Culture

Remember When Malcolm Turnbull Used To Call Data Retention A Terrible Idea?

Given the bill he introduced this morning, he seems to have forgotten.

by Alex McKinnon  30 October 2014

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UPDATE, Tuesday October 13: The government’s metadata retention scheme came into effect today (hi, Malcolm!). This piece was originally published last year, but given the Communications Minister who made data retention happen is now Prime Minister, his views on the matter are worth a second look. 

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Despite his many crimes against the Internet and general rich-old-man-ness, Malcolm Turnbull’s been able to skate by for years on his relatively-cool-Liberal image because he wears leather jackets on Q&A and has a voice that sounds like sex dipped in honey.

But if you ever needed proof that he’s not all that, you’ve gotten it in spades over the last year or so. Here’s Turnbull back in October 2014 introducing the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill into the House of Reps; a piece of legislation so bad even its name is scary. You can watch him do it here:

First thing: that legendary silver head of hair is starting to get a little thin on the top. When the light hits it just right you can see the scalp gleaming through its thin layer of combover, like a coin buried in a pile of old leaves.

Secondly — and almost as importantly — we’ve gone over why this whole ‘data retention’ thing is a terrible idea a million times. It gives security agencies vast powers with no oversight, it’ll make the Internet more expensive for consumers, and according to new AFP Chief Andrew Colvin, the police can and will use your metadata to see if you’ve been torrenting pirated TV shows.

Colvin said as much in a joint press conference with Turnbull and Attorney-General George Brandis around the time the bill was introduced; skip to 27:20 to see it, and watch a miserable-looking Turnbull interject soon after.

Turnbull might be looking so bloody deflated in those two videos because he doesn’t actually believe in the legislation he’s overseen, for all the good that does anyone. In a speech titled ‘Liberty in the digital age’ that he gave at the 2012 Alfred Deakin Lecture, Turnbull spoke out eloquently against then-Attorney General Nicola Roxon’s plans to “expand data interception, mandatory data retention, and government access to private digital information”.

“While the purported intent is that only metadata – data about data – will be available to law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies, there is no explanation of how metadata will be distinguished from data (the two are often commingled, as in the ‘subject’ line of emails), why both would not be readily available once a message has been handed over and decrypted, and indeed how readily in an IP world it is possible to keep a record of the time, date, size, sender, receiver and possibly subject of an email without also retaining the contents.

“Nor has there been an explanation of what costs and benefits have been estimated for this sweeping and intrusive new power, how these were arrived at, what (if any) cost was ascribed to its chilling effect on free speech, and whether any gains in national security or law enforcement asserted as justification for the changes will be monitored and verified should they be enacted.

“…Leaving aside the central issue of the right to privacy, there are formidable practical objections. The carriers, including Telstra, have argued that the cost of complying with a new data retention regime would be very considerable with the consequence of higher charges for their customers.”

Damn, Malcolm. What a great speech. You sure made some pretty compelling points on why mandatory metadata retention is a terrible idea.

That bill was passed with the support of the Labor Opposition earlier this year, and came into effect today. One has to wonder how Turnbull, now Prime Minister, feels about being the main architect of a data retention scheme he’s been vocally and philosophically opposed to for years. Hope he doesn’t lose any more hair over it.

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If you don’t enjoy the prospect of the government looking through all your stuff online, click here for a bunch of pretty easy ways to get around the data retention framework.