Advance Metadata Fair: The Retention and Disclosure of 4G, 5G and Social Media Location Information, for Law Enforcement and National Security, and the Impact on Privacy in Australia

231 Pages·2020·3.024 MB·English

by  Stanley Shanapinda

Law, Governance and Technology Series 44
Stanley Shanapinda
Advance
Metadata Fair
The Retention and Disclosure of 4G, 5G
and Social Media Location Information,
for Law Enforcement and National
Security, and the Impact on Privacy in
Australia
Law, Governance and Technology Series
Volume 44
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Giovanni Sartor, University of Bologna and European University Institute of
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law (data protection, intellectual property, Internet rights, etc.), Computational
models of the legal contents and legal reasoning, Legal Information Retrieval,
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Stanley Shanapinda
Advance Metadata Fair
The Retention and Disclosure of 4G, 5G
and Social Media Location Information,
for Law Enforcement and National Security,
and the Impact on Privacy in Australia
StanleyShanapinda
OptusLaTrobeCyberSecurityResearchHub
LaTrobeUniversity
Melbourne,Australia
ISSN2352-1902 ISSN2352-1910 (electronic)
Law,GovernanceandTechnologySeries
ISBN978-3-030-50254-6 ISBN978-3-030-50255-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50255-3
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This book is dedicated to the patience, love,
trust, hope and courage of the Shanapinda
family. To my mum, Meriam, you always
wanted to be a medical doctor—but you put
your family first instead. I dedicate this once
in a lifetime achievement to the sacrifices you
made so I can have the bright future that life
unfairly denied you—this is your dream
realised, albeit through me. I am only the
vessel, a symbol of what our family can start
to achieve. Mum, your love and prayers have
worked.
Preface
Lawsaresocialconstructs.Theygivepublicauthoritiesthepowertoact.Lawsalso
prescribe limits to these powers. Another aim of the law is to ensure that power is
exercised in an accountable manner. Accountability is of particular interest if the
giveninstitutionisalawenforcementauthority,oronetaskedwithsafeguardingthe
national interest. The powers may be granted on the justification that targets of
investigations use sophisticated technological means, such as encryption to evade
the long arm of the law. For this reason, it is appropriate that these authorities are
grantedpowersthatcanoutperformtechniquesthataremeanttoevadethelaw.The
law allows the authorities access to these technological means to enforce the laws
and prevent criminal activity. This activity was originally called terrorism. It was
howeverexpandedtoonlinehate, fake news,civil disobedienceorprotests against
inactiononclimatechangeandpreventinganimalcruelty.
Before these issues received popular attention, the retention and disclosure of
telecommunications data or metadata have been met with worldwide criticism and
invalidatedbycourtsintheEUandtheUSA,requiringrevisions.Thebroadrangeof
theinvestigatorypowersarenotregardedasbeingconsistentwiththeprotectionof
privacyunderhumanrightschartersandtheconstitution.Australiaisacountrythat
doesnotprotectprivacyunderabillofrightsinitsconstitution,unlikeitsWestern
peers. This book is an Australian case study about the retention and disclosure of
locationinformationforlawenforcementandnationalsecuritypurposes,withinthe
context of non-serious offenses such as climate change protests by digital natives
and protecting journalists and whistle-blowers. It critically analyses the powers
granted to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the
AustralianFederalPolice(AFP),theAgencies,toaccessanduselocationinforma-
tion that has been stored by the Australian telecommunications companies (the
Telco), Internet service providers (ISPs) and multinational social media platform
(SMP)companiessuchasGoogleandFacebook,withsubscribersinAustralia.
Melbourne,VIC,Australia StanleyShanapinda
vii
Acknowledgements
ThankstoProf.JillSlayAM,Prof.AlanaMaurushatandProf.ClintonFernandesfor
yourpatience,guidanceandadviceonthisproject,withoutwhichthisprojectwould
nothaveseenthelightofday!ThankstoProf.Slaythattookachanceonme,andby
doingthatmademychildhooddreamcometrue.Itwasadefiniteblackswanlifetime
opportunity,forwhichIwaswillingtomakehugesacrifices.IamsohappyIdid—I
have learnt and grown, as a scholar, but more so as a person. Thank you, David
Vaille,foryourvaluablecommentsandeditstotheoriginalresearchmaterial.
A special and hearty thank you to my mum Meriam, the Shanapinda family,
Ceciliaandthegirls,Ricardo,Toni,Emma,Tracy,Alynsia,Louisa,Simon,Robert,
Nick, Daniel and all my other dear friends, housemates and family in Katutura
