Showing posts with label telecommunications. Show all posts
Showing posts with label telecommunications. Show all posts

Tuesday 22 November 2016

Have an Optus, Vodaphone or Telstra mobile phone account? Your personal details may be on sale in Mumbai



The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 November 2016:

Corrupt insiders at offshore call centres are offering the private details of Australian customers of Optus, Telstra and Vodafone for sale to anyone prepared to pay.

A Fairfax Media investigation can reveal Mumbai-based security firm AI Solutions is asking between $350 and $1000 in exchange for the private information, but even more if the target is an Australian "VIP, politician, police, [or] celebrity".

AI Solutions is just one of potentially several private companies selling phone records, home addresses and other private details of Australian telecommunication company customers. They in turn have received the information from employees of the call centres used widely by Australian businesses.

Security industry sources said the practice has been long-standing. AI Solutions has told customers it has sold people's personal data for several years.

Optus has called in the federal police to investigate the data breach after it was contacted by Fairfax Media.

Optus, Telstra - which is holding an investor briefing in Sydney on Thursday - and Vodafone have stressed they are aware of the problem and have invested heavily in security procedures to counter it.

The revelation underscores the risks facing Australian consumers and businesses as a vast amount of personal or private data is collected and often stored offshore by service providers, financial institutions and government agencies.

It also raises fresh concerns about risks faced in using offshore call centres, where it may be more difficult to ensure data security.

AI Solutions actively markets its services to prospective Australian clients via an Indian businessman who uses the name Imran Khan. It is unclear if this is a false name.

But Fairfax Media has confirmed that AI Solutions has previously, and on numerous occasions, sold Australians' personal data to third parties.

It recently wrote to a Melbourne corporate intelligence and security company, boasting that it has a "long list" of Australian clients buying data from the offshore call centres.

"There are … 3 major telecom numbers details I can provide you. Telstra, Vodafone and Optus," the Indian company's representative wrote in a text message to a prospective client seen by Fairfax Media.

The company charges $350 to provide a person's home address and charges $1000 for a "full extract". This includes a person's home address, date of birth, alternative phone numbers and "more than 1 years billing statements" and "calling data history".

"And for VIP, politician, police, celebrity, charges are different," one message said.

While the data being illegally sold will not contain the actual content of text messages or what has been said during phone calls, it does contain information about who a person has called, the location at which a call is made and other sensitive data and metadata.

This information could be of use to companies engaged in corporate spying or intelligence gathering, private investigators, marketing firms and organised criminals seeking to engage in identity fraud, or to locate people. It is possible that foreign intelligence services could also use the data theft service.

The Indian firm requests payment via Western Union or Money Gram remittance services……

The Australian Federal Police said it had spoken with Optus and Vodafone and had subsequently provided information to Indian authorities.


Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, media release, 17 November 2016:

Statement by the Australian Information and Privacy Commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, on personal information of Australian telecommunication customers

17 November 2016

I am concerned about allegations that personal information of Australian telecommunication customers is being offered for sale online. My office is making enquiries with Optus, Telstra and Vodafone to determine what further action I may take in this matter.

These allegations, and the community response they have generated, are a reminder that Australian customers expect businesses to handle their personal information in line with Australian law no matter where they operate. 

If anyone has privacy concerns about this incident they can contact my office on 1300 363 992 or enquiries@oaic.gov.au.

Sunday 9 October 2016

Australian's don't expect Turnbull's version of the National Broadband Network to last the distance


An Essential Research online poll released on 4 October  2016 found that 88% of respondents agreed that access to the Internet is becoming an essential service – like access to water and electricity.

That same poll demonstrated that the majority of Australians probably do not believe that the National Broadband Network (NBN) is fit for the future:



Tuesday 24 February 2015

Metadata Retention: in which the Prime Minister of Australia says any old thing which pops into his head


The Sydney Morning Herald on 19 February 2015 reported assertions made by Prime Minister Tony Abbott concerning his government's plan to introduce mass telecommunications and information technology surveillance of the Australian population:

