Hacking Team's malware, sold as "offensive security" software . Earlier years.
Dear Australian Federal Police,
I request access to any document(s) that shows how much it cost the Australian Federal Police to use malware produced by the Milan based software company known as Hacking Team in the years 2008, 2009, 2010. In case there is any difficulty in identifying the malware I'm referring to, it is the software that Hacking Team were pleased call "offensive security software", also known as "RCS" or "Remote Control System".
Yours faithfully,
Mark R. Diamond
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UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Diamond
Your Freedom of Information Request
I refer to your application dated 23 January 2017 in which you seek access
to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act) as
follows:
I request access to any document(s) that shows how much it cost the
Australian Federal Police to use malware produced by the Milan based
software company known as Hacking Team in the years 2008, 2009, 2010. In
case there is any difficulty in identifying the malware I'm referring to,
it is the software that Hacking Team were pleased call "offensive security
software", also known as "RCS" or "Remote Control System".
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 22 January 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 22
February 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
MS SMALL (AFP21751)
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OFFICER
CHIEF COUNSEL PORTFOLIO
[2]cid:image001.gif@01D27625.A3F25180
Tel +61(0) 2 61316131
[3]www.afp.gov.au
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Diamond
Please find attached a decision in relation to your request concerning the "Hacking Team".
Regards
JACQUELINE (AFP 12306)
TEAM LEADER, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
CHIEF COUNSEL PORTFOLIO
Tel +61(0) 2 6131 6131
www.afp.gov.au
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Scudder,
On 23 January 2017 I wrote to the Australian Federal Police requesting documents relating to the use by the AFP of surveillance malware (so-called “offensive security software”) produced by the Italian company known as Hacking Team. On 7 February 2017 you made an access refusal decision on the grounds of s 24A(b)(ii) — “Requests may be refused if documents cannot be found, do not exist or have not been received" — of the Freedom of Information Act.
I request an internal review of your access refusal decision.
The web page at https://wikileaks.org/hackingteam/emails... discloses email correspondence between the Australian Federal Police and Hacking Team in early 2011 regarding the first renewal of a licence for the software about which I enquired in my FOI request of 23 January 2017. It is not plausible that there would be a discussion about renewing (!) a licence for the software if the AFP did not already have a licence. The existence of such a licence indicates the existence of associated documents showing the cost of the licence. Consequently, I suggest that the failure to find an documents relevant to my request was because the search for the documents was misdirected or incomplete.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/h...
Yours faithfully,
Mark R. Diamond
Thank you for your email.
Please note that this is an automated response to confirm that your email was sent to the Australian Federal Police Freedom of Information (FOI) inbox.
This FOI inbox is monitored between 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays and the period from 27-31 December.
If you wish to lodge a request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), please ensure that your request is in writing, states that it is an application for the purposes of the FOI Act and provides sufficient detail describing the documents you wish to access.
If you are requesting personal information about yourself then please ensure you enclose a copy of your photographic identification.
Further details on how to make a valid FOI request can be found on the Australian Federal Police’s website at: http://www.afp.gov.au/about-the-afp/foi-...
The Australian Federal Police will acknowledge your request in accordance with the legislative requirements of the Act.
The FOI Team can be contacted on 02 6131 6131
UNCLASSIFIED
Good afternoon Mr Diamond
I refer to your request for an internal review dated 6 March 2017.
Your application is currently being processed. I apologise for the delay
and any inconvenience caused.
Should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to
contact this office.
Kind regards
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
CHIEF COUNSEL PORTFOLIO
Tel +61(0) 2 61316131
[1]www.afp.gov.au
[2]cid:image001.gif@01D2BAB1.EFD977B0
Dear FOI Counsel,
Thank you for your email of 21 April 2017 regarding the delay in completing the internal review of my request. I think, though I'm not sure, that there was an (automatic) deemed decision under s 54D(2), affirming the original access decision. Be that as it may, I'd be happy for the AFP to take any longer time that it needs, so you might wish to remember to apply, s 54D(3) to the Commissioner for an extension.
Yours sincerely,
Mark R. Diamond
Thank you for your email.
Please note that this is an automated response to confirm that your email was sent to the Australian Federal Police Freedom of Information (FOI) inbox.
This FOI inbox is monitored between 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays and the period from 27-31 December.
If you wish to lodge a request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), please ensure that your request is in writing, states that it is an application for the purposes of the FOI Act and provides sufficient detail describing the documents you wish to access.
If you are requesting personal information about yourself then please ensure you enclose a copy of your photographic identification.
Further details on how to make a valid FOI request can be found on the Australian Federal Police’s website at: http://www.afp.gov.au/about-the-afp/foi-...
The Australian Federal Police will acknowledge your request in accordance with the legislative requirements of the Act.
The FOI Team can be contacted on 02 6131 6131
For-Official-Use-Only
Good afternoon Mr Diamond,
Please find attached our internal review decision in relation to your
Freedom of Information request (Our ref: CRM2017/329).
Yours sincerely,
IVA (AFP22679)
TEAM MEMBER - FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
CHIEF COUNSEL PORTFOLIO
Tel +61(0) 2 61316131
[1]www.afp.gov.au
[2]cid:image001.gif@01D2C5AF.28DFCCF0
For-Official-Use-Only
References
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Mark R. Diamond left an annotation ()
For some of my thoughts about this request and the basis for its refusal, see my comments on the page about Gamma International's FinFisher spyware at https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/g...