Big brother could be watching Australian Game of Thrones fans who illegally download the next season.
An inquiry into proposed new laws that would force telcos to keep customer data for two years has heard copyright agencies could potentially be approved to access data to investigate TV show and movie pirates.
Under the laws, the attorney-general will be able to "declare" an agency or body, giving it access to the data held by telcos.
Attorney-General's department official Anna Harmer told the inquiry there were strict conditions under which such bodies could be declared.
These included that data was needed for "the purposes of the enforcement of criminal law, protection of public revenue, or administration of pecuniary penalties".
The attorney would also need to be satisfied that there was "effective oversight" over the body and it was "subject to a binding privacy obligation", she said.
Liberal Senator David Bushby asked whether one of the inquiry's submissions was correct in suggesting that private organisations responsible for enforcing copyright infringement could be "declared".
Ms Harmer said there was nothing in the laws that stated it must be a government agency because a range of private organisations performed functions conferred on them by government.
Asked by Liberal Senator David Fawcett whether the laws could be amended to ensure only government agencies could be "declared", Ms Harmer said it was something that could be considered.
Earlier, Labor frontbencher Jason Clare asked whether the laws would make data more easily accessible for civil court proceedings, such as the Dallas Buyers Club case.
The case, which will be heard in February, involves a company seeking to use discovery document applications to track down the names and details of alleged illegal downloaders of the Dallas Buyers Club movie from internet firm iiNet.
Mr Clare said submissions to the inquiry had suggested there should be limits put on the use of retained data for civil cases, particularly in regards to "the sticky issue of piracy".
Ms Harmer said telco data could in some circumstances be accessed by discovery order in a wide range of cases, from family law to copyright.
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