One of the big question marks over the controversial “metadata retention” legislation requiring ISPs to keep detailed records of what Australians do online was how much money the government would cough up to help deal with the increased costs the plan would create. Now we have an official figure: $131 million.
Picture: Getty Images
That figure, revealed as part of a $450 million lift in anti-terrorism spending which is part of today’s federal budget, isn’t particularly good news for consumers. The broad estimate of how much will need to be spent to maintain a range of records over two years have ranged from $200 million 9at the low end) to $400 million (the broad consensus estimate). However you look at it, that’s going to mean increased costs for ISPs, and it’s hard not to imagine those being passed on to customers.
$296 million is being spent on IT upgrades for Australia’s intelligence agencies. If you’re a contractor with security skills, that could be good news.
$131 million for companies’ metadata retention in budget boost to counter terrorism [The Conversation]
Comments
8 responses to “Australian ISPs Will Get $131 Million To Help Fund Metadata Retention”
Can someone explain the relevance of the picture in this article? Some vague reference to terrorism?
Reverse Google search shows its from news story “Blast on Gulf of Mexico platform leaves 1 dead, 3 injured”
Pity they didn’t have metadata back then to prevent it /s
Money to burn..
So $131 million spread out over how many ISP’s? And can we get over this terrorism tag that the Govt is using to make this measure seem more palatable to the Plebes!
Govt: We need you to store some data.
ISP: How much data?
Govt: All the metadata. Can you tell us how much storage you’ll need?
ISP: Not really, no. It’s complicated stuff.
Govt. Ah, OK. And how much will that cost? We don’t know all this tech stuff.
ISP: $400 million should cover it
Govt: Excellent. Here’s a tax-payer funded cheque. Also, feel free to increase costs to customers if you over-run.
I’d do it for $100million. Where do I tender?
Yey, more of our tax payer money going towards some stupid scheme that will do nothing to stop terrorism, but will help the government get buddy buddy with the entertainment industry and crack down on pirating.
Suck my VPN