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posted by janrinok on Tuesday September 20 2016, @11:58PM   Printer-friendly
from the unwanted-side-effects dept.

When Australia's federal government finally revealed who had been given money to help pay for metadata retention efforts The Register was surprised to see eight Universities on the list.

So we've asked around and figured out why.

Universities have a metadata retention obligation thanks to the Section 187B(a) of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Act 2015 which explains that service providers other than carriers and ISPs don't have to retain metadata the comms service they provide: (i)  is provided only to a person's immediate circle (within the meaning of section 23 of the Telecommunications Act 1997); or (ii)  is provided only to places that, under section 36 of that Act, are all in the same area; and

"Immediate circle" includes staff and students, so WiFi for students doesn't create a metadata retention obligation for the university, although of course the University's internet service provider does have that obligation.

Anne Kealley, CEO of the Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology (CAUDIT), told The Register that entities like a campus bookstore or privately-funded research outfit with on-campus offices fall outside the immediate circle. That kind of outfit often resides in university buildings and has little alternative other than to use university-provided telephony services. Contractors and charities are also beyond the immediate circle. And so are services like email accounts provided to alumni.

Hence Universities' metadata retention obligations.

[...] Australia has 43 accredited universities. It is unclear how many had no metadata retention obligations and how many found ways to avoid those obligations.


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  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday September 21 2016, @05:53AM

    by MostCynical (2589) on Wednesday September 21 2016, @05:53AM (#404673) Journal

    it seems that the definition of an ISP in the legislation *could* include anyone offering "ISP-like" services: through-connection to the internet for money (or, possibly, equivalent trade)

    Some Australian universities have had direct fibre connections for a long time (eg, Macquarie University, which helps explain why a new "technology precinct" popped up nearby.)

    These connections are, effectively, part of the package of setting-up research centres on the Uni campus.

    This may well make universities like Macquarie an ISP, but they are not on the list.

    Not suprisingly, VPN use in Australia is increasing.. http://www.cnet.com/au/news/vpn-use-increases-in-australia-amid-data-retention-and-piracy-concerns/ [cnet.com]

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