While privacy laws vary greatly by geography, it's always instructive to pay attention to significant legal proceedings related to them, no matter the location. Such is the fact with the long-running case brought in Australia by journalist Ben Grubb, who sought access to his cell phone metadata stored with service provider Telstra.
The back-and-forth case has seen Grubb and then Telstra win decisions, with the most recent going to Telstra. The company had argued that metadata wasn't considered personal information, and hence not covered under Australia's Privacy Act. Australia's Administrative Appeals Tribunal agreed, saying the metadata concerned Telstra's system and not Grubb himself.
Now, as the Guardian reports, Australia's privacy commissioner is appealing the ruling favorable to Telstra in federal court—a first, according to the Guardian.
Analysis: An Appeal to Watch Closely
"This is very important and could have ramifications internationally," says Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Steve Wilson. "The subtleties here turn on things like likelihood and context: The potential to identify metadata and link it to an individual depends on how much other data you have at your disposal, and how it might be merged or correlated. It's debatable and never certain. So it's vital that the federal court clarifies this, and I hope, comes down on the side of a broader perspective."
Reprints
Reprints can be purchased through Constellation Research, Inc. To request official reprints in PDF format, please contact Sales.