The Abbott government's controversial data retention scheme will cost an estimated $300 million to set up, with telecommunications consumers expected to foot almost half the total cost through higher bills.
The government wants legislation passed by March requiring telecommunications companies to store customer metadata for at least two years.
Under the government's proposal, phone and internet firms would be forced to store details such as the time and place of phone calls, and the origin and destination of emails. It does not include the content of communications.
Responding to calls to release the cost of the scheme, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday that it would cost less than one per cent of the estimated $40 billion value of the telecommunications sector to establish.
Mr Abbott said that the price of not storing electronic communication records is "incalculable" and would lead to an "explosion in unsolved crime".
Fairfax Media understands the government's calculations for setting up the scheme are approximately $300 million, based on an industry analysis by professional services group PwC. [my red bolding]

There will be an explosion of unsolved come across the country if Abbott & Co are not allowed to introduce universal surveillance of Australian citizens? 

Surveillance that stores raw digital data about the daily lives of all citizens. Data which federal government security agencies, police and every revenue raising state or federal government agency or statutory authority can access without a warrant.

So if persons committing criminal offences have had the upper hand because there is no mass surveillance to date, why is it that crime has not spiralled out of control before now?

If police need these additional mass surveillance powers to do their job effectively, why do NSW Police currently solve a high percentage of homicides and why was the NSW prison population in 2014 rising without these powers?

If landlines, mobile phones and the Internet are so vital to the commission of major crimes, how is it that I live in an area with a relatively high rate of Internet connection in the home (58% with public access points also available) but stable to lower recorded major criminal offences trends and, New South Wales as a whole showed no significant recorded major offences upward trend in the September Quarter 2014.

If there was thought to be a direct correlation between no mass surveillance and unsolved crime, I suspect the fact that around 62 percent of individuals before NSW local courts already plead guilty in the absence of such surveillance might call that assumption into question.

As would the fact that the number and percentage of criminal convictions are increasing in NSW lower and higher courts without continuous two-year metadata retention being available to police without a warrant.

This may be a somewhat simplistic yardstick used to measure the veracity of the federal government position, but it does indicate the likelihood that Tony Abbott was spouting arrant nonsense for the benefit of the camera.

Prime Minister Abbott also made a National Security Statement on 23 February which included this sentence:

The government's Data Retention Bill – currently being reviewed by the Parliament – is the vital next step in giving our agencies the tools they need to keep Australia safe.

However, access to metadata without a warrant apparently would not have stopped the violent Martin Place siege or kept the seventeen hostages safe during their 16 hour ordeal.  


the perpetrator of this fatal siege was known to national security and police agencies for most of the eighteen years he lived in Australia;
his Internet and social media presence was being monitored and assessed;
there were at least 18 calls from members of the public to the National Security Hotline between 9 -12 December 2014 concerning the offensive nature of the content on his public Facebook page; and
with the exception of the suspension of a website and certain criminal charges before the courts, relevant authorities did not act to contain the perpetrator based on the information in their possession before 15 December 2014 because he was not considered a threat to national security.

This example places into doubt this second reason Tony Abbott recently gave for the need to implement a mass surveillance scheme.

Sunday 22 February 2015

DATA RETENTION. Abbott v Shorten. Fascism versus the rights of the citizen?


Fascism versus the rights of the citizen? Take the time to read up on the many concerns expressed about the Abbott Government's legislation, TELECOMMUNICATIONS (INTERCEPTION AND ACCESS) AMENDMENT (DATA RETENTION) BILL 2014, which will allow it to spy on Australian citizens regardless or whether or not they are suspected of committing a crime. Then you decide whether this is a huge step too far.

Australian Prime Minster Tony Abbott's attempt to place pressure on the Opposition and the Opposition's response:


Thursday 19 February 2015

Abbott's 'snoopers' charter continues to cause concern


Liberty Victoria has a history of campaigning for civil liberties and human rights for more than 70 years. Officially known as the Victorian Council of Civil Liberties Inc, its lineage extends back to the Australian Council for Civil Liberties (ACCL).

This is its 22 January 2015 media release:

The human rights group Liberty Victoria today called on the Federal Government to use its review of security laws to introduce a much higher threshold for access to telecommunications data and limit access to agencies directly responsible for national security and the investigation of serious crime.
 Liberty warned that the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act, which gives government agencies access to this data, is open to abuse because information can be obtained without a warrant or any independent oversight. “A full-scale campaign has been launched against similar laws in Britain, targeting the `snoopers’ charter,’ as it is known.”

