Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been quick to point out that the intent of metadata legislation is to collect phone data records and a user’s session IP addresses. Yet the wording of the Bill tabled in Parliament last week seems to suggest so much more.

In this week’s CrossTalk podcast we look at whether online behaviour could still be accessed by enforcement agencies, even though a note attached in the bill says it shows, beyond doubt, that the storing of web browsing history will not be required. Could scope creep see DNS records stored and used, in effect helping map out your online behaviour. And, when the bill talks about details of communication between devices, what if one of those devices is a web server – couldn’t the bill then be asking for the IP address’ that you visit.

In short, if the intent if just to gather originating IP addresses, why write a Bill so easily open to reinterpretation?
Phil Dobbie talks with:
– Patrick Fair, Partner in law firm Baker and McKenzie
– John Lindsay, Managing Director, Lindsay Strategic Advisory
– John Stanton, CEO of the Communications Alliance