(WindhoekandinthewholeofNamibia),Lagos,Sydney,Melbourne,York(UK),
New York and São Gonçalo (Rio de Janeiro) who supported me on this journey!
Youallplayedanintegralpartinmorewaysthanyouwouldeverknow.Ittakesa
villagetoraiseanaspiringscholar,andyouarethatglobalvillage.
I would like to thank the University of New South Wales’ (UNSW) School of
Engineering and IT (SEIT); the UNSW’s Australian Centre for Cyber Security
(ACCS); UNSW Law and the Data to Decisions Cooperative Research Centre
(D2DCRC),fortheirfinancialandlogisticalsupportthroughouttheresearchperiod
ofthisproject.
ix
Contents
1 Generating4G,5GandSocialMediaLocationInformation. . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction:TheBalanceofPowerIsOff-kilter. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 FasterandIntegrated4Gand5GMobileCommunications. . . . . . 4
1.3 ThePopularityofMobileDevicesandMobileCommunications. . . 5
1.4 4Gand5GLocationInformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5 InferringtheLocationfromtheMobilePhone’sBattery. . . . . . . 7
1.6 BustingtheMythofCoarseVersusPreciseLocation
Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.6.1 LocationPrecisionPoweredbySmallCells. . . . . . . . . . 10
1.7 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2 TheLegalSchemeforMobileTelecommunicationsCompanies
andSocialMediaPlatformstoRetainLocationInformation. . . . . . . 15
2.1 LegallyDefiningLocationInformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 LocationInformationAsMetadata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3 TheGeneralLegalRequirementtoRetainLocationInformation. . . 16
2.3.1 The2-YearMinimumRetentionPeriod. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.2 TheExclusionsNottoRetainCertainCategories
ofLocationInformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.4 VoluntaryRetentionandUseofLocationInformation. . . . . . . . . 22
2.4.1 TheUseofLocationInformationbytheTelco. . . . . . . . 23
2.4.2 TheUseofLocationInformationbytheSocialMedia
Platforms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.5 SurveillancePolicies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.6 UnfairLimitstoCivilandPropertyRights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.7 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
xi
xii Contents
3 TheLegalFrameworkforMobileTelecommunicationsCompanies
andSocialMediaPlatformstoDiscloseLocationInformation. . . . . 29
3.1 TheCompelledDisclosureofLocationInformation. . . . . . . . . . 29
3.1.1 TheAFP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.1.2 ASIO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.1.3 PowertoCollect‘TechnicalInformation’FromSocial
MediaTechGiants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.1.4 TheSelf-CertificationProcessUndertheTIAAct1979. . . 33
3.1.5 TheSelf-CertificationProcessUnderSection280
oftheTA1997. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.1.6 Pre-authorisationChecks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.1.7 DisclosureUnderJournalistInformationWarrants
toASIOandtheConcentrationofPower. . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.1.8 DisclosureUnderJournalistInformationWarrants
totheAFP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.2 VoluntaryDisclosureofLocationInformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.2.1 PrivacyProtectionsAreSubjecttotheDiscretion
oftheAgenciesandtheTelco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.3 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4 ThePowersoftheAgenciestoCollectandUseLocation
Information. . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. 49
4.1 ThePowersoftheAFPtoUseLocationInformation. . . . . . . . . . 49
4.1.1 StatisticsAbouttheUseofMetadata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.1.2 AccesstoLocationInformationinRespectof
Non-seriousOffencesandtheLowThreshold. . . . . . . . 51
4.2 ThePowersofASIO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.2.1 InvestigatoryPowersandthePowersPerformed
inConnectionwiththeFunctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.2.2 DefiningtheTerm‘Security’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.2.3 ASIOStillYieldsTremendousPower,Despite
thePrivacySafeguards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.2.4 Confidentiality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.3 TheLikelyImpactof‘Security’onYoungPeopleProtesting
InactiononClimateChange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.3.1 TheGreensPoliticalPartyActivitiesAreDescribedAs
aNationalSecurityandEconomicThreattoAustralia. . . 61
4.3.2 Tech-SavvyandPoliticallyActiveYoungPeopleAs
PotentialTargetsoftheDataRetentionandDisclosure
Scheme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64