The Abbott government’s proposed data retention bill, which will amend the Act, will make things worse, enabling retrospective surveillance of the private lives of ordinary Australians throughout the two year data retention period.

“The Abbott government is trying to justify this bill as a necessary tool for security agencies and the police in the fight against terrorism and serious crime. The legislation goes much further than is necessary for this purpose, however, allowing access to telecommunications data, even if the investigation only aims at non payment of a fine or a tax.

“The law now allows Australian Post, the tax office and a municipal council, among many others agencies, access to an individual’s telecommunications data. And there is no sanction if information is accessed unlawfully by authorised officers working in these agencies.”

Liberty said that in spite of  statements to the contrary by the Federal Government, the proposed data retention bill will not necessarily limit the number of agencies that have access to telecommunications data and nothing in the bill will set a higher threshold for access to such data.

Liberty echoed the view of Alistair MacDonald, QC, chairman of the English Bar Council, that one of the aims of extremists, who are willing to commit barbaric crimes in support of purportedly religious or political ends, is that the hard-won liberties of the civil population should be curtailed and a wedge driven between those in society with different views about the degree to which personal freedom should be sacrificed for public safety.
Right now the Government is proposing to introduce a mandatory, society-wide regime for the retention of communications data (‘metadata’) for two years. In the latest public hearing into the Government’s proposed legislation a number of important matters were revealed by the Attorney-General and Australia’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

If you weren’t paying attention to the workings of Parliament in the lead up to the festive season then you may have missed a crucial public hearing by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS), held on 17th December. This hearing delved into the Government’s proposed mandatory, society-wide data retention regime. It was a crucial hearing because from it we learned five things.

1. There remains no final definition for the data set and what exactly will or won’t be retained. In fact the hearing revealed continuing confusion about what the Government and the law enforcement and intelligence communities consider to be relevant data.

2. The Government doesn’t know how much it will cost to implement the Government’s mandatory, society-wide data retention regime, and they won’t be able to make meaningful estimates until they’ve finished defining the data set. What we do have are estimates about the costs to telcos and ISPs for implementing the regime, which the industry has already admitted will be passed on to consumers. So, you’ll end up paying more through higher connectivity charges, through your taxes, or probably both.

3. The Government and the Australian Federal Police cannot say how many times existing surveillance laws and the subsequent data collected have contributed to intercepting criminal activity or successfully prosecuting suspects.

4. There were no new details provided about the circumstances under which access to data is granted or what it will be used for. This is particularly interesting given the recent passage of laws enabling the AFP and ASIO to delete, add or change data on computers of people who are not ‘persons of interest’.

5. It was confirmed that the mandatory, society-wide data retention regime could be utilised to pursue civil legal actions, particularly copyright infringement actions, and admitted that the regime represented a security risk as personal user data would be centrally stored for two years; offering a tempting target for crackers to steal data.

For some, the public hearing confirmed our worst fears about the mandatory, society-wide data retention regime…..

What they want now is for that information to be retained for two years for ALL Australians, even if you’re not being investigated or considered a person of interest. The regime represents a massive invasion of the privacy of all Australians, while subverting a fundamental principle of our legal system – the presumption of innocence – by treating all of us as suspects.

And we the public will get the privilege of paying for it all as telcos and ISPs will pass on the costs of implementing the regime to customers. While the telcos and ISPs have been measuring the possible cost of this poor policy, the Government has yet to work out how much it will cost taxpayers to implement it.

In addition, it was confirmed during the PJCIS public hearing that the laws pave the way for the pursuit of civil legal actions, especially related to copyright infringement, but also potentially unfair dismissal and in many other contexts. This means a new threat to the public who aren’t persons of interest as ordinary Australians get caught up in civil actions because they downloaded some movies from the net….

CNet 29 January 2015:

Both Australia's largest telco and a leading digital privacy organisation have warned that mandatory data retention could create a "honeypot" of personal information that could be compromised by hackers and criminals.

The warning came at a Parliamentary Committee hearing on proposed Data Retention legislation, which is hearing from telecommunications providers, security experts and privacy advocates in Canberra today and tomorrow.

