Justice Adam Kimber rules AN0M app was not ‘intercepting’ messages, but enabled legal police surveillance

After hearing months of evidence as part of a case challenging the validity of the encrypted AN0M app at the heart of Operation Ironside, the Supreme Court has ruled on its legality.

The encrypted communication platform at the heart of an international police operation that led to hundreds of arrests and the dismantling of alleged organised crime syndicates was legally run by police, a court has ruled.

Phones with the AN0M app installed were used by thousands of people in Australia who police allege were using the devices to further criminal activities.

The devices were secretly being monitored by the FBI and Australian Federal Police who, on June 8, 2021, disabled the app and moved to arrest hundreds of people across the globe.

In Australia the crackdown was known as Operation Ironside, in the US as Trojan Shield and in Europe as Greenlight.

On Wednesday, Justice Adam Kimber, who has heard months of evidence as part of the nation leading Ironside test case, found the phones did not allow the AFP to illegally intercept phone communications.

Before a court crowded with detectives, prosecutors and defence lawyers, he dismissed what has come to be known as the “Chapter One” challenge to the validity of every message sent over the AN0M platform.

Lawyers for two men have sought to challenge the evidence gathered as part of Operation Ironside on a number of fronts.

Arguably the most important was whether the AN0M app enabled police to “surveil” the messages sent between users, or was an “interception” of the messages.

AFP officers had electronic surveillance device warrants for two servers – code named Rick and Morty – in Sydney where a blind carbon copy of all messages would eventually be sent.

However, barristers for the two accused argued police had been “intercepting” the messages and needed a warrant for each phone to make the operation legal.

Director of Public Prosecutions Martin Hinton KC, prosecuting, argued the messages sent over the AN0M platform were not interfered with while they were in the telecommunications network.

The devices were programmed to send a copy of each message sent to a server out of Australia automatically once a message was sent.

The AN0M app has been declared legal after months of evidence in South Australian Supreme Court. Picture: AFP

Those messages would be de-encrypted and then re-encrypted before being sent to a second server and then finally to “Rick and Morty” in Sydney.

The men’s legal team, which included leading Adelaide lawyers Craig Caldicott and Domenic Agresta, as well as silks Michael Abbott KC, David Edwardson KC and Damian O’Leary SC, argued the messages had been intercepted during transmission.

They argued the AN0M phones were connected to a telecommunications network and any transfer of information began before the message copy had been created.

While the judgment is likely to be appealed, it is a blow to the defence of the hundreds of Ironside-accused across Australia.

A finding that the messages had been intercepted illegally would have made them all inadmissable in court and undermined most high-profile prosecutions.

Further judgments are expected in the coming weeks as Justice Kimber makes rulings on other legal arguments.

Originally published as Justice Adam Kimber rules AN0M app was not ‘intercepting’ messages, but enabled legal police surveillance