Request for a list of all website domains seized with assistance from the AFP.
Dear Australian Federal Police,
I would like to request a list of any and all website domains seized either directly by or with assistance from the Australian Federal Police between the years of 2008-2014
I would like to request that this list be provided in an easy to read format and include the following information:
- Domain name
- Domain Registry
- Date of Seizure
- Brief description of the reason for the seizure.
Where possible and if allowed, please include any and all artwork, graphics, or seizure notices applied to the domain once seized
Yours faithfully,
Sean
OFFICIAL
Dear Sean
I refer to your request dated 28 June 2024, seeking access to documents
under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act) as follows:
Request:
A list of any and all website domains seized either directly by or with
assistance from the Australian Federal Police between the years of
2008-2014
I would like to request that this list be provided in an easy to read
format and include the following information:
- Domain name
- Domain Registry
- Date of Seizure
- Brief description of the reason for the seizure.
Where possible and if allowed, please include any and all artwork,
graphics, or seizure notices applied to the domain once seized
Timeframe
Your request was received by the AFP on 28 June 2024, and the 30 day
statutory period for processing your request commenced from that date. The
due date for your request is 29 July 2024 (as the due date falls on a
Sunday I have listed the next business day).
Information 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:
o 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); and
o 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.
Please advise this office that you also consent to exclude the following
information:
o Names of AFP members, other than the Senior Executive; and
o Direct telephone numbers, middle names of AFP members, signatures and
mobile telephone numbers of AFP members.
Disclosure of your identity
The AFP may be required to consult with third parties in accordance with
sections 26A, 27 and 27A of the Act. Please advise us if you consent to
the AFP identifying you as the FOI applicant for the purposes of the
consultation. If we do not receive your consent, we will not disclose
your identity to third parties.
Information Publication Scheme
Please be advised that effective 1 May 2011 and in accordance with section
8(2) of the Act, an agency is required to publish information on the AFP
website following the notification of a decision in respect of a freedom
of information request. Details of the decision will be published in a
Disclosure Log which can be found at
[1]https://www.afp.gov.au/about-us/informat....
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.
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 the AFP in writing before 29
July 2024.
Please do not hesitate to contact the FOI Team if you have any questions
or would like to discuss your request.
Kind regards
Keeley (AFP 27662)
Writing to you from Ngunnawal Country
FOI OFFICER - CORPORATE
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
AFP LEGAL
CHIEF LEGAL COUNSEL
[2]Australian Federal Police
References
Visible links
1. https://www.afp.gov.au/about-us/informat...
2. http://www.afp.gov.au/
OFFICIAL
Good afternoon Sean
I refer to your request dated 28 June 2024, seeking access to documents
under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act) as follows:
A list of any and all website domains seized either directly by or with
assistance from the Australian Federal Police between the years of
2008-2014
I would like to request that this list be provided in an easy to read
format and include the following information:
- Domain name
- Domain Registry
- Date of Seizure
- Brief description of the reason for the seizure.
Where possible and if allowed, please include any and all artwork,
graphics, or seizure notices applied to the domain once seized
I am seeking further clarification from you regarding the scope of your
request. Can you please clarify what you mean by ‘seizure’. Unless it is
defined very specifically it could be interpreted in various ways and
could be relevant to many operational areas of the AFP. Additionally, if
you could please clarify what is meant by ‘assistance’ from the Australian
Federal Police as again this could be interpreted in many ways.
I appreciate this further clarification, to enable searches to be
conducted. Please do not hesitate to contact the FOI Team if you have any
questions or would like to discuss your request.
Kind regards,
Keeley (AFP 27662)
Writing to you from Ngunnawal Country
FOI OFFICER - CORPORATE
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
AFP LEGAL
CHIEF LEGAL COUNSEL
[1]Australian Federal Police
References
Visible links
1. http://www.afp.gov.au/
Dear FOI,
I'm sorry, I should have clarified my request better. For reference I will refer to the Australian Federal Police both as that name and as the AFP.
I believe you are seeking clarification on a specific section in my request where I asked for any "Seizure notifications". In regards to this I am seeking any graphics that would be displayed on the website when someone attempted to access the seized domain. For example when law enforcement took control of "the silk road" they replaced the website itself with a sratic landing page that contained a graphical notice that read "This hidden site has been seized" and provided additional information.