Both Telstra and digital civil liberties group Electronic Frontiers Australia have warned that requiring telecommunications providers and ISPs to store metadata on every Australian for a period of two years would create a massive cache of personal information that would need to be protected with extra security to prevent hacks.

To highlight how much more data could be retained under a mandatory scheme compared to current practices, Telstra Director of Government Relations James Shaw said that, at peak times such as New Years Eve, some data is only retained by the telco for a few hours before it is overwritten -- significantly less than the two-year period that would be required under proposed legislation…

Telstra Chief Information Security Officer Michael Burgess warned that keeping two years' worth of metadata could pique the interest of people aside from law enforcement and security agencies, and that the company "would need to take further steps" to ensure security.

"The internet is a very busy place for people that choose to do harm," he said. "We would have to put extra measures in place...to make sure that data was safe from those that should not have access to it."

Furthermore, Burgess warned that the data retention scheme would require "new functionality" to be rolled out across Telstra's network to ensure the proper storage of the correct information. Compared to current storage methods, he argued that a new centralised system could provide an easier access point for hackers…..

Tuesday 20 August 2013

Hartsuyker lets the cat out of the bag on higher mobile phone costs if the Coalition wins on 7 September 2013


On 13 August 2013 Opposition Leader Tony Abbott announced that: If elected, a Coalition government will partner with local communities, state governments and telecommunications companies to ensure that the total new investment in black spots is far greater than our $100 million commitment.
This policy will provide $80 million for a Mobile Network Expansion Programme that will improve mobile phone coverage along major transport routes, in small communities and in locations prone to experiencing natural disasters. 
The Mobile Network Expansion Programme is expected to generate at least an additional $80 million investment from the major mobile phone carriers. 
The Coalition will also provide $20 million for a Mobile Black Spot Programme to address unique mobile coverage problems – such as locations with high seasonal demand – and deliver a targeted response.

The next day the Australian Financial Review reported that the Shadow Minister for Regional Communications and Nationals Member for Cowper here on the NSW North Coast, Luke Hartsuyker, stated that he expects major mobile phone carriers and regional communities to stump up over $100 million to build the towers.
Which would inevitably translate into higher mobile phone costs across regional and rural Australia, as state/local governments and telcos passed these costs on to consumers.

Something Opposition Leader Tony Abbott neglected to mention in his media announcement.

Wednesday 26 September 2012

Dowell, George and Saffin call for Telstra to invest in digital infrastructure for Lismore

Lismore Mayor Cr Jenny Dowell, Federal Member for Page Janelle Saffin and State Member for Lismore Thomas George with copies of the community petition outside Telstra’s Goonellabah Call Centre

Bipartisan call for Telstra to invest in digital infrastructure for Lismore

PAGE MP Janelle Saffin, Lismore MP Thomas George and Lismore Mayor Cr Jenny Dowell have called on Telstra to make a $3.4-million investment in digital infrastructure to compensate for closing its Goonellabah Call Centre later next month.

In a bipartisan front last Friday, the local politicians met with Telstra executives Peter Jamieson and Sue Passmore at the call centre to put forward a package of proposed initiatives and to hand over a community petition, signed by almost 6000 local residents, condemning the imminent retrenchment of 116 staff.

“First and foremost, our concerns remain very much with the affected staff and their families, and we were able to meet with staff to check on their welfare and to see whether they needed further assistance with redundancy, transfer or searching for alternative employment,” the politicians said in a joint statement.

“The call centre has been operating for 20 years and the economic impact of its closure is the direct loss of 116 local jobs, amounting to $3.4 million in salaries annually, and a flow-on impact to a further 290 local people’s jobs and incomes, amounting to about $11.9 million annually,” they said.

“Our proposal requests that Telstra CEO David Thodey and his corporation invest an additional year’s worth of salaries ($3.4 million) in a partnership with Lismore City Council to retrain affected workers, build new digital infrastructure to double or better broadband access speeds, and improve local businesses use of broadband.

“We are also asking Telstra to leave the call centre’s internal infrastructure intact to reduce any start-up costs should Lismore Council be able to attract another business to the purpose-built location.”

Ms Saffin, Mr George and Cr Dowell pointed to a recent council-funded study by the Digital Economy Group which found that the Gold Coast had far higher ratios of fixed and mobile broadband infrastructure than Lismore per head of population and by land area.

