BEGINNING today, every phone call you make, text message you send and email you write will be tracked by the government under a new metadata retention scheme.

This scheme is allegedly being implemented to protect the country against organised crime and terrorism, but it is also being slammed as a major invasion of privacy.

An Essential poll from early in the year showed that around 40 per cent of Australians support the introduction of the new metadata laws and 44 per cent did not, while 16 per cent had no idea what it was.

HOW DID WE GET TO THIS?

While it was Tony Abbott’s Liberal government who introduced the new laws into parliament, it was actually an idea devised by the Labour government led by Julia Gillard in 2012.

At the time, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon proposed a plan to a parliamentary committee almost identical to the one being put in place now.

“The intention behind the proposed reform is to allow law enforcement agencies to continue investigating crime in light of new technologies,” Ms Roxon said.

“The loss of this capability would be a major blow to our law enforcement agencies and to Australia’s national security.”

Greens senator Scott Ludlam who was, and still is the scheme’s biggest protester, claimed at the time that, “these proposals are a sweeping expansion of surveillance powers.”

News_Image_File: Greens senator Scott Ludlam is one of the schemes biggest protesters.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who then was the opposition spokesman for communications spoke very sternly against a data retention scheme, saying, “It seems to be heading in precisely the wrong direction”.

Ironically, two years later when Tony Abbott and new Attorney General George Brandis reintroduced the data retention scheme, Mr Turnbull would be tasked with helping to create the full scheme.

The government said the new measurers were all in the name of protecting the country from terror threats and were a response to the increase of Australian jihadists fighting overseas and local attacks.

The United Kingdom adopted similar data retention laws last year following advice from MI6 about an increased terror threat in Europe.

WHAT IS BEING COLLECTED? WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOU?

One of the biggest problems protesters of the scheme have is around the extremely vague definition of what data will be collected. Even George Brandis struggles to explain what it is.

But the general idea is that internet and mobile service providers will be required to hold onto your metadata for two years.

News_Image_File: Your basic run down.

Metadata is essentially the data about your data. For example, metadata around a phone call would provide the information about who you rang and for how long, but not what was talked about. It also includes nearly everything you do on the internet, including whether you visited sites to illegally download, plus loads more, including:

● Every email you send and to whom, what time, where you sent it and the subject of it.

● The location you took a photo, the settings you took the picture with and the camera model

● While not mandatory, some ISPs may record the IP address of the websites you visit, essentially your internet history

It might seem like it doesn’t give much away, but it’s not hard to piece together the clues of the communication, such as someone calling a phone sex service for 21 minutes at 1am.

There’s also the question of cost. Tracking the metadata will burden ISPs and telcos with massive bills, which the government will be pay $131 million of taxpayer money to set up. After the initial set up though, the telcos are on their own and will likely pass the cost to consumers.

IS IT A GOOD IDEA?

On the surface, it appears like a great scheme to protect the country, but many believe it is the biggest intrusion of privacy in Australian history and a massive security risk. Telstra even labelled it as a “honey pot for hackers”, as some data centres will be stored offshore.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott earlier in the year justified the program by reinforcing its national security benefits.

“The important thing here is to give us the tools that we need to ensure that people who are a serious threat to our country are appropriately dealt with, people who are ready to engage in horrific terrorist activity and stating an intention in many cases to engage in mass casualty terrorist activities, can be dealt with in this country,” he said.

American whistleblowers chimed in with his thoughts on the scheme in March, claiming a data retention scheme would not stop another terrorist attack.

News_Image_File: Edward Snowden says it won’t help prevent terrorist attacks.

“They’re not going to stop the next attacks either,” he said. “Because they’re not public safety programs. They’re spying programs.”

“But the question that we as a society have to ask — are our collective rights worth a small advantage in our ability to spy?” Snowden added.

The police insider also claimed, “The Australian people are being sleepwalked into a system the Attorney-General can’t even articulate.”

Who is going to see my data?

Essentially all law enforcement and security agencies, including your local police station all the way up to the Australian Federal Police and ASIO.

“There are only three different justifications (where) we have to access metadata; if someone’s life is being threatened, protection of government income, and (an) investigation of a crime punishable with at least two years in prison,” the police insider said.

However, crimes punishable by two years’ jail can be for things as small as graffiti, meaning that more often than not, those investigating a criminal case will have access to metadata.

With the new laws though, there comes a Commonwealth commissioner whose job is to have an oversight of metadata access, but only after a request is made.

News_Image_File: Essentially our internet now. Cartoon: Kudelka

How to get around it

Worried about your privacy? Luckily there are a few ways around it. The easiest way is to use over-the-top communication services, which you probably already do. These are services that use the internet, such as Apple’s iMessage and FaceTime or Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. While the government will be able to see that you use those services, they won’t know who you’re talking to or what you’re saying. If you’re really worried about your privacy, you can sign up to a virtual private network (VPN) which helps hide your internet traffic by encrypting the connection. VPN’s all vary in price, but they are usually around the $5 per month price point.

News_Rich_Media: WARNING - Graphic Content: Journalist David Bond decides to find out how much private companies and the Government know about him by putting himself under surveillance and trying to drop off the radar.