Telstra transparency report shows nearly 85,000 customer data records seen by police, government

TELSTRA has revealed it handed over close to 85,000 customer records, as controversy surrounds the government’s proposal to hold on to your metadata.

POLICE and government agencies accessed at least 84,849 Telstra customer records in the 12 months to July, the telco has revealed in its first full-year transparency report.

The vast majority of the records — some 75,448 — related to basic customer information, carriage service records, or basic pre-warrant checks, which are used to determine whether customers were still with Telstra.

Customer information can include a customer’s name, address, previous address, service number, connection dates, and date of birth.

Carriage service records can include data on phone, text and internet communications, including when, to whom and for how long communication is made.

The report reveals 6202 records were provided to agencies in response to emergency situations, such as Triple Zero calls, with 598 provided in response to court orders, typically relating to civil disputes.

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Telstra ... have disclosed how much data they have given to government agencies. Picture: AFP

Some 2701 records were obtained via a warrant, allowing agencies to conduct real-time phone taps or access the content of a customer’s communication.

Companies are prohibited from disclosing information requests from national security agencies such as ASIO, meaning the overall figure is likely far higher than the reported 84,849.

All Australian telcos are required by law to assist government agencies by handing over customer data in defined situations, such as criminal investigations.

Yet Telstra is one of the few companies operating in Australia to disclose the number and types of these requests.

It released its first transparency report in March, following the likes of tech giants Facebook, Google and Twitter.

That report covered the second half of 2013, but the new one is Telstra’s first to disclose an entire year of data.

It comes as the telecommunications industry negotiates with the federal government about a controversial proposal to compel telcos to store customer metadata for two years.

Spying and law enforcement bodies say mandatory retention of customer data is vital for fighting crime and terrorism.

Critics within the industry counter that extra storage and retention could cost some telcos hundreds of millions of dollars. Unlike most other transparency reports, Telstra did not disclose how many of the requests it challenged or denied.

But because Australian law allows agencies to undertake a pre-warrant check to finetune their investigations, there are relatively fewer illegitimate requests, it said.

Telstra added that its international arm, Telstra global, received fewer than 100 requests for information.