“As a regional area, we are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters – major floods, storms and bushfires -- relying on critical infrastructure to co-ordinate emergency services responses and keep people in contact during times of crisis,” they said.

“With so few towers in Lismore per head of population, the existing towers become congested easily and this is a matter of public safety and concern. We need to build community resilience wherever we can.”

Mr Thodey and his management team have been given two weeks (by Friday, October 5) to respond as to whether they will support the Lismore community with a digital infrastructure investment package.

Monday, September 24, 2012. Media Contact: Peter Ellem 0437 303 875.
Lismore City Council Digital Infrastructure Assessment Report - September 2012

Saturday 1 September 2012

Telstra CEO gets a no nonsense letter from Saffin, George and Dowell over Lismore job losses


PARLIAMENT OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Friday, August 24, 2012.

REF: PE.24.08.12.

Mr David Thodey
Chief Executive Officer
Telstra Corporation Limited
Level 40, 242 Exhibition Street
MELBOURNE  VIC  3000.

Dear Mr Thodey,

We write as the Federal, State and local representatives for the Lismore district to formally request that you intervene and reverse Telstra’s ‘business decision’ to close its Goonellabah Call Centre on October 23 this year.

We maintain that the loss of an estimated 116 local jobs from such a closure is not only unnecessary but unacceptable, particularly when Telstra’s digital business streams are reported to be enjoying strong growth.

We seek a full explanation from you; the real reasons which led Telstra’s management team to arrive at such a cruel decision despite earlier public assurances that this particular call centre was safe.

This morning, we stood united on Lismore’s main street – Molesworth Street – to launch a community petition calling on you to intervene immediately to halt any plan to axe your highly skilled and loyal workforce in Goonellabah.

The petition further objects to Telstra abandoning its workforce in country Australia and moving jobs offshore, while recording massive profits ($3.4 billion) and awarding generous salary increases for executives.

Surely, there is a better and more respectful way to treat your Lismore staff, most of whom have to service mortgages or other financial commitments and whose families have strong ties to this community.

During this three-week consultation period regarding the closure decision, we stand ready to negotiate with yourself or your appointed executives on alternative proposals for keeping the call centre operational and profitable for Telstra.

We ask that due to the doubt and uncertainty which employees are feeling about their futures, that Telstra executives travelling to Lismore not intimidate or dissuade staff from seeking advice from CPSU officials.

We seek Telstra’s full co-operation in providing a Rapid Response Team of Federal and State agencies with immediate and unfettered access to the call centre to advise staff on various levels of support available to them.

We provide two points of contact for the Rapid Response Team being put in place:
Mr Terry Watson, Local Employment Coordinator, Richmond-Tweed & Clarence Valley Priority Area, Building Australia’s Future Workforce – 0412 320 077; email terry.watson@deewr.gov.au

Mr Craig Jenkins, Business Development Manager, NSW Trade & Investment – 0411 248 482 or 0266 226 145; email craig.jenkins@business.nsw.gov.au

Mr Watson and Mr Jenkins are experienced public servants who liaised with Telstra during the Grafton Call Centre closure in late 2010.

We are also of the firm belief that two or three weeks is not enough time for staff, who are grieving the potential loss of their livelihoods through redundancy or the upheaval of transfers, to cope with such transition.

Consequently, we ask that the consultation period be extended, in good faith, to several months to allow for a proper, more transparent analysis of all options for keeping these jobs in the Lismore district.

We understand that you have a business to run, but we are appealing to your corporate conscience to do the right thing by your staff and customers here on the Northern Rivers and avoid the kind of public relations disaster which accompanied your withdrawal from Grafton.

Yours sincerely,
Janelle Saffin MP
Federal Member for Page.
Thomas George MP
State Member for Lismore.

Cr Jenny Dowell
Mayor of Lismore City Council.



Tuesday 24 July 2012

The Federal Government wants to widen its ability to spy on Australian citizens


Australian Attorney General Nicola Roxon wants to declare open season on all taxpayers, retirees, welfare recipients, people with business/home computers or email accounts and those with fixed/mobile phones.

