The Federal Government has denied that it plans to make Internet Service Providers record the web browsing history of Australian internet users. A report on Friday on the ZDNet.com.au website quoted an anonymous source from an Internet Service Provider saying discussions with the Government could involve ISPs being forced to keep records of emails sent and websites visited by their customers.
However a spokesperson for the Federal Attorney-General who spoke to 4ZZZ News on Saturday denied the report. He said "The consultation relates to identifying parties to a communication who may be involved in criminal networks or terrorist organisations. It does not include the content of a communication such as web browser history".
The Government is considering adopting a similar approach to the European Union's data retention directive. We spoke to University of Wollongong lecturer in Digital Communications Jason Wilson about the EU directive (see link to recording below)
Pirate Party president David Crafti said the party opposed retaining details of email addresses contacted, and described one way to stop the government seeing who you send emails to (see link to recording below)
The original story has been reported as fact by news outlets including the ABC and Sky News. You can see what people are saying about the story on Twitter by following the #ozlog hashtag.
100614 David Crafti Grab
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David Jackmanson
Given Conroy’s iiNet fiasco, the denial from the Federal Attorney-General’s department lacks credibility.
I disagree. The denial is clear and explicit. I talked to the spokesperson and they are his exact words. The original story lacks credibility in my opinion, unless we find more information contradicting this denial. In any case any planned regime based on the European system is bad enough even without recording browsing history.