[AusNOG] From the AGD - Data Retention - Starts October 15 2015

[Mark Newton]

Nobody thinks data retention only applies to licensed carriers. It applies to licensed carriers and Carriage Service Providers (which have never needed licenses)

Where the confusion seems to be arising is in whether companies represented in this forum think they are carriage service providers.

I'm a bit perplexed by that, because the carriage service provider concept hasn't changed since it was laid into law in the mid 1990s. To be confused about the definition of a carriage service provider is to be confused about the fundamental regulatory foundation of the industry from which you are earning your coin. I can think of no other industry segment in the nation who would be so blazé about the laws which enable it to function; it'd be like car dealers trying to conduct business for 20 years while failing to understand how vehicle registration works.

For the avoidance of doubt: if you do not connect end users' own premises to a network, you are probably not a carriage service provider.

Web host? Not a carriage service provider.
Email de-spamming service? Not a CSP.
Webmail? No.
VPN provider? Not even close.
Telstra Wholesale ADSL customer who only uses ADSL tails to link their own offices together? Data retention need bother you not.

VISP? Yes, you're a CSP, you lose.
Telstra Wholesale ADSL customer who supplies service to the general public? Start buying hard disks, you lose too.
ISP who supplies service to the general public who also happens to run web hosting and email? You poor thing, buy a SAN, I hope you don't forget to firewall it.

If you participate in this industry without being able to tell the difference between a CSP and a non-CSP, you are in a commercially perilous situation. The Government is unlikely to permit your business to survive with that kind of ignorance. Get legal advice, learn about your industry, and apply careful thought and attention to what data retention means to your ability to generate profit.

More generally: if you're providing Internet infrastructure and you're not subject to data retention, start having a good hard think about how you can use your lower cost base and lower regulatory obligations to eke commercial advantage from those who are.

   - mark


--
Tiny screen, imaginary keyboard.


> On 16 Jun 2015, at 16:14, Paul Wilkins <paulwilkins369 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Mike,
> That's exactly my point, the remit (if you dig up the actual definitions) gets a broader interpretation than the definition of carrier. Anyone who thinks this applies just to carriers is in for a nasty surprise.
> 
> (I am not a lawyer, this is not expert opinion)
> 
> Paul Wilkins
> 
>> On 16 June 2015 at 15:30, Mike Everest <mike at duxtel.com> wrote:
>> Hi Paul, all,
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Per my understanding (having read the relevant sections of the Retention Act and the Telecommunications Act (the definitions are somewhat recursive, but it eventually comes down to whether you provide a service for carrying communications via electromagnetic waves - whether or not you have a carrier license).
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> That’s essentially the definition of a carrier, and in Australia, if you are a carrier then you need to be a licensed one – so, moot point maybe ;-)
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Cheers!
>> 
>> Mike.
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> AusNOG mailing list
>> AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net
>> http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog
> 
> _______________________________________________
> AusNOG mailing list
> AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net
> http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ausnog.net/pipermail/ausnog/attachments/20150616/f8757c70/attachment.html>