Apparently seeking to widen the ability of six intelligence and security agencies, interception agencies, law enforcement bodies and a range of regulatory bodies such as the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Australian Taxation Office, Centrelink and a range of State and Territory government organisations to intercept/collect data on or surveil any individual (regardless of whether or not they are suspected of breaking the law) and conduct surveillance of or physically search the premises or belongings of any person of interest.

Ms. Roxon appears to expect all Australians to pay, for this increase in electronic data/telecommunications content collection and interference with lawful computer/phone use, through higher telco and internet service provider fees and charges.

It is no co-incidence that last Thursday was first time a director-general of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) has spoken publicly since the agency was created 60 years ago - to assure the general public that his agency was an upright, touchy feely agency dedicated to protecting the country from all manner of foes and bogey men.

Unfortunately, these assurances ring hollow for many who have had even a modicum of contact with our home-grown spies.

The Joint Committee media release:

Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security
MEDIA RELEASE Issued: 9 July 2012
Chair: Hon Anthony Byrne MP Deputy Chair: Hon Philip Ruddock MP

Committee to examine potential reforms of national security legislation

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security has commenced an inquiry into potential reforms of national security legislation.

The Government has asked the Committee to consider a package of national security ideas comprising proposals for telecommunications interception reform, telecommunications sector security reform and Australian intelligence community legislation reform. The Inquiry will include examination of:

·         Lawful access to telecommunications, to ensure that investigative tools are not lost as telecommunications providers change their business practices and begin to delete data more regularly.
·         Safeguards and privacy protections, including clarifying the roles of the Commonwealth and state ombudsmen in overseeing telecommunications interception by law enforcement agencies.
·         An authorised intelligence operations scheme, to afford ASIO officers the same protections which currently apply to officers of the Australian Federal Police for authorised operations.

Among a range of other matters, the Committee will consult on measures to address security risks posed to the telecommunications sector, and whether the Government needs to institute obligations on the Australian telecommunications industry to protect their networks from unauthorised interference.

The Chair of the Committee, the Hon Anthony Byrne MP, has welcomed the referral of the inquiry, stating that: “It is vital that our security laws keep pace with the rapid developments in technology”. Commenting on the importance of public input into the Parliament’s examination of the potential reforms, Mr Byrne said the Committee’s inquiry will give the public an opportunity to have a say in the development of new laws in the critical area of national security.

The Committee invites interested persons and organisations to make submissions addressing the terms of reference by Monday, 6 August 2012. The full terms of reference are available on the Committee’s website at: www.aph.gov.au/pjcis.

The Government has provided the Committee with a discussion paper which accompanies the terms of reference and describes the reform proposals. The discussion paper is available on the Committee’s web site. Submitters are strongly encouraged to have regard to the discussion paper in the preparation of submissions for the Committee’s inquiry.

For more information, visit the Committee’s website at http://www.aph.gov.au/pjcis or contact the Committee Secretariat on 02 6277 2360.

Telephone: 02 6277 2360 PO BOX 6021 Facsimile: 02 6277 2067 PARLIAMENT HOUSE Email: pjcis@aph.gov.au CANBERRA ACT 2600 Website: www.aph.gov.au/pjcis

Friday 13 January 2012

Electronic Frontier Foundation soldiers on with Jewel v National Security Agency et al


This case is one of many arising from claims that the federal government, with the assistance of major telecommunications companies, engaged in widespread warrantless eavesdropping in the United States following the September 11, 2001, attacks. At issue in this appeal is whether Carolyn Jewel and other residential telephone customers (collectively “Jewel”) have standing to bring their statutory and constitutional claims against the government for what they describe as a communications dragnet of ordinary American citizens.
In light of detailed allegations and claims of harm linking Jewel to the intercepted telephone, internet and electronic communications, we conclude that Jewel’s claims are not abstract, generalized grievances and instead meet the constitutional standing requirement of concrete injury. Nor do prudential considerations bar this action…… [Jewel v NSA et al, No. 10-15616 3:08-cv-04373- VRW M:06-cv-01791-VRW]

Electronic Frontier Foundation article on 29 December 2011:

Justices Find that Spied-On Telephone Customers Have the Right to Sue

San Francisco - The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today blocked the government's attempt to bury the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) lawsuit against the government's illegal mass surveillance program, returning Jewel v. NSA to the District Court for the next step.

