunications industry body in Australia. Its membership is drawn from a wide cross-section of the communications industry, including carriers, carriage and internet service providers, content providers, search engines, equipment vendors, IT companies, consultants and business groups.

Its vision is to provide a unified voice for the telecommunications industry and to lead it into the next generation of converging networks, technologies and services. The prime mission of Communications Alliance is to promote the growth of the Australian communications industry and the protection of consumer interests by fostering the highest standards of business ethics and behaviour through industry self-governance. For more details about Communications Alliance, see www.commsalliance.com.au.

Media information contact:

Kreab Gavin Anderson
Lucy Chamberlain lchamberlain@kreabgavinanderson.com 0402 106 613