If however you are referring to my part of the request where I asked for the "date of seizure", I am specifically asking for the date at which control of the Domain was handed over to the AFP from the original owner.
You may also be seeking clarification on what I mean by "Seized", this would refer to the act of a law enforcement agency taking direct control of the property from the original owner.
In regards to your clarification request relating to my wording of "with
assistance from the Australian Federal Police" I am referring to any international or multi agency law enforcement operations that the AFP was directly involved in, specifically only if they were involved in the investigation prior to the domain being seized. I am not seeking information where the AFP was only involved after the domain seizure.
Yours sincerely,
Sean
OFFICIAL
Good afternoon Sean
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly.
I will provide this additional information and further context to the
relevant line area within the AFP to assist them with the searches.
However, I do wish to advise that it is possible that document(s) do not
exist that capture this information. FOI is for seeking access to existing
documents, rather than information however in accordance with section 17
of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 we can create a document for the
purpose of the request where the information is available in an AFP system
and does not already exist in discrete form but only if it is not onerous
to do so.
I will update you further once I know more following the relevant
searches, thank you.
Kind regards,
Keeley (AFP 27662)
Writing to you from Ngunnawal Country
FOI OFFICER - CORPORATE
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
AFP LEGAL
CHIEF LEGAL COUNSEL
[1]Australian Federal Police
OFFICIAL
Dear Sean
I refer to your request dated 28 June 2024 in which you seek access to
documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act).
Given the nature of what your request is seeking I note it could be
relevant to all operational areas of the AFP, I have already made
enquiries with a number of line areas within the AFP to ascertain who may
hold documents responsive to your request. As additional line areas have
been identified further enquiries are still underway to locate the
documents.
Therefore, given this the AFP is of the view that your request will take
longer than 30 days to process. The delay is regrettable, however, due to
delays being experienced as noted above with line area still conducting
searches to identify the information, and the subsequent delays in
receiving the documents by this office, the AFP will be unable to finalise
this matter within the 30 day time frame, it will not be possible to
advise you of a decision by 29 July 2024.
Accordingly, pursuant to section 15AA of the Act, I seek your agreement to
extend the period to notify you of a decision to 28 August 2024.
I would be grateful if you would advise this office in writing of your
agreement to the proposed extension of time by close of business 19 July
2024.
If you have any queries in relation to this matter, please do not hesitate
to contact this office.
Kind regards,
Keeley (AFP 27662)
Writing to you from Ngunnawal Country
FOI OFFICER - CORPORATE
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
AFP LEGAL
CHIEF LEGAL COUNSEL
[1]Australian Federal Police
References
Visible links
1. http://www.afp.gov.au/
OFFICIAL
AFP Reference: LEX 2871
Dear Sean
Please find attached the decision in relation to your request for access
to documents held by the Australian Federal Police under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth).
Kind regards,
Keeley (AFP 27662)
Writing to you from Ngunnawal Country
FOI OFFICER - CORPORATE
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
AFP LEGAL
CHIEF LEGAL COUNSEL
[1]Australian Federal Police
References
Visible links
1. http://www.afp.gov.au/
Dear FOI,
I would like to apologise for my delay in responding as I've recently been sick. I'd like to request a review or request that the FOI officer search deeper for any information I have requested. I am willing to allow as much additional time as needed (within reason).
A cursory Google search produced dozens are official AFP articles that outline the agencies' actions in either directly seizing domains or assisting in their seizure. I would like to point your attention to a news update from last year where the AFP seized several domains from the Cook Islands and issued a take down notice on their landing page.
(I also apologise for this example, it's relating to an operation to take down child abuse websites however it is the first example I found after googling "AFP Website seizure" Therefore in my opinion, the information must exist in some form)
Yours sincerely,
Sean
OFFICIAL
Hi Sean
I refer to your request for internal review below. I attach a decision
letter.
ADAM ANASTASI
DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL/ COORDINATOR | COMMERCIAL, GOVERNANCE & INFORMATION
AFP LEGAL - CORORATE | CHIEF COUNSEL PORTFOLIO
Tel: +61 (0)2 51269979 Ext: 269979
[1]Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police acknowledges the Traditional Owners and
Custodians of Country
throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and
community. We pay
our respects to First Nations people, culture and Elders past, present and
emerging.
CR left an annotation ()
I've started a similar request here: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/w...
CR left an annotation ()
"can't find anything" is total BS.