Suppression of Aircraft Data from Third-Party Flight Tracking Platforms
Ben Fairless made this Right to Information request to Tasmania Police as part of a batch sent to 15 authorities
Dear Tasmania Police,
I am seeking access to documents relating to the removal, suppression, or anonymisation of aircraft data from third-party flight tracking services such as FlightRadar24, PlaneFinder, ADS-B Exchange, or similar platforms.
Specifically, I’m after:
1. Policies, procedures, or internal guidelines concerning requests to third-party services for the removal or suppression of aircraft tracking data;
2. Correspondence between your agency and third-party flight tracking platforms relating to the suppression, removal, or anonymisation of aircraft data;
3. Internal discussions, briefings, or records outlining the rationale or decisions around seeking to suppress aircraft data from public tracking platforms;
4. Statistics, reports, or summaries indicating the volume and nature of requests made to third-party platforms over the past five years;
5. Any agreements, memoranda of understanding, or formal arrangements between your agency and third-party flight tracking platforms relating to data suppression or visibility restrictions.
I am not seeking access to the personal information of members of the public, nor do I require the direct contact details or last names of public servants below the Senior Executive Service level (or equivalent for your agency).
I have submitted this request to multiple state and federal agencies. Please contact me before initiating any transfer to another agency as they may have already received an identical request.
Please consider if it’s possible to process this request informally/administratively. If you find it can’t be treated that way, please consider it a formal Freedom of Information request.
Yours faithfully,
Ben Fairless
To make an application please complete and submit the attached application.
Regards
Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management
-----Original Message-----
From: Ben Fairless <[FOI #13080 email]>
Sent: 23 April 2025 11:52
To: Right to Information <[Tasmania Police request email]>
Subject: Right to Information request - Suppression of Aircraft Data from Third-Party Flight Tracking Platforms
[You don't often get email from [FOI #13080 email]. Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]
Dear Tasmania Police,
I am seeking access to documents relating to the removal, suppression, or anonymisation of aircraft data from third-party flight tracking services such as FlightRadar24, PlaneFinder, ADS-B Exchange, or similar platforms.
Specifically, I'm after:
1. Policies, procedures, or internal guidelines concerning requests to third-party services for the removal or suppression of aircraft tracking data;
2. Correspondence between your agency and third-party flight tracking platforms relating to the suppression, removal, or anonymisation of aircraft data;
3. Internal discussions, briefings, or records outlining the rationale or decisions around seeking to suppress aircraft data from public tracking platforms;
4. Statistics, reports, or summaries indicating the volume and nature of requests made to third-party platforms over the past five years;
5. Any agreements, memoranda of understanding, or formal arrangements between your agency and third-party flight tracking platforms relating to data suppression or visibility restrictions.
I am not seeking access to the personal information of members of the public, nor do I require the direct contact details or last names of public servants below the Senior Executive Service level (or equivalent for your agency).
I have submitted this request to multiple state and federal agencies. Please contact me before initiating any transfer to another agency as they may have already received an identical request.
Please consider if it's possible to process this request informally/administratively. If you find it can't be treated that way, please consider it a formal Freedom of Information request.
Yours faithfully,
Ben Fairless
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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #13080 email]
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The information in this transmission may be confidential and/or protected by legal professional privilege, and is intended only for the person or persons to whom it is addressed. If you are not such a person, you are warned that any disclosure, copying or dissemination of the information is unauthorised. If you have received the transmission in error, please immediately contact this office by telephone, fax or email, to inform us of the error and to enable arrangements to be made for the destruction of the transmission, or its return at our cost. No liability is accepted for any unauthorised use of the information contained in this transmission.
Dear Right to Information,
Can any of the information I’ve asked for be released routinely or without a need for a formal access request?
Yours sincerely,
Ben Fairless
Good morning Mr Fairless.
If the information is not already publicly available, any information located relating to your request will require to be assessed prior to release.
If information is located and released, it will then at that time become publicly available through the disclosure log of the DPFEM.
Therefore, in the first instance, any application for this information will be accepted pursuant to the RTI Act 2009.
I hope this assists.
Kind regards
Right to Information Services
6173 1813 | [Tasmania Police request email]
Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management
-----Original Message-----
From: Ben Fairless <[FOI #13080 email]>
Sent: 26 April 2025 20:22
To: Right to Information <[Tasmania Police request email]>
Subject: RE: Right to Information request - Suppression of Aircraft Data from Third-Party Flight Tracking Platforms
[You don't often get email from [FOI #13080 email]. Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]
Dear Right to Information,
Can any of the information I've asked for be released routinely or without a need for a formal access request?
Yours sincerely,
Ben Fairless
-----Original Message-----
To make an application please complete and submit the attached application.
Regards
Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #13080 email]
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
________________________________
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER
The information in this transmission may be confidential and/or protected by legal professional privilege, and is intended only for the person or persons to whom it is addressed. If you are not such a person, you are warned that any disclosure, copying or dissemination of the information is unauthorised. If you have received the transmission in error, please immediately contact this office by telephone, fax or email, to inform us of the error and to enable arrangements to be made for the destruction of the transmission, or its return at our cost. No liability is accepted for any unauthorised use of the information contained in this transmission.