Metadata issue goes to Federal Court

In the latest instalment of the Ben Grubb privacy case with Telstra, the matter has now been elevated to the Federal Court to consider, leaving the issue of whether metadata constitutes "personal information" for privacy law purposes uncertain.

By way of background, in August 2013 Mr Grubb requested access to the personal metadata held about him by Telstra in relation to his mobile phone. Telstra refused to provide Mr Grubb with metadata on the basis that the metadata generated from his mobile phone usage was not "personal information", given that his identity could not be reasonably ascertained from it.

Subsequently Mr Grubb lodged a complaint with the Privacy Commissioner (Commissioner) and the issue of whether metadata is considered "personal information" under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) was brought to a head.