The Queensland Police Service has backtracked on doubts it cast on Brisbane City Council’s stated reasons for applying to telecommunications companies for consumers’ metadata.
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On Tuesday, 12 days after Brisbane Times first asked for QPS comment on the council’s explanation that it had only made such applications at the request of police, the QPS said in a statement:
“Further inquiries have been able to determine an example of the Queensland Police Service requesting such information from the Brisbane City Council to assist with investigations.
“Details of the investigations cannot be released for operational reasons.”
Earlier this week, QPS had said it could not confirm the council’s version of events and had failed to get clarification from lord mayor Graham Quirk’s office, despite separate approaches by two officers, adding that the situation described by the council was “not one of our strategies”.
The council, by contrast, said it had provided clarification to the QPS, “which was accepted”.
The council appeared on a list of more than 100 agencies making applications to telcos for metadata submitted to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security by the telecoms industry.
It is not among the 20-odd law enforcement and intelligence agencies - including the QPS - that have automatic rights to access metadata under the laws. Instead they must argue that they have some other legal right to the information.
The telecoms industry, through its peak body the Communications Alliance, argues that it should not be left to decide the merits of such applications and is unhappy that there is no official monitoring or enforcement regime for them.
