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As is to be expected, there is more about this in the foreign media than in Australia. After trying to google I have to conclude this went unreported in neighboring NZ.
Australia’s
largest telco
stored data for FBI
Telstra,
Australia’s largest phone company, stored emails and phone calls to
be handed over to US intelligence upon request, according to an
agreement it signed in 2001 with the FBI and US Department of
Justice.
RT,
12
July, 2013
The
copy of the 12-year-old
agreement,
which was posted online on Friday by news website Crikey, is in
confirmation of this week’s earlier
leak by Edward Snowden,
revealing that large amounts of communication data sent around the
world via undersea cables could be intercepted by the US, based on
the agreements federal agents signed with foreign
corporations.
According to the leaked document, undersea cabling company Reach – a joint venture of Telstra (then 50.1 percent-owned by the Australian Government) and PCCW, a Hong Kong corporation – had to send all communications to or from US to a storage facility “physically located in the United States, from which Electronic Surveillance can be conducted pursuant to Lawful US Process.” The document also specifies the facility should be run exclusively by US staff.
The US demanded the ability to have access to all emails and phone calls between the US and other countries, meaning foreign citizens also had their data landing in America. Apart from the content of communications, Reach was supposed to supply call associated data, subscriber information and billing records.
Those were to be stored on American soil for no less than two years.
The Australian Greens Party has called on Telstra to “immediately disclose details” of the deal, which allowed “the FBI and US Department of Justice to monitor calls and data traffic via the company's undersea cables,” according to the party’s website.
“This is an extraordinary breach of trust, invasion of privacy, and erosion of Australia’s sovereignty,” Greens Party Senator Scott Ludlam said.
Telstra has meanwhile issued a statement justifying the deal.
"This agreement, at that time 12 years ago, reflected Reach's operating obligations in the US that require carriers to comply with US domestic law," the statement says.
The disclosure of the deal between the Australian telco and the US intelligence comes in the wake of Edward Snowden’s disclosures detailing a top-secret NSA surveillance program.
The White House continues to justify the practices as legally-authorized amid mounting criticism from the public and politicians. Snowden is seeking asylum to avoid prosecution in the US, where he is accused under the Espionage Act.
According to the leaked document, undersea cabling company Reach – a joint venture of Telstra (then 50.1 percent-owned by the Australian Government) and PCCW, a Hong Kong corporation – had to send all communications to or from US to a storage facility “physically located in the United States, from which Electronic Surveillance can be conducted pursuant to Lawful US Process.” The document also specifies the facility should be run exclusively by US staff.
The US demanded the ability to have access to all emails and phone calls between the US and other countries, meaning foreign citizens also had their data landing in America. Apart from the content of communications, Reach was supposed to supply call associated data, subscriber information and billing records.
Those were to be stored on American soil for no less than two years.
The Australian Greens Party has called on Telstra to “immediately disclose details” of the deal, which allowed “the FBI and US Department of Justice to monitor calls and data traffic via the company's undersea cables,” according to the party’s website.
“This is an extraordinary breach of trust, invasion of privacy, and erosion of Australia’s sovereignty,” Greens Party Senator Scott Ludlam said.
Telstra has meanwhile issued a statement justifying the deal.
"This agreement, at that time 12 years ago, reflected Reach's operating obligations in the US that require carriers to comply with US domestic law," the statement says.
The disclosure of the deal between the Australian telco and the US intelligence comes in the wake of Edward Snowden’s disclosures detailing a top-secret NSA surveillance program.
The White House continues to justify the practices as legally-authorized amid mounting criticism from the public and politicians. Snowden is seeking asylum to avoid prosecution in the US, where he is accused under the Espionage Act.
Telstra
signed deal that would have allowed US spying
Australian
company agreed to allow US government to store information on
communications between US and
other countries
2
July, 2013
Telstra
agreed to store information on communications between America and
other countries in a contract with the US government which meant it
could potentially spy on the contents.
