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A new deal between Australia and the United States will allow Australian law enforcement agencies to access previously encrypted data from US communications service providers.
With the recommendation from the parliamentary, Australia signed the Cloud Act agreement which would provide Australian agencies access to electronic data held in the United States in cases involving serious crimes.
A parliamentary report into the treaty said, “For Australia, the Cloud Act Agreement would complement but significantly improve on the current mutual legal assistance treaty process for the acquisition of data held by US communications service providers”
“In so doing, it has the potential to substantially reduce the time frames for the acquisition of relevant data relating to the commission of a serious offence,” it said.
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The deal would also provide US officials access to data held by Australian organisations.
In relation to crimes like terrorism, child abuse, and human trafficking, the agreement will shorten the time it takes to gather evidence.
The treaty stipulated that before it went into effect, it had to be approved by both the Australian parliament and the US Congress.
Australia is the second country, after the United Kingdom, to sign a data access agreement with the US.
According to the report, the need for the agreement arose from the increasing use of non-Australian communication networks for severe crime.
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In the past, it could take more than a year for the US to provide necessary data to Australian authorities.
“The complexity of a matter and the nature of the assistance sought mean requests can take between three months and two years,” the report said.
“The current processes for obtaining data from US communications service providers under the (current) process can be cumbersome and not necessarily suited to modern communications, data storage, and cloud computing.”
If a US case is punishable with death penalty, the US would need permission from the Australian government to use the data as evidence.
Dorinda Cox, a Greens senator who participated in the parliamentary probe, argued that all references to “independent authorities” should be eliminated from the agreement and replaced with references to courts, judges and magistrates.
Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.
