Telcos cash in on police request for information on online pervs

INTERNET giants are charging taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars each year to hand police data essential to ensure paedophiles feel the full force of the law.

INTERNET giants are charging taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars each year to hand over data to police that is essential to the pursuit of paedophiles.

Australian Federal Police were billed more than $27,000 last financial year by telecommunications companies including Telstra for information relating to possible child exploitation offences.

The AFP made 2615 requests for information about consumers who had been detected committing a criminal offence involving child exploitation or pornography in 2016-17.

South Australian Senator Rex Patrick accused the telcos of actions at odds with community expectation.

“Every member of the community should assist police in the detection and investigation of crime,” he said.

“ISPs charging police, particularly when the detection and investigation relates to the use of their services, is inconsistent with this principle.”

Internet providers are billing police for information related to possible child abuse offences. Picture: iStock

AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin said there were many hundreds of internet service providers across the country and each charged for the information.

“They all charge slightly differently. The rate is a cost recovery of what the internet service provider needs to do to recover the information to provide us,” he said.

“If it’s Telstra, it’s very different from a small ISP. The rates do vary, though. They can be quite broad.”

A Telstra spokesman said the telco received tens of thousands of requests for customer information each year from law enforcement agencies each year and charged a fee to recover the cost of complying.

South Australian Senator Rex Patrick said the telcos’ actions were at odds with community expectations. Picture: AAP / David Mariuz

An AFP spokeswoman said the costs for each information check varied by carrier depended on the time period over which the data was sought.

There were four common types of information sought, from the most basic request for phone numbers which help police establish who was accessing or sharing child exploitation materials.

Depending on the complexity, costs ranged from just $2 up to $200. The most expensive individual request last year was $1020.

Mr Colvin said no internet service provider had ever refused to provide the information being sought.

Under law, ISPs could be fined up to $21,000 if they were aware the service provided may have been used to access child pornography or abuse material and does not refer it to police.