Interception

Background

The Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Act 2004 (TICA) requires network operators to ensure that Public Switched Telecommunications Networks and Public Data Networks have interception capability.  Under the Act, PSTN compliance is current and PDN compliance is due in April 2009. There is an obligation that network operators shall assist authorised government agencies with interceptions upon request. 

The TICA is non-prescriptive in its approach to outlining how network operators shall deliver these capabilities. As such, network operators are currently engaging with the relevant government agencies in order to agree the appropriate standards, processes and platforms required to meet the legislative requirements. However, as all network operators are primarily engaging in these discussions independently, there is little coordination or standardisation of solutions or processes across the industry. This creates significant risks:

1. That the network operators may interpret the requirements of the TICA in different manners, and will therefore provide different levels of service to government agencies;
2. That the government agencies may be required to liaise differently with each network operator, which may create confusion and delay in the appropriate method for engaging different operators for assistance;
3. Without standardisation, government agencies may receive intercept related content and data from each individual network operator in a manner that is significantly different. This is likely to create issues for the agencies in specifying their interface technologies and network operators interpreting and assuring the integrity of that data;
4. That the individual government agencies may specify individual requirements in interception capabilties that are not consistent across all government agencies, which may require network operators to deliver to more requirements and incur greater costs than would otherwise be necessary;
5. That ultimately, individually developed “point solutions” are likely to result in an inefficient and counterproductive industry solution to the TICA and increase the risk of future regulatory intervention to streamline processes.

The TCF believes that the most appropriate solution for controlling these risks is to develop a Code of Practice for the provision of Interception capabilities to authorised government agencies to streamline processes and reduce confusion by implementing an industry agreed solution.

Project Scope

The project scope is to prepare a code of practice for Interception, which would be multi-laterally adopted by members of the TCF and other interested parties. It is proposed that the code would: 

1. recommend a common industry approach to meeting the requirements of the TICA which would include agreeing principles to achieve the TIC2004 compliance.
2. meet the requirements of any government agencies that will require interception services in accordance with the TICA, in a consistent, and cost-efficient and time-efficient manner;
3. confirm the timeline for implementation, to assist all network operators in providing data interception services by April 2009;

Working Group

The working party members are:

• Link Telecom
• Telecom
• TelstraClear
• Vodafone
• WorldxChange