The
agreement was signed in 2001 between the telecommunications company –
which was at the time half-owned by the Australian government – and
its subsidiary Reach, as well as the FBI and the US Department of
Justice (DOJ).
The
agreement, first reported by Crikey who obtained the documents, gave
the US government permission to store "domestic communications"
– with the possibility of using them for spying – using the
underwater cables owned by Reach.
Domestic
communications were defined in the agreement as communications within
the US but could also extend to communications which "originate
or terminate" in America, meaning Australian communications with
America could have potentially been subject to the agreement.
Telstra
also agreed to report to the US government every three months on
whether any foreign non-government entities had asked for access to
their communications, and complete a compliance report every year
which could not be accessed using freedom of information laws.
"Domestic
communications companies shall designate points of contact within the
United States with the authority and responsibility for accepting and
overseeing the carrying out of lawful US process to conduct
electronic surveillance of or relating to domestic communications
carried by or through domestic communications infrastructure; or
relating to customers or subscribers of domestic communications
companies," the agreement says.
The
points of contact were to be American citizens and the agreement also
stopped Telstra and Reach, which is based in Hong Kong, from
complying with any country's laws that certain data should be
destroyed.
"Reach,
Tesltra and PCCW agree that the United States would suffer
irreparable injury if for any reason a domestic communications
company failed to perform any of its significant responsibilities
under this agreement and that monetary relief would not be an
adequate remedy," the agreement said.
"The
FBI and the DOJ shall be entitled, in addition to any other remedy
available at law or equity, to specific performance and injunctive or
other equitable relief."
The
agreement meant all communications within America using the cables
was stored in a facility on US soil which was staffed solely by
Americans who passed security clearances.
A
spokesperson for Telstra said the agreement was complying with
American law.
"This
agreement, at that time 12 years ago, reflected Reach's operating
obligations in the US that require carriers to comply with US
domestic law," he said.
The
revelations are the latest in a series about government spying which
began with the Guardian reporting a secret agreement between various
companies and the US National Security Agency.
Earlier
this week the Washington Post reported on the existence of agreements
with the US and telecommunications companies which gave the
government access to cables for spying.
Many
of the agreements have since been published on the website Public
Intelligence.
Telstra sells Australia out to
US intelligence
Statement
by the Pirate Party Australia
Following
revelations that in 2001 telecommunications giant Telstra signed a
deal to give the FBI and US Department of Justice surveillance access
to monitor submarine cables linking Australia to the United States,
Pirate Party Australia demands greater protections of privacy and
data sovereignty for our nations’ citizens.
According
to the documents released, call data, subscriber information and IP
addresses are collected for all voice and data traffic traversing the
US[1].
“If
what the media is saying is true, why is an Australian company
colluding with the United States Government to spy on Internet
traffic of Australians citizens? This is entirely unacceptable and
must stop immediately,” said Brendan Molloy, Lead Candidate for the
Senate in NSW.
“The
Government must answer why they have been complicit in the spying on
of Australian citizens, as this began when Telstra was still
partially Government owned.”
Recently
there has been a plethora of scandals relating to the overreach of
United States’ surveillance programs which have targeted not just
citizens of the United States’ but also of its allies[2]. This is
the last in an ever growing parade of covert privacy intrusions,
blanket surveillance and breaches of confidence.
Telstra
is no stranger to breaching the confidence of its customers, and
incidentally breaching basic human rights[3] and Australian law[4],
by retaining and giving the United States control over their data. in
June last year Telstra secretly transmitted parts of its subscribers’
Internet history for processing in the US, potentially making those
records subject to foreign, highly intrusive laws such as the PATRIOT
Act without their knowledge. The previous activity was done for
commercial reasons[5].
Pirate
Party Australia is committed to the protection of privacy and the
increased transparency of surveillance schemes. The Party has
criticised blanket surveillance schemes as unnecessary impingements
on personal privacy.
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