Arabic version: رسائل بريد إلكتروني تكشف نقل بيانات محاكم سابقاً إلى الهند
According to ABC News, newly surfaced emails show sensitive Australian court data was accessed in India more than a decade ago, after concerns were raised with federal courts and the Australian Federal Police in December 2014. The Family Court later described Auscript’s failure to notify it of the offshoring as a “technical, minor and inconsequential breach” that did not warrant significant action.
Auscript, then responsible for transcription services at both courts, was contractually barred from transferring information outside Australia or allowing overseas access without prior court approval. Yet a 2016 Family Court email said Auscript had conducted a controlled pilot or test operation in India for approximately seven months. The company said transfers were encrypted, deleted within 48 hours and the trial ended because the required quality was not achieved.
Former Auscript national manager Paul Cutbush said he had warned that court managers had not been informed of the plan and that transcript quality in India was poor. He said he suggested the company seek court authorisation and made public interest disclosures to the Family Court, Federal Court and AFP. Mr Cutbush said it took two years to receive a response and believed the operation lasted longer than the seven months disclosed by Auscript.
The disclosure follows a more recent breach involving transcription company VIQ Solutions, which succeeded Auscript and allowed highly sensitive court files to be accessed in India. VIQ was later put into liquidation and shut down. A Federal Circuit and Family Court spokesperson said current leadership had not known of the historical correspondence until receiving ABC questions, and said the courts do not permit offshore access to transcript-related court data. Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cash and Greens senator David Shoebridge called for an investigation, while the Attorney-General’s Department said federal courts are responsible for their own operations and management.
