Journalist information warrant rules, policies or otherwise
Dear Australian Federal Police,
I wish to request any and all information, rules, instructions, regulations or similar held or used by the AFP, or anyone acting on their behalf, which relates to:
a) the identification or classification of journalists, or any other person or group of people, for which a journalist information warrant (as prescribed by Division 4C of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979) would be required; or
b) the identification or classification any other person or group of people for which the rules, instructions, regulations or similar are different than the rules, instructions, regulations or similar of the general Australian populace.
I also wish to request any rules, instructions, regulations or similar which dictate the manner in which an officer of the AFP may access metadata. This part of the request is not limited to requests pertaining to people belonging to one of the groups above.
If any of the above rules, instructions or otherwise exist, I would believe they would be known to any AFP officers who might have access to metadata (or can grant said access), so I expect this search to be relatively easy to conduct. With that in mind, I request that any fees in relation to this request be waived, as the AFP has recently announced that an investigator with the AFP has recently sought and acquired the call records of a journalist without a warrant. The AFP are hindered in their ability to perform their work as a result of the loss of trust this has caused in the community, and by showing good faith the AFP may be able to regain some of that trust.
Yours faithfully,
William Pettersson
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UNCLASSIFIED
Good morning Mr Pettersson,
Your Freedom of Information Request
I refer to your application emailed 2 May 2017 in which you seek access to
documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act) as follows:
I wish to request any and all information, rules, instructions,
regulations or similar held or used by the AFP, or anyone acting on their
behalf, which relates to:
a) the identification or classification of journalists, or any other
person or group of people, for which a journalist information warrant (as
prescribed by Division 4C of the Telecommunications (Interception and
Access) Act 1979) would be required; or
b) the identification or classification any other person or group of
people for which the rules, instructions, regulations or similar are
different than the rules, instructions, regulations or similar of the
general Australian populace.
I also wish to request any rules, instructions, regulations or similar
which dictate the manner in which an officer of the AFP may access
metadata. This part of the request is not limited to requests pertaining
to people belonging to one of the groups above.
Information considered irrelevant to the scope of your request
The AFP, in its management of FOI requests, excludes the following
information on the basis that is irrelevant to the scope of a request:
- Names of AFP members, other than the Senior Executive.
- Direct telephone numbers, signatures and mobile telephone numbers
of AFP members.
- Duplicate documents, including duplicate emails. The AFP will only
provide emails where they form a final email chain and the
authors/recipients are contained within the final email.
- Information that is publicly available, for example, newspaper
articles, online publications including information available on the AFP
Information Publication Scheme and the AFP disclosure log.
If you object to the AFP excluding any of the above information, please
advise this office within seven days of receipt of this letter.
Your request was received by this agency on 2 May 2017 and the 30 day
statutory period for processing your request commenced from that date.
You will be notified of any charges in accordance with the Freedom of
Information (Fees and Charges) Regulations, should they apply, in relation
to your request as soon as practicable.
Disclosure Log
Please be advised that in accordance with section 11C of the Act, an
agency is required to publish information on their website following the
notification of a decision in respect of a freedom of information
request.
The requirement to publish information released under FOI reinforces the
objectives of the FOI Act to promote a pro-disclosure culture across
government and to increase recognition that information held by government
is a national resource. Exceptions to the requirement to publish
information would apply to personal information and information concerning
the business affairs of a person if it was considered ‘unreasonable’ to do
so. Details of the decision may be published in a Disclosure Log which
can be found at
[1]https://www.afp.gov.au/about-us/informat....
Publication will be made in accordance with timeframes stipulated in
section 11C of the Act.
If, however, after noting the above, you wish to raise any concerns about
the publication of information concerning your request prior to the
notification of a decision, please advise this office in writing before 1
June 2017. If you do not raise any concerns prior to the date of the
decision, the AFP will publish the information as notified to you in the
decision.
Yours sincerely,
IVA (AFP22679)
TEAM MEMBER - FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
CHIEF COUNSEL PORTFOLIO
Tel +61(0) 2 61316131
[2]www.afp.gov.au
[3]cid:image001.gif@01D2C3EF.D1EFF610
UNCLASSIFIED
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WARNING
This email message and any attached files may contain information
that is confidential and subject of legal privilege intended only for
use by the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you
are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for
delivering the message to the intended recipient be advised that you
have received this message in error and that any use, copying,
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AFP Web site: http://www.afp.gov.au
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References
Visible links
1. https://www.afp.gov.au/about-us/informat...
