Right to Privacy: Telephone Interception and Access in Australia

In its first thirty years of operation, the 1979 Australian Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act moved from providing a strict prohibition on telephone interception (wiretapping), to legislating rights of access for law enforcement and revenue protection agencies [5], [6], [12][14], [18]. Currently, Australian legislation permits access to call content through the use of a warrant issued by a member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal [5]. The legislation also allows bureaucratic authorization for access to a suspect's location information [13]. Here we consider whether the impacts of this regime are appropriate for Australians in terms of financial costs and in term of impositions on privacy rights.