The court found that Jewel had alleged sufficient specifics about the warrantless wiretapping program to proceed. Justices rejected the government's argument that the allegations about the well-known spying program and the evidence of the Folsom Street facility in San Francisco were too speculative.

"Since the dragnet spying program first came to light, we have been fighting for the chance to have a court determine whether it is legal," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "Today, the Ninth Circuit has given us that chance, and we look forward to proving the program is an unconstitutional and illegal violation of the rights of millions of ordinary Americans.".

Also today, the court upheld the dismissal of EFF's other case aimed at ending the illegal spying, Hepting v. AT&T, which was the first lawsuit against a telecom over its participation in the dragnet domestic wiretapping. The court found that the so-called "retroactive immunity" passed by Congress to stop telecommunications customers from suing the companies is constitutional, in part because the claims remained against the government in Jewel v. NSA………

Today's decision comes nearly exactly six years after the first revelations of the warrantless wiretapping program were published in the New York Times on December 16, 2005. EFF will now move forward with the Jewel litigation in the Northern District of California federal court. The government is expected to raise the state secrets privilege as its next line of defense but this argument has already been rejected in other similar cases.

Jewel v NSA et al  full opinion 29 December 2011

Thursday 15 December 2011

Telstra fails to inform bundled account customers in writing of major privacy breach



This is the full text of the only correspondence from Telstra and BigPond sent on 13 December 2011 to a ‘bundled account’ customer whose name, address, phone number and account password/s may have been amongst the hundreds of thousands potentially publicly available on the Internet for an unspecified period.
See any mention of the breach or of this customer’s possible vulnerability to hacking/identity theft and advice on how to protect their account?
No, I didn’t either.

As you're aware some of our online services were unavailable from late Friday 9th to late Saturday 10th December due to an earlier internal systems issue.

I want to sincerely apologise for any inconvenience you may have experienced this weekend because of the disruption.

Services are now back up again for the majority of our customers, and your BigPond services should be working as normal.

The decision to temporarily reduce access to these services was not taken lightly and I know that our actions resulted in a poor online experience for you and was a source of frustration.

So if you have any technical difficulties after logging into your BigPond email account please see our online help, visit us on CrowdSupport or just call us on 133 933. We’re here to help any time.

Once again, I apologise for the disruption to your service and thank you for your patience.

Best regards,

Peter Jamieson
Executive Director, Customer Service

Saturday 10 December 2011

Privacy Breach: Telstra was going to tell its customers, when?


Image from The Age 10 December 2011
http://telstratccmail.custhelp.com/app/bundles_search/


Sensible Telstra customers will be changing their passwords promptly as a first measure after reading this in The Australian this morning:

Whirlpool forum
regular exposes this privacy fail (emanating from what looks suspiciously like an internal company database whose creation and management may have been outsourced) at 1.08pm 9 December 2011:

Ugh, well, after a series of good experiences dealing with Telstra over the last eighteen months it feels like we're back in the bad old days.
Tl;dr: Telstra is an enormous corporation with a seemingly endless number of autonomous departments, none of which knows what any of the others is doing. Telstra have leaked customer information onto the Web.
I signed up for the $78 deal on 24th November—hadn't previously had a bundle on my account, or a Bigpond connection. Got my bill by email yesterday and, sure enough, the discount wasn't applied.
First thing I did was to jump onto online chat. Had to wait over 10 minutes for a consultant (which was fine because I could basically just get on with my work). He didn't know anything about the $78 offer, but I gave him the link, it felt like he was about to apply the discount both to my current bill and to future bills, but then he told me that I would have to ring 1800 330 192. OK.
I rang 1800 330 192 and after some humming and hawing the guy there gave me the $13 credit on my bill for this month ($10 plus the discount for the pro-rata initial period), but said that they don't in fact know anything about the $78 deal, and that I would have to ring the 'Bundles' department at 1800 008 851. Incidentally, if you do a Google search for that number, you get a very interesting result. Um, Telstra, that's customer information just sitting out on the open Web… That page also seems to suggest that he shouldn't have given me the number, but should have put me through…….

Despite this unforgivable privacy breach, I'm told Telstra is not making it easy for customers to access their accounts to change passwords as its My BigPond is currently offline due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems.