2. http://www.afp.gov.au/
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Pettersson
I refer to your application dated 2 May 2017 in which you seek access to
documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act) in relation
to accessing metadata.
Upon consideration of your request, the AFP is of the view that your
request will take longer than 30 days to process. The delay is
regrettable, however, due to additional time required by the line area to
search for documents, it will not be possible to advise you of a decision
by 1 June 2017.
Accordingly, pursuant to section 15AA of the Act, I seek your agreement to
extend the period to notify you of a decision to 1 July 2017.
I would be grateful if you would advise this office in writing of your
agreement to the proposed extension of time to [1][AFP request email].
If you have any queries in relation to this matter, please do not hesitate
to contact this office.
Regards,
JACQUELINE ELLERY
TEAM LEADER, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
CHIEF COUNSEL PORTFOLIO
Tel +61(0) 2 61312808 Ext 142808
[2]www.afp.gov.au
UNCLASSIFIED
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WARNING
This email message and any attached files may contain information
that is confidential and subject of legal privilege intended only for
use by the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you
are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for
delivering the message to the intended recipient be advised that you
have received this message in error and that any use, copying,
circulation, forwarding, printing or publication of this message or
attached files is strictly forbidden, as is the disclosure of the
information contained therein. If you have received this message in
error, please notify the sender immediately and delete it from your
inbox.
AFP Web site: http://www.afp.gov.au
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References
Visible links
1. mailto:[AFP request email]
2. http://www.afp.gov.au/
Dear Jacqueline Ellery,
As mentioned in our phone call, I agree to the proposed extension of the deadline to the 1st of July 2017.
Yours sincerely,
William Pettersson
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Pettersson
I refer to your request concerning the policies and procedures in relation
to accessing data under the TIA Act.
Before I proceed further, I wondered whether you were aware of the
information on the AFP’s disclosure log at:
[1]https://www.afp.gov.au/sites/default/fil...
These documents contain information about the rules etc and the AFP’s
compliance obligations in accordance with the TIA Act.
If you weren’t aware of these documents previously released under FOI,
would they satisfy your request? If so, do you wish to withdraw your
request?
Regards,
JACQUELINE ELLERY
TEAM LEADER, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
CHIEF COUNSEL PORTFOLIO
Tel +61(0) 2 61312808 Ext 142808
[2]www.afp.gov.au
UNCLASSIFIED
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WARNING
This email message and any attached files may contain information
that is confidential and subject of legal privilege intended only for
use by the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you
are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for
delivering the message to the intended recipient be advised that you
have received this message in error and that any use, copying,
circulation, forwarding, printing or publication of this message or
attached files is strictly forbidden, as is the disclosure of the
information contained therein. If you have received this message in
error, please notify the sender immediately and delete it from your
inbox.
AFP Web site: http://www.afp.gov.au
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References
Visible links
1. https://www.afp.gov.au/sites/default/fil...
2. http://www.afp.gov.au/
Dear Jacqueline Ellery,
Thank you for pointing out this document. I have been through this document, and similar ones, and where they define journalist they tend to use the same definition, which is the same definition as given in S180G of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979. That is, a journalist is essentially defined as
(i) a person who is working in a professional capacity as a journalist; or
(ii) an employer of such a person
This, to me, is a circular definition and I was enquiring to find out if there was any formal clarification on the matter within the AFP. I understand that one possible option is that there is no provided clarification, as officers of the AFP are expected to have a working knowledge of what a journalist is, and I would accept this as a response from the AFP.
Yours sincerely,
William Pettersson
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Pettersson
Please find attached a decision in relation to your request of 2 May 2017.
Regards,
JACQUELINE (AFP12306)
TEAM LEADER, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
CHIEF COUNSEL PORTFOLIO
AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE
Tel +61(0) 2 6131 6131
www.afp.gov.au
UNCLASSIFIED
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WARNING
This email message and any attached files may contain information
that is confidential and subject of legal privilege intended only for
use by the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you
are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for
delivering the message to the intended recipient be advised that you
have received this message in error and that any use, copying,
circulation, forwarding, printing or publication of this message or
attached files is strictly forbidden, as is the disclosure of the
information contained therein. If you have received this message in
error, please notify the sender immediately and delete it from your
inbox.
AFP Web site: http://www.afp.gov.au
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