Dear Government Communications Security Bureau,

As a direct result of the various effects that the Covid-19 bacteria has had on many people and the greater communities around the world, we have seen many changes in our society and the way that we live. Furthermore, in relation to the amendments made to the previous Privacy Act 1994, now being superseded by the Privacy Act 2020, also in conjunction with the Search and Surveillance Act 2012, inc. addenda 2020, I hereby request the appropriate level of response as determined by the Freedom of Information Act in relation to the following items;

1) Are Members of Parliament (MP’s hereafter) subject to any type of surveillance, including, but not limited to, the collection of metadata, location details and the like,
2) If there are any caches of metadata being collected on MP’s, how are these generally made available and how does one go about obtaining these caches,
3) As contact tracing has now been written in to the Privacy Act 2020, with metadata collected by way of Bluetooth, Mobile Triangulation or other Wireless technology, could you please explain if this also applies to the various MP’s, current and future.

Yours faithfully,
Bryan Stralow

Dear Information (GCSB),
Thank you for your response.
In reply to your queries relating to clarification, please refer to the following explanations.

"1 Are Members of Parliament (MP’s hereafter) subject to any type of surveillance, including, but not limited to, the collection of metadata, location details and the like"
We have interpreted this to mean that you are asking whether the GCSB has any MPs under surveillance. If this is not what you are asking, please let us know.

BS Reply [03.11.20]- whilst not specifically requesting to establish if there were any current investigations into any MP’s, my initial query relates to whether MP’s metadata is collated in general (inactive surveillance). That is, are they subject to the collection, retention and sharing of information as stated in Part 3 Information privacy principles and codes of practice of the Privacy Act 2020? As you have now also included the alternative subject, could you also provide an indication as to if any MP’s are currently under “active” surveillance?

"2 If there are any caches of metadata being collected on MP’s, how are these generally made available and how does one go about obtaining these caches"
Are you asking whether there are any publicly available caches of MPs' metadata?

BS Reply [03.11.20]- Perhaps allow me to reframe the query, if metadata retention is occurring and ongoing for all MP’s, would this information be accessible for a reasonable purpose by court order or any other suitable legal mechanism?

"3) As contact tracing has now been written in to the Privacy Act 2020, with metadata collected by way of Bluetooth, Mobile Triangulation or other Wireless technology, could you please explain if this also applies to the various MP’s, current and future."
Could you please clarify which section of the Privacy Act 2020 you are referring to?

BS Reply [03.11.20]- Part 3, Information privacy principles and codes of practice

Yours sincerely,

Bryan Stralow