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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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Controversy brews over phone call interception By Vivienne Fisher, ZDNet Australia February 12, 2002 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Controversy-brews-over-phone-call-interception/0,130061791,120263424,00.htm
The Department of Defence has refused to comment on reports that a national information security agency passed on information from intercepted private phone calls to Government during last year's Tampa crisis. At a time when civil libertarians are becoming increasingly fired up about the interception of private communications, a spokesperson from the Department of Defence told ZDNet Australia that the Government had a long-established tradition of not commenting on the operations of Australian intelligence agencies. However, the spokesperson added that there were strict rules in place to ensure national information security agency, Defence Signals Directorate (DSD), protected the privacy of Australians. The Department of Defence spokesperson said that DSD's collection and reporting activities were conducted in accordance with Australian law. -DSD's performance in relation to those rules is monitored by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, who provides an annual report to the Australian Parliament." Since October last year DSD's activities have come under the Intelligence Services Act 2001, and as such are subject to parliamentary oversight.
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