Sunday 9 January 2011

To Voda, or not to Voda, that is the question

Natalie O'Brien writing in The Age on 9 January 2011 Vodafone mobile records leaked:

THE personal details of millions of Vodafone customers, including names, home addresses, driver's licence numbers and credit card details, have been available on the web in what is described as an ''unbelievable'' lapse in security by the mobile phone giant.

The Sunday Age is aware of criminal groups paying for the private details of some Vodafone customers to blackmail them.

Other people have apparently obtained logins to check their spouse's communications.

The personal details, accessible from any computer because they are kept on an internet site rather than Vodafone's internal system, include numbers dialled or texted, plus the time and location of calls or texts.

The full extent of the privacy breach is unknown, but The Sunday Age has learnt that possibly thousands of people have logins that can be passed around and used to gain access to the accounts of about 4 million Vodafone clients.

Michael Fraser, head of the Australian Communications Law Centre at the University of Technology Sydney, said it seemed to be a major breach of the company's privacy obligations and ''unbelievably slack security''.

Monday 3 January 2011

Another brickbat for Telstra Customer Service

Telstra continues to elicit negative perceptions……………….

An ongoing Telstra torment

I CAN'T begin to explain the torment I've experienced this past 12 months at the hands of Telstra.

I must say though my feeling of futility and stupidity was somewhat allayed when reading our glorious Bonnie's letter to you on December 20.

Bonnie is a business woman I admire and it brought me great relief to know that someone of her capability and knowledge of the world of communications could also struggle in her dealings with this once great telco.

I could detail in excess of 20 examples of monumental Telstra stuff ups involving my personal and company phones and internet connections over this year, however, the one that brought the most chuckles and pain was their recent disconnection of my business phones.

Without detailing the events leading up to this - which were quite bizarre and confusing to say the least -a day arrived, a Thursday, about four weeks ago when all my telephones - the business line, the EFTPOS line and all three company mobiles were dead.

When I tried to dial it told me I could only dial the billing number on my bill -which I did but it still didn't let me ring out.

So in frustration and fear I tried the Telstra business number - miraculously I got through. I explained I had called the billing number on my account as instructed -but had not been able to get through.

The only remark then was they were aware the wrong number is printed on those bills -no apology, no explanation.

The woman I spoke to told me that I hadn't paid my account which I explained I had in dribs and drabs over BPAY -and that Telstra had only just reconciled all the errors of the past 12 months.

The woman explained that I needed to pay another $473 if I wanted the phones reconnected.

I told her I simply didn't have that money on the day and asked her how she expected me to pay this amount given my customers couldn't call to order nor could they pay with EFTPOS and nor could they buy any pre-paid telephone or internet. She didn't care.

She said to call back when I paid and they would arrange to have my phones reconnected.

The irony was as she went to end the conversation she asked me which number was the best one to contact me on?

I said: "Are you serious? You've disconnected every single line I have."

I managed to get an email through to my son, who is currently serving in Afghanistan, he paid the account via BPAY and emailed me the payment details.

I actually have my own designated Telstra person - with an email address and direct number - as a result of the Telstra trauma

I've experienced this year. I couldn't call that person because the phones were disconnected - and as it turned out he was on an RDO anyway.

I emailed the payment information immediately to this chap, who returned to work on the Friday and he gave instructions that my phones be reconnected immediately.

Well immediately in Telstra terms was the following Tuesday morning.

My store is open 6am-6Pm every day of the week and my business number is used to book appointments for the acupuncturist and remedial masseuse who work from the clinic I've established at the rear of my store.

So almost six days with no phones, no EFTPOS and no sales of pre-paid internet or phone.

Over that weekend I needed to speak to my father.

I had a brainwave -I'll use the telephone box outside my store - hmmm ...it was out of order.

But the most painful part of this whole experience was that on the Sunday, December 5, my baby boy turned 26. He promised to call me from Tarin Kowt where he is currently serving as an Australian soldier.

For the first time in those 26 years I didn't get to speak to my baby boy on his birthday.

Thank you again Telstra -a most memorable year.

Oh, and some advice, stop spending buckets of money on sending out copious volumes of expensive marketing materials and direct that budget towards improving your customer service.

URSULA TUNKS

Managing Director, Premium ldeas and Marketing

[The Daily Examiner,letter to the editor,28 December 2010]