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Australia Passes Controversial Encryption Bill Despite Opposition From Apple and Other Tech Companies

I support Apple with this case. Maybe Apple should just not sell their iPhones in Australia until government employees change their minds
 
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I am highly opposed to this, for freedom and privacy sake. If you need an example, just look at the Patriot Act here in the states. The US has grossly overused that law to spy on American citizens (and admitted to it), much less violated constitutional rights.
 
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The ultimate problem is that governments think they should be all knowing. That they have some right to OUR information. Our governments have so many secrets, there isn't enough time to read them all. When Snowden happens again, maybe they will think differently.
 
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I think the UK considered something similar, namely, that anybody possessing material relevant to a crime investigation had to produce an encryption key or face jail. An MP got fed up with the idea and sent the PM an encrypted message with information about a crime (probably a minor traffic violation) and then destroyed the key. Since the PM now had electronic information about a crime, the PM was obligated to provide the encryption key and would have been subject to prosecution for not providing it. I think that proposal died a quick death....
 
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nt5672 said:
Cook has already proven that he is only interested in total world dominance, just part the world will not do. So he is willing to give in to the worst of each government in the world to achieve it. Pulling out of Australia will not happen.
[doublepost=1544190995][/doublepost]

Law makers are not dumb, they know exactly what they are doing. What people don't understand is that governments the world over are composed of people that want power for power's sake. They and the media lie to keep this out of the headlines, but they don't care about individuals, or privacy, or right and wrong unless the citizens are willing to riot or overthrow them. This is why the 2nd Amendment is so important to us in the United States. At the end of the day, the 2nd Amendment is the only law that protects freedom, privacy, etc., period. It does so because it provides the only means to threaten Orwellian government power.
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Already did it with China.
 
It remains to be seen what happens if tech companies are unable to comply.

There is a difference between unwilling versus unable. I imagine if you store your FileVault backup keys on iCloud Apple can be forced to comply to decrypt your computer, whereas if you use a backup recovery code, they are unable to help.
 
Apple isn’t concerned about Aussies’ civil rights. Apple doesn’t want to manage more than one iteration of its softwares and services. If Oz gets its way, other countries will make similar demands of Apple.

Meanwhile, Apple is content to oblige China’s conditions in order to have access. I doubt Apple preached its ethos to China’s officials.
 
For all we know, there's already a top secret backdoor that has been in existence since day one, and all this yammering about security is just a global con.
 
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Right now, Apple can restrict certain features to certain locations.

Can they also do that with something like ‘govt-only access’?
 
Apple should put their money where their mouth is and refuse to sell in Australia until they reverse this law and Apple should have a multi million marketing campaign making sure australians know why they cant get new iPads, iPhones, and Macs
 
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I hope apple takes a stand and pulls their iOS devices from the country. They need Apple more than Apple needs them. In fact, i hope samsung does the same. Australia is like 90% desert anyway.
 
MacRumors said:
Technical capability notice: A notice issued by the attorney general, requiring tech companies to "build a new capability" to decrypt communications for law enforcement. The bill stipulates this can't include capabilities that "remove electronic protection, such as encryption."
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Well, that seems contradictory, which is it, remove electronic protection, such as encryption so that the message can be decrypted or not decrypt the message?

When this is invoked, I hope Apple, Google, etc. use this point to basically say go pound sand.
[doublepost=1544200823][/doublepost]
macfacts said:
Apple always say they follow the law ... Once this becomes law and apple doesn't stop selling in Australia, you will know Apple compromised their software.
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We already know they have compromised their software because they are selling in China.
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spacebro said:
This kind of stuff happens when right wing media takes over a country!
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I hate to tell you this, both sides want this law enacted, because it gives then more control over the people and the more control they have, the longer they can stay in power.

There are several things that the government does to keep control over the people, mind you these are in the U.S., but many countries do similar:
  • Welfare
    • With welfare, the government gives it out freely without asking anything in return in most states. This perpetually keeps the poor, well poor. Instead they could insist on those on welfare to attend job training, be looking for a full time job, do a certain amount of volunteer work, etc. All of these things would promote helping people get off of being dependent on the government.
  • Disability
    • Many people who are on disability could get off of it with the right "hand up" instead of "hand out". For example, many people could work a full time job if they could get a mobility scooter. But because they don't need it to get around the house, the government/insurance won't pay for it and they barely are getting enough money to survive. This policy keeps them perpetually on disability when they would love to be able to go to work and with the right tools they could.
  • Self Driving Cars
    • Make no mistake, the push for self driving cars has little, if anything to do with safety, it is 100% about government control. Once they are common, you will see the governments of the world setting up systems where they can not only monitor where and when you go places, but that they can override and tell the car to either not go anywhere, to go where they want or if they think you are a threat to "malfunction" and drive off a bridge somewhere. If you don't think self driving cars are about government control, then ask why the government is willing to reduce safety standard requirements for self driving cars to be tested and want to fast track their approval?
  • Push for Live/Shop/Play facilities
    • We are seeing many local cities pushing harder for all in one facilities where you live in apartments, work in the stores/offices and have your entertainment there in an effort to eliminate people driving vehicles and get them to be stuck in their own little world. Why? Because if they are stuck in their own little world, then when the government does more to take away their freedoms, there won't be as much of a challenge to it.
The list could go on and on of the ways government attempts to control our lives and we need to push back and say enough is enough.

