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

[dilbert99]

Serious question: So, are you saying that the AUS Government are doing all they can to end homelessness and poverty and as such that would mean they no longer exist within Australia?

Governments should do more for the homeless.
Governments should provide free drugs for life saving treatments.
Governments should also enrich the lives and do things for the masses also
Governments should also get rid of potholes, the damn things.
I think that education and heath should be free.
(and when I say Governments, I mean the right department...)


Governments should do many things. By helping some groups, they will be indirectly helping other groups.
I'd like to think the Governments should be doing things that benefit all of society but also some of the needy groups.

 

[Tech198]

I think that education and heath should be free.

someones gotta pay money..

 

[dilbert99]

someones gotta pay money..

So true and its not an easy balancing act.
I was lucky to have free health and education in the UK (well almost free)

 

[Macaholic868]

Just encrypt the encryption..

LOL. Then they’ll pass a bill to decrypt the encrypted encryption. Just stop selling secure products there. If enough people get up in arms about it they’ll reverse their decision. Securely encrypted devices are the future. Law encfircement needs to learn how to live in that world.

I understand their concerns but at the end of the day those who are given power will inevitably abuse it. A wise man once said:

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

- Benjamin Franklin

 

[einsteinbqat]

Can't wait to hear about gov't officials getting their phones hacked…

 

[ekwipt]

we've always been the test case for new laws and tech, watch for other countries to follow suit, hopefully nobody does, a sad day for all Australians

 

[Euroamerican]

How soon will we have something like the TV show "Person of Interest" (if we don't already)?

Or even closer: Secret City, starting Anna Torv. About shady doings in Canberra and double edged swords being put into the hands of the gov...

 

[inscrewtable]

In Australia both the animals on our coat of arms are available in butcher shops, much less do we care about citizens' rights to privacy of communication.

 

[Brandhouse]

There's a bit more to this story that MacRumors have forgotten to include, and that's around a phrase of what 'systematic weakness' refers to. If Labor can get it written it refers to, that if a vulnerability to allow a backdoor to a device that by its creation means the backdoor opens itself to include everyone, then that backdoor won't happen and e.g. Apple can say no to its creation.

I don't agree with this Bill, but this story left out a lot of information. It should at least have provided a url to the Bill or related news stories that might go into greater detail than MR have done.
[doublepost=1544416511][/doublepost]

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.

WTF? That's like saying you're all gun-totting Trump lovers.

 

[halluxsinister]

Were it up to me and it’s not since I’m just an Apple customer, amd they don’t listen to those, I’d say NO. Or however you say “no” in Australian. (hehehe) I’d tell them they're telling the government of all 50 people who live in that country, (or however many there are,) that even though they started off as a prison colony they shouldn’t treat their citizens or subjects or inmates or whatever Aussies are, that way, and that Apple isn’t going to help them do it.

No special non-encryption capable models for anti-human-rights, anti-privacy regimes like in Canbera or Sydney or wherever their Washington DC is. (hehehehe... ‘MERICA!)

Seriously tho... Apple should refuse to sell if they have to make the devices of inferior quality just to make the jackbooted government thugs happy.

The Australian parliament on Thursday passed controversial encryption legislation that could result in tech companies being forced to give law enforcement access to encrypted customer messages.

As we reported in October, Apple opposed the legislation in a seven-page letter to the Australian parliament, calling the encryption bill "dangerously ambiguous" and wide open to potential abuse by authorities.

Advocates of the bill, officially titled "Assistance and Access Bill 2018," argue it is essential to national security because encrypted communications are used by terrorist groups and criminals to avoid detection.

CNET provided a breakdown on the Australian bill and the three tiers of law enforcement and state agency assistance it covers:

• Technical assistance request: A notice to provide "voluntary assistance" to law enforcement for "safeguarding of national security and the enforcement of the law."
• Technical assistance notice: A notice requiring tech companies to offer decryption "they are already capable of providing that is reasonable, proportionate, practicable and technically feasible" where the company already has the "existing means" to decrypt communications (e.g. where messages aren't end-to-end encrypted).
• 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."

The Australian government insists that the laws don't provide a backdoor into encrypted communications, however Apple says says the language in the bill permits the government to order companies who make smart home speakers to "install persistent eavesdropping capabilities" or require device makers to create a tool to unlock devices.

Likewise, the joint industry lobby group DIGI, which includes Amazon, Facebook, Google, Oath, and Twitter, said they were willing to work with the government to promote public safety, but the laws could "potentially jeopardize the security of the apps and systems that millions of Australians use every day."

Apple has fought against anti-encryption legislation and attempts to weaken device encryption for years, and its most public battle was against the U.S. government in 2016 after Apple was ordered to help the FBI unlock the iPhone owned by Syed Farook, one of the shooters in the December 2015 attacks in San Bernardino.

Apple opposed the order and claimed that it would set a "dangerous precedent" with serious implications for the future of smartphone encryption. Apple ultimately held its ground and the U.S. government backed off after finding an alternate way to access the device, but Apple has continually had to deal with further law enforcement efforts to combat encryption.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

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

 

[Miat]

Progress report (bolding mine):

Industry groups including the representative of tech giants Facebook, Google, Twitter and Amazon, have backed several Labor amendments to the government’s encryption bill.

Under Labor’s plan, law enforcement agencies would require a fresh warrant before ordering tech companies to assist or build a new capability to access electronic communications and the bill’s prohibition against creating a “systemic weakness” would be strengthened.

Those amendments were backed in a submission signed by the Communications Alliance, Australian Industry Group, Australian Information Industry Association and Digital Industry Group Inc, which represents the international tech giants in Australia.

https://www.theguardian.com/technol...-labor-changes-to-laws-which-break-encryption