ACT police revealed it made unauthorised access to people’s metadata 3365 times in 2015. 

The data was requested in instances around finding a missing person, for investigations around criminal matters, property offences and assaults.

On Monday, July 22, the Commonwealth Ombudsman highlighted the breach in a report after examining a two-week period, from October 13-26, 2015.

When providing information to the Ombudsman inspectors, ACT police self-disclosed that its authorised position holder did not have the appropriate delegation to approve 116 requests for telecommunications data during the two week sample period.

During 2018, when re-examining the 116 requests for telecommunications data, ACT police identified a further 3249 telecommunications data requests which had been made from March 11 to October 13, 2015, as a result of the same authorisation issue.

ACT Police says none of the data in question was obtained in order to identify a journalist’s source.

While the delegation was not in place, all authorisations and requests were managed in accordance with the relevant policies and procedures, including security, storage and disclosure,” ACT police say.

“ACT Policing is committed to working with the Ombudsman to investigate, monitor and ensure compliance with the legislation and to improve its practices where any breaches are detected.”

ACT Greens spokesperson Caroline Le Couteur says this news is concerning and speaks to the need for intelligence and law enforcement agencies to ensure that all possible protections and safeguards are in place regarding metadata access.

“Metadata retention is a complex area that impacts all of us. ACT residents value their privacy and would rightly feel uncomfortable if authorities are accessing data inappropriately,” she says.

“The ACT Greens are seeking further advice from ACT Policing on the breach, and about protections and processes regarding metadata access.”