Metadata discussion

Policy Inquiry
1

Given PPAU would repeal the current metadata legislation, what principles would we include in replacement legislation?

Continuation from the Facebook thread on the suggestion that analytics from anonymised metadata (that may be held by ABS for example) holds potentially value information for society e.g. town planning, reducing the cost and security risks of storing it.

For law enforcement purposes, a key would be required to unlock a personal identity and disaggregate the data, which may be subject to normal warrant process.

Study of data inferred from metadata:
http://news.stanford.edu/2016/05/16/stanford-computer-scientists-show-telephone-metadata-can-reveal-surprisingly-sensitive-personal-information/

2

Two comments, somewhat off the cuff :wink:

  • Principles in any replacement legislation: get a warrant, then we’ll talk.
  • If it’s possible to use a key to unlock a personal identity and disaggregate the data, that means the identity has already been stored somewhere, somehow, and is again a potential target for abuse. Don’t do this. Anything you don’t absolutely need for your proposed end result shouldn’t be collected in the first place (or if it is needed, for, say, validation, it should be expunged completely at the earliest opportunity).