UPDATED: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 9 a.m.: The Australian government will begin to enforce the new metadata retention laws today. This means the metadata of customers of telecommunications companies will be required by law to be retained for two years. There are still a lot of unresolved issues.



UPDATE: Mar. 27: The Australian Senate passed the controversial Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill, making it law.

—-

On Thursday morning, the Australian Government secured a back room deal with the Opposition to help push through highly controversial data retention laws.

In the negotiations, the Labor Opposition fought for the proposed laws to include a "Public Interest Advocate," who can argue on behalf of the media as to whether the need to capture the data of journalists is in the public interest in each case. A government agency would also require a warrant to access a journalist's data.

See also: Social media sites may be better than the law at blocking revenge porn

"This is still a process that's going to be conducted in secret," the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance chief Paul Murphy told the ABC. "The Public Interest Advocate as I understand it will be lawyers granted security access, so essentially, people approved by the Government to make decisions about the Government getting access to a journalist's data."

The amendment passed through Australia's House of Representatives on Thursday morning, and not long after the bill also passed. The Senate is expected to pass the bill in the near future, with the support of both major parties, making it law.

The proposed metadata laws have been a contentious issue in Australia since they were introduced in October. The Government claims its push for further data storage by telecommunication and Internet companies is in the name of national security and the fight against terrorism, while privacy advocates and industry experts are concerned as the law will allow ordinary Australians to be tracked without a warrant.

The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill, if passed as expected in the near future, will force telecommunication and Internet companies to retain the data of their customers for a period of two years. Government agencies will be able to access the data without a warrant.

So, what is metadata?

One of the main issues in the current bill is the failure to define "metadata." It is generally referred to as call records, the location of devices, IP addresses and personal information such as your email address and home address.

The proposed bill states the retention of data includes "information that is the contents or substance of a communication" is not required, which generally means the body of an email or text message. Despite this, a lot of information can be retrieved from your metadata alone and matched with other government data records regarding your daily routine, such as travel cards.

Metadata can show when you leave your home, where you go, individuals in your vicinity and who you have spoken to using your phone. Even without "content," a government body can create a profile of your daily activities allowing for a type of mass surveillance if required.

Australian Internet Service provider iiNet has been publicly against the data retention bill since it was first introduced. In a submission against the proposed law, the company stated "it is misleading to assert such data is ‘only’ metadata or ‘just’ metadata. Metadata reveals even more about an individual than the content itself."

Two IT students at Stanford University in the U.S. conducted a study in 2014 that showed the extent of how much personal detail can be obtained from phone metadata. The study looked at 546 records and proved you could draw personal information regarding medical conditions and firearm ownership.

In submissions put to Australia's Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, experts called for the Government to change the proposed law to include a definition of metadata, list the enforcement agencies that will be able to access the data and put in place privacy safeguards. They believe without these changes, the personal privacy of Australians will be compromised.

Before Thursday, Opposition frontbenchers were also arguing for a metadata definition to be included in the bill but due to the recent deal on amendments, the bill will go through Senate without the term being defined.

What laws have already been passed through?

The Australian Government has rushed through multiple related laws in the past year.

In September, as fears regarding terrorism reached an all-time high, the Government swiftly introduced laws allowing Australian spies (ASIO) access to entire Internet networks with the use of a single warrant. The National Security Legislation Amendment Bill did not define the number of computers within a "network."

In addition to the ASIO digital monitoring powers, the bill also introduced a 10 year jail sentence for journalists or whistleblowers disclosing information in regards to "special intelligence operations."

Greens communications spokesman Scott Ludlam raised his concerns at the time, flagging the new law will give ASIO the power to spy on anyone, anywhere.

"These warrants will allow ASIO, or those working for ASIO, to modify these computers, to delete files, to install malware, to seek higher levels of user access and to impersonate people — not only on a particular specified device but, as I think we have well and truly established, on any device that it is connected to or is considered to be in a relationship with," he said

The Attorney-General George Brandis rejected these concerns, saying the aim of the bill was not to target journalists, but to have powers to punish whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden, an American who leaked classified National Security Agency information to the media.

Following the introduction of this law, a second anti-terrorism law was introduced to Parliament and passed into law in October. The Foreign Fighters Bill saw the Government given powers to cancel passports and restrict areas Australians can travel to.

What will it cost you personally?

Not only will the government be able to access your data without a warrant and use this information in anyway it sees fit, this law change could also hit you hard financially. Estimates of the cost to telecommunication companies range up to $300 million mark, with iiNet stating in a blog post in July 2014 this will be passed on to consumers in a "surveillance tax" scenario.

A letter signed by representatives at the affected companies, dated March 16 and released to Fairfax Media, calls for the Government to be transparent regarding its contribution to the costs, after the government accepted a recommendation it should contribute a substantial amount. The cost passed onto consumers would depend on this figure.

I have nothing to hide, why does it matter?

Even if you have "nothing to hide," the question at play is: "Do you want the government to have access to a great deal of your personal information without your consent?" Even social media companies, despite collecting a great deal of your personal data, have your consent.

iiNet wrote in a blog post in July 2014: "It’s not about being worried, or wanting to ‘hide’ anything. It’s about the right to decide what you keep private and what you allow to be shared. You should be the one to make that call, and that decision should stick until a warrant or something similar is issued to law enforcement agencies to seize your information."

RELATED: For more essential information regarding the proposed metadata laws, including who can access your data and how to stop the government snooping visit Mashable's previous post Metadata retention: What you need to know.