The Telecommunications Interception and Access Act 1979 (Cth)
(TIAA), as amended in 2015, requires that Australian
telecommunication companies retain specific data for a period of at
least two years. The purpose of the TIAA is to permit access to
retained data by Australian law enforcement and security agencies
to assist in national security and serious criminal investigations.
According to the Australian government's 2014/15 annual report
on the TIAA, enforcement agencies made 365,728 authorizations for
access to historical telecommunications data in that financial
year, of which the overwhelming majority was related to enforcement
of criminal law.1
While it is not uncommon for a party in civil proceedings to
request a subpoena to compel a service provider (SP) to produce
documents relating to telephone or internet communications,
amendments to the TIAA due to come into effect in April 2017 will
restrict access of data by subpoena where that data was retained by
a
