Metadata Stored by Telecommunication Companies Held to Not Be ‘about’ an Individual
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has upheld an appeal by Telstra against a decision of the Privacy Commissioner, denying Ben Grubb access to metadata attaching to his Telstra account, such as his IP addresses, web browsing history and cell tower location information. Such information however is readily available to government agencies without a warrant. So what does this decision mean for individual privacy and for companies storing customer metadata?