Australia's new data retention laws mean phone and internet companies have to save this information for two years: that's every time you call someone, where you call them from, which cell tower your phone pings every time it connects to the internet, and more.
The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 requires telecommunications companies to retain a particular set of telecommunications data for at least 2 years. These obligations ensure Australia's law enforcement and security agencies are lawfully able to access data, subject to strict controls.
T-Mobile holds call records between seven and 10 years, spokesman Viet Nguyen says. MetroPCS maintains separate records and keeps them two years. Sprint holds call logs 18 months, spokeswoman Stephanie Vinge Walsh says. U.S. Cellular holds records one year, according to spokeswoman Katie Frey.
The only clear legal requirement for it to keep “information for identification purposes” comes from the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979, which requires that identification information and metadata be kept for two years (to assist law enforcement and intelligence agencies).
Your Internet Providers keep track of your online activities and are mandated to retain your history and other associated data for a while. How long they can keep this data usually varies from country to country. Usually, this period may range from 90 days to 3 years.
Can my internet service provider see my deleted history? Yes. Deleting your history from your browser or your device does nothing to stop it from reaching your ISP or any other third party along your connection. If you want to keep your browsing history private from your ISP, use a VPN to encrypt your traffic.
Only you or a person you authorise, such as a legal guardian or authorised agent, can request the correction of your personal information. An organisation or agency must be satisfied the request came from you or the person you authorised.
The Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) is the principal piece of Australian legislation protecting the handling of personal information about individuals. This includes the collection, use, storage and disclosure of personal information in the federal public sector and in the private sector.
Under the scheme, all telcos will be required to collect and store a significant amount of customer metadata for two years and make it available upon lawful request to certain law enforcement and national security agencies.
Contact your cell phone provider.
If you have lost the records sent to you or cannot locate the records online, the best remaining option is to contact your phone provider. They are mandated by law to keep the records, and should be able to provide them to anyone who can prove that they are the main account holder.
Please see the court order section if you need incoming caller information. Note 2 We don't record all of the calls made to our call centres. Those that are recorded are generally only retained for up to 12 months (it can be less, depending on the nature of the call).
The short answer is yes, your smartphone is technically always listening. However, the truth is a bit more complicated. A voice-activated device has to be constantly eavesdropping so that it picks up on “wake words,” or the voice command used to activate their virtual assistant service.
All of the providers retained records of the date and time of the text message and the parties to the message for time periods ranging from sixty days to seven years. However, the majority of cellular service providers do not save the content of text messages at all.
Telstra does not retain a copy of what is said in a voice call (audio), or what is entered in an SMS (text/content). Cell tower location information relates to the location of the cell tower which serves a call when first initiated (or an SMS, when sent).
Federal law prevents companies from producing these documents without a court order or subpoena. Text message records must be obtained from a party's cell phone provider. An attorney can obtain a court order or subpoena to get the records directly from the service provider.
Under Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the right to be forgotten gives individuals the right to ask an entity in certain circumstances to destroy the personal information that the entity holds about them. Australians don't currently have this right under the Privacy Act.
Australia is one of four countries of the 13 with caps where 100% of plan options had download caps, and it ranked fourth in average download limit size (27 GB).
Australia's data sovereignty law requires that data be kept in a data centre located in Australia (data residency), and be only accessible by Australians at all times. In Australia, data held on Australian soil is subject to and protected by our Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
If, having considered your request, the organisation decides it does not need to erase your data, they must still respond to you. They should explain why they believe they don't have to erase your data, and let you know about your right to complain about this decision to the ICO, or through the courts.
There are significant penalties for employees who destroy or impair access to company data without authorisation, including up to 10 years' imprisonment for deliberate or reckless modification pursuant to division 477.2 of the Criminal Code Act 1995.
Who can see my mobile data history? Your mobile data history is accessible to your mobile service provider. They can see when and how much data you use, as well as your general location (based on which cell tower you're connected to).
Delete your browsing data
If you sync a type of data, deleting it on your Android device will delete it everywhere it's synced. It'll be removed from other devices and your Google Account.