The Australian intelligence agency, then known as the Australian Signals Directorate (DSD), was eager to share massive uncensored information gathered on its citizens with several other countries globally, according to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s latest leaks.
The NSA documents from a conference in April 2008, revealed that the Australian intelligence agency was keen in handing over huge metadata on its citizens to the other governments of the Five Eyes group, including the US, Canada, Britain, and New Zealand.
The document revealed the partners talking about whether or not to share ‘medical, legal or religious information’, while increasing concern that the agency was operating outside its legal permission," according to human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC cited by the Guardian.
"DSD can share bulk, unselected, unminimised metadata as long as there is no intent to target an Australian national," notes from an intelligence conference read.
"Unintentional collection is not viewed as a significant issue," notes said.
In addition, the Snowden latest disclosure also reveals that the Australian Federal Police was reconsidering sharing signals intelligence information to non-intelligence groups.
