
AFP officer accessed journalist's call records in metadata breach - a_bonobo
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-28/afp-officer-accessed-journalists-call-records-in-metadata-breach/8480804
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PebblesHD
"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was a crime" wouldn't fly in literally any other
circumstance. Why do they think it's acceptable in this case. The police made
it almost a month after this was made law to violate it, how long until the
next, and the next? I seriously doubt that the police are appropriately able
to self police here, there needs to be proper protection against them 'just
looking it up without a warrant'. The facility shouldn't even be available
without the appropriate processes.

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bigiain
"We haven't notified the journalist that we have breached and accessed that
particular journalist's data without the warrant."

Cynical prediction - they self-reported this without identifying the
journalist, because they intend to use it to lean on sources, informants, and
suspects across a bunch of different cases... "Well, you know, we've already
got the phone call metadata from the journalist you leaked to - there's no
point lying to us son, we're just trying to help you out..."

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gonzo41
So those officers should be thrown to the wolves.

Ignorance of the rules is not an excuse! It doesn't work for me and the speed
limit and it shouldn't work for the police accessing this type of information.

~~~
maccard
Honestly I think it's worse. When someone is placed in a position of authority
they should be held to a higher standard.

~~~
gonzo41
I totally agree, I wasn't being colloquial about the wolves.

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shakna
> "We have raised the level of internal authorisation required for access to
> data of this type," he told reporters in Canberra.

> "We are limiting the number of authorised officers who can approve access of
> this type.

> "We are also re-rolling out and stepping up mandatory training to all
> investigators and authorised officers to make sure they are fully aware of
> their obligations under the Act."

Oops, we didn't mean to get caught, now we'll tell everyone they really
shouldn't do this again.

~~~
senectus1
sounds very much like they don't have any technological impairments to getting
access to these information sources... Its sounds entirely too easy.

