A Senate committee has recommended Australia's proposed PRISM like data retention scheme only be considered if it only collected metadata, avoided capture of browser histories and contained rigorous privacy controls and oversight. The scheme being drawn up required telecommunications providers to proactively store user data to boost law enforcement and intelligence efforts.
Federal Attorney General Mark Dreyfus said the proposed scheme would not be pursued at present, a claim Greens Senator Scott Ludlam described as predictable. This has been set to rest and neutralised as an election issue which is precisely what Communications Minister Conroy did on an earlier form of the internet filter, Ludlam pointed out.
He thought that post-election this proposal will be back.