As Benjamin Franklin has said:
Those who give up liberty for security deserve neither.
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And yes, I know this was originally about money, but this holds true with data, such as messages because this data is pretty much becoming the new currency of today, so it is important we protect it and keep it out of the hands of the government who wants to control everything we do.
 
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Porco said:
Presumably the terrorists and criminals, upon reading this like the rest of us, will simply plan accordingly, making the whole thing utterly pointless whilst introducing huge potential security, privacy and economic damage for the vast majority of innocent people.

Idiocy.
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Basically, the terrorists and criminals will just use their own software and not give the keys to the government. Kind of like the USA's Prohibition era, really.
 
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cmwade77 said:
Well, that seems contradictory, which is it, remove electronic protection, such as encryption so that the message can be decrypted or not decrypt the message?

When this is invoked, I hope Apple, Google, etc. use this point to basically say go pound sand.
[doublepost=1544200823][/doublepost]
We already know they have compromised their software because they are selling in China.
[doublepost=1544201837][/doublepost]
I hate to tell you this, both sides want this law enacted, because it gives then more control over the people and the more control they have, the longer they can stay in power.

There are several things that the government does to keep control over the people, mind you these are in the U.S., but many countries do similar:
  • Welfare
    • With welfare, the government gives it out freely without asking anything in return in most states. This perpetually keeps the poor, well poor. Instead they could insist on those on welfare to attend job training, be looking for a full time job, do a certain amount of volunteer work, etc. All of these things would promote helping people get off of being dependent on the government.
  • Disability
    • Many people who are on disability could get off of it with the right "hand up" instead of "hand out". For example, many people could work a full time job if they could get a mobility scooter. But because they don't need it to get around the house, the government/insurance won't pay for it and they barely are getting enough money to survive. This policy keeps them perpetually on disability when they would love to be able to go to work and with the right tools they could.
  • Self Driving Cars
    • Make no mistake, the push for self driving cars has little, if anything to do with safety, it is 100% about government control. Once they are common, you will see the governments of the world setting up systems where they can not only monitor where and when you go places, but that they can override and tell the car to either not go anywhere, to go where they want or if they think you are a threat to "malfunction" and drive off a bridge somewhere. If you don't think self driving cars are about government control, then ask why the government is willing to reduce safety standard requirements for self driving cars to be tested and want to fast track their approval?
  • Push for Live/Shop/Play facilities
    • We are seeing many local cities pushing harder for all in one facilities where you live in apartments, work in the stores/offices and have your entertainment there in an effort to eliminate people driving vehicles and get them to be stuck in their own little world. Why? Because if they are stuck in their own little world, then when the government does more to take away their freedoms, there won't be as much of a challenge to it.
The list could go on and on of the ways government attempts to control our lives and we need to push back and say enough is enough.

As Benjamin Franklin has said:


And yes, I know this was originally about money, but this holds true with data, such as messages because this data is pretty much becoming the new currency of today, so it is important we protect it and keep it out of the hands of the government who wants to control everything we do.
Click to expand...

Life/shop/play buildings are awesome you should try it! You don't have to risk your life and mental health commuting everywhere. Then the gov can't drive you off the bridge with self driving cars. If you're scared of that, be scared already because the government probably assassinated Michael Hastings this way and it wasn't a self driving car.
 
Apple will just give them (and other countries that have been demanding it over the years) access on a case by case basis...if they haven't already. Usually it requires a subpoena. Apple could easily do it in the background - give them the individual decryption keys when it's ordered by the courts. Very quietly. (but in public admonish that their paramount importance is individual privacy).

The intelligent way to do it is to have the means to provide the information all inside Apple's infrastructure - so they still hold the "keys to the kingdom" - governments just get the information they're after - not tools that could be used against Apple customers outside of their control.
 
spacebro said:
This kind of stuff happens when right wing media takes over a country!
Click to expand...

Australian media is quite authoritarian: advocating for control of as many things as possible, advocating for a larger government to control those things, advocating for government involvement in more things, and advocating for higher taxes to pay for all this control and involvement. Essentially the opposite of what people who want freedom should wish.
 
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