Security On Hold?

We heard a lot about telecoms and national security last year. So what’s happening next?

Last July the government announced an inquiry into National Security Legislation. There was a discussion paper, a month for interested parties to submit a response, followed by a series of hearings by the Joint Parliamentary Committee. Since then we’ve heard very little. Does this mean, with an election looming, the whole thing has fallen into the too-hard basket? The Green’s communications spokesman Scott Ludlam says it isn’t buried, but he doesn’t expect much to happen before September.

The most discussed element of the government’s proposal was that companies should retain customer usage data for two years. But what of the stipulation “to provide Government with information on significant business and procurement decisions and network designs”. Steve Dalby, iiNet’s Chief Regulatory Officer, describes this as a “very vague statement” which his company is very uncomfortable with.

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