Phone and internet customers could face a ”surveillance tax” of up to $100 a year if the federal government implements a scheme requiring companies to store customer data for two years, the telecommunications sector warns.
Attorney-General George Brandis has said a compulsory data-retention scheme, which security agencies argue is necessary to combat terrorism, is ”under active consideration by the government”.
The Communications Alliance, representing telecommunications companies, estimates the compulsory data retention scheme could cost the industry $500 million to $700 million a year – an amount that would be passed on to consumers.
Steve Dalby, chief regulatory officer at iiNet, estimates consumers could be hit by cost rises of $5 to $10 extra a month to cover the costs of collecting and storing the data – an impost Mr Dalby has described as a ”surveillance tax”.
Australian Consumer Communications Action Network CEO Teresa Corbin said mandatory data retention was ”likely to impose a significant cost to consumers, with unproven benefits to law enforcement”.
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