CANBERRA, Australia--Australia's conservative government and
Labor opponents pushed through new laws allowing more scrutiny of
people's phone and Internet activity, legislation other lawmakers
and privacy advocates have described as unwarranted and
excessive.
The new data-retention laws, aimed at countering terrorism
threats, require telephone operators and Internet providers like
Telstra Corp. and Vodafone Australia to hold records of their
customers" emails and other communication for at least two years.
Previously, such companies would delete their records according to
their own policies.
The Green Party, the country's third-biggest political force,
and privacy groups have argued that the long-proposed dragnet laws
paved the way for a worrying degree of mass surveillance of
Australians by police and intelligence services.
"The bill contains safeguards to protect our cherished rights
and liberties, including through the establishment of additional
oversight mechanisms covering the security and law-enforcement
agencies," said Attorney General George Brandis in a statement
after the laws were approved in the upper-house Senate by 43 votes
to 16.
"No responsible government can sit by while those who protect us
lose access to vital information, particularly in the current
high-threat environment," the statement, also signed by
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, said.
The so-called metadata laws require companies to reveal the time
of any communication as well as the participants involved, though
not the content of calls, emails or Internet records. They are
similar to data-retention laws passed in other countries, including
the U.S., since terrorists flew aircraft into the World Trade
Center in 2001.
But their introduction has become more controversial since
Edward Snowden's revelations of secret mass surveillance of U.S.
citizens by the National Security Agency, where the whistleblower
used to work as a contractor. Australia is a member of the
"Five-Eyes" intelligence network maintained by Western allies,
including the U.S., U.K., Canada and New Zealand.
"Surveillance should be targeted, proportionate and leveled at
serious criminals, organized crime and national security threats,"
said Scott Ludlam, a senator for the Greens. "This bill entrenches
the opposite." He said the laws amounted to "passive mass
surveillance" of more than 23 million Australians.
Critics also argue that they won't be effective because they
don't apply to social-network platforms and third-party websites
like Facebook and Google Mail that are popular with many
Australians.
U.S. President Barack Obama recently called for a revamped
metadata program with a more narrowly targeted system to safeguard
privacy, while allowing law-enforcement and intelligence agencies
to collect data believed necessary for national security.
Australia's metadata laws are the third installment of tougher
counterterrorism legislation the government has crafted in response
to a rise in the number of Australians seen as supporting radical
groups like Islamic State in the Middle East.
Late last year, Australia experienced its first major terrorist
incident after a man declaring himself to be an Islamic State
supporter took hostages in a cafe in downtown Sydney--a siege that
ended in his own death and that of two of his victims.
On Friday, a poll by Australia's Lowy Institute for
International Policy showed strong public backing for the new laws,
with 63% of people polled saying they were justified as part of the
effort to combat terrorism and protect national security.
Only a third of the 1,200 people surveyed felt they went too far
in violating privacy. Younger Australians aged between 18 and 29
were more likely to oppose the legislation, the survey found,
though even within that bracket 50% of people supported the
policy.
Write to Rob Taylor at rob.taylor@wsj.com
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