Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979
| Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Parliament of Australia | |
| An Act to prohibit the interception of, and other access to, telecommunications except where authorised in special circumstances or for the purpose of tracing the location of callers in emergencies, and for related purposes | |
| Date of Royal Assent | 25 October 1979 |
| Status: Substantially amended | |
The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (formerly Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979, commonly referred as the TIA Act) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia which prohibits the unauthorised interception of communications or access to stored communications, with certain exceptions. The Act was amended by the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Act 2015.
Under the 1979 Act, the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization (ASIO) and ‘enforcement agencies’ can access telecommunications data by issuing an internal, or intra-organization, authorization.
During the 2012- 2013 inquiry into Australia’s national security legislation conducted by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS), the Attorney General’s Department issued a document detailing what it considered to be telecommunications data. This included "information that allowed a communication to occur", such as the date, time and duration of the communication, the devices involved in the communication and the location of those devices such as mobile phone tower and "information about the parties to the communication", such as their names and addresses.
Section 5 of the Act defines an enforcement agency to include the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the police force of a State or Territory, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, crime commissions, anti-corruption bodies and the CrimTrac Agency. The definition also includes an allowance enabling organizations whose remit either involves the administration of law involving a financial penalty or the administration of a law to protect taxation revenue to access telecommunications data.
The head of an enforcement agency, the deputy head of an agency or a management level officer or employee of an agency, given permission in writing by the head of the agency, have the power to authorize access to telecommunications data. For ASIO, authorizations for access to telecommunications data can only be made when individual making that authorization is "satisfied that the disclosure would be in connection with the performance by the Organization of its functions. ASIO must also comply with guidelines issued under Section 8A of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979. These guidelines demand that the initiation and continuation of investigations shall only be authorized by the Director General, or an officer at or above Executive Level 2 authorised by the Director-General for that purpose; and that any means used for obtaining information must be proportionate to the gravity of the threat posed and the probability of its occurrence.
...
Wikipedia