22nd Aug 2012, 11:53 AM – Senate Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 - In Committee - Agree to amendments introducing limitations on access and disclosure

The majority disagreed that Australian Greens amendments (1) to (10) on sheet 7232 be agreed to. This means these amendments will not be part of the bill (which was later passed into law).

The amendments sought to limit the powers granted by this bill to investigations of serious crime, i.e. "in relation to an offence that is punishable by imprisonment for at least 3 years".

The bill:

Facilitates Australia’s accession to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime by amending the: Telecommunications Act 1997 and Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 to require carriers and carriage service providers to preserve stored communications when requested by certain domestic agencies or when requested by the Australian Federal Police on behalf of certain foreign countries; Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1987 and Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 to: ensure that a foreign country can secure access to stored computer data, including preserved data; and allow a stored communication warrant to be obtained for foreign law enforcement purposes; Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1987, Telecommunications Act 1997 and Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 to: enable existing telecommunications data to be provided to a foreign law enforcement agency on a police to police basis; and enable the collection of prospective telecommunications data for foreign law enforcement purposes in certain circumstances; Telecommunications Act 1997 to provide that carriers and carriage service providers can recover costs incurred when assisting foreign law enforcement agencies; Criminal Code Act 1995 to provide that computer offences are consistent with the convention; and Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 to: create confidentiality requirements in relation to authorisations to disclose telecommunications data; and expand offence provisions.