Australia Proposes Law That Would Compel Tech Companies to Decrypt Messages

[ColdShadow]

The USA is mentioned along with the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore etc etc so my point stands. Your government is as overprotective as ours whether you accept it or not?

in USA government is much less involved in people's personal life than the UK.you cannot argue about that.
heck in UK you even need some random doctor's approval before you can even go and see an specialist if you need one.
Yes the US has NSA and such and they are intrusive , but there is far more freedom and "personal choice","personal decisions" compared to a major nanny state like the UK.
in US,if government decide to breach citizens privacy, they somehow have to break the law and do it illegally, but in UK they simply pass a new law and for it up to people's back with no fear of resistance.which is sad.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

in USA government is much less involved in people's personal life than the UK.you cannot argue about that.
heck in UK you even need some random doctor's approval before you can even go and see an specialist if you need one.
Yes the US has NSA and such and they are intrusive , but there is far more freedom and "personal choice","personal decisions" compared to a major nanny state like the UK.
in US,if government decide to breach citizens privacy, they somehow have to break the law and do it illegally, but in UK they simply pass a new law and for it up to people's back with no fear of resistance.which is sad.

You sound like you're in denial about this to be honest lol.

You don't need 'some random doctors approval' to see a specialist either, where did you get that blinder from? Haha! Pay private and you can see whoever you like

 

[Robert.Walter]

Turnbull is asking to be voted out of office for being ignorant of civil liberties technically illiterate or just not giving a damn because he serves some master other than the citizenry.

 

[djgamble]

What, the cops being able to tap phone lines of INNOCENT people that are NOT organizing a crime...? Please... Cut the fascistic junk.

Well everybody's innocent until proven guilty. That doesn't mean the cops aren't allowed to investigate them when there's reason to suspect they might be committing a crime...

A massive issue at the moment (for example) is that people are using the internet to stream child abuse material from developing countries. In these situations the only 'innocent' person is the victim!!! I'll tell you now... the innocent people in these situations aren't gonna be complaining one bit when they are freed from a life of living hell thanks to a wire tap!!!

 

[ekwipt]

Don't worry fellas we can't even get the intranet working down here properly
[doublepost=1500152757][/doublepost]On my phone alone I have iMessage, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, I don't use that often but also have installed: discord, Amity, Line and Signal. There's no way the government can un-encrypt all of these.

 

[stylinexpat]

Looks like most countries these days want to become like China, Thailand,Myanmar,Saudi Arabia,North Korea,Israel,UAE,etc..

With countries wanting to ban VPN and encryption all may as well become commies.

 

[NY Guitarist]

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

 

[stylinexpat]

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

In the old days people fought hard for liberty and freedom only to have new government officials today pass new laws to take this liberty and freedom away from us. Today they call these new changes to our freedom and liberty "New amendments".

 

[HEK]

Australia on Friday proposed new laws that would require companies like Apple to provide law enforcement authorities with access to encrypted communications (via Reuters).

Australia's proposed legislation will compel companies to help security agencies intercept and read messages sent by suspects. It appears to take cues from the U.K.'s Investigatory Powers Bill, which includes provisions that require technology companies to bypass encryption where technically feasible.
The proposal will be introduced when parliament resumes in August and could be adopted within months, according to lawmakers. Other nations have said they will introduce similar laws.

Apple, along with Facebook, Google, and other major tech companies, have historically opposed such law changes, which they say threaten online security protocols.

For example, Apple claimed the U.K.'s recent bill would "weaken security" for millions of law-abiding customers. "The creation of backdoors and intercept capabilities would weaken the protections built into Apple products and endanger all our customers," Apple stated in December 2015. "A key left under the doormat would not just be there for the good guys. The bad guys would find it too."

Facebook rejected the need to introduce the new Australian law, insisting it already had a system in place to work alongside security agencies, while the new legislation could not be implemented on an individual basis.

"Weakening encrypted systems for them would mean weakening it for everyone," a spokeswoman for Facebook told Reuters.

Notably, Australia has not explained how the proposed law would prevent nefarious actors from using open-source encryption tools to encrypt messages that can be transferred through conventional means such as email.

Last month it was reported that Australia attended a meeting of officials from the "Five Eyes" intelligence sharing network, where it pushed for greater international powers to thwart the use of encrypted messaging services by terrorists and criminals.

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 Proposes Law That Would Compel Tech Companies to Decrypt Messages

Key words are "where technically feasible". Since Apple says it is not capable of bypassing encryption chip, the law is meaningless dribble.
[doublepost=1500177805][/doublepost]

Which makes Apple encryption stance all the more prescient. You can't be forced to open a lock you don't have the keys to.

If it's on the phone, you probably still safe. If it's in cloud backup, the government already has it.

 

[KiwiAdventure]

Australia is very much a police run country and racial against there native people. You cannot even buy a sim card without ID. New Zealand is very much a free to the people run country with no ID. Police do not generally wear guns and only wear guns in extreme circumstances.

 

[stylinexpat]

Australia is very much a police run country and racial against there native people. You cannot even buy a sim card without ID. New Zealand is very much a free to the people run country with no ID. Police do not generally wear guns and only wear guns in extreme circumstances.

Want to visit New Zealand one day. Heard many good things about it.

In South Korea and Japan one also can not buy a Sim card without an ID card. In South Korea you need to be a local with local ID to get a SIM card.

 

[Lancer]

I just don't see how this is going to work?

 

[TheShadowKnows!]

Just two words that should give pause to this (almost out-of-date) debate: Quantum Computers.

Probably, well within the next decade, Quantum Computers (based on qubits) will replace today's binary computers, which are modeled after the century-old Turing Machine.

And, while only available to a few governments, the Quantum-analog computer will enable decryption of public-key algorithms (implemented with RSA and/or ECC asymmetric keys) child's play.

"The reason that quantum computers are such a threat to RSA and ECC is that such machines compute using quantum physics. Unlike a classical computer, in which a bit can represent either 1 or 0, in a quantum computer a bit can represent 1 or 0 or a mixture of the two at the same time, letting the computer perform many computations simultaneously. That would shorten the time needed to break a strong 1024-bit RSA code from billions of years to a matter of minutes..."​

The key (pun intended) development of a multiple qbit (>50) analog computer will be available only to the few, bringing about a new generation, decrypting, Enigma Machine.

Changing the debate from too-many-secrets to no-more-secrets.

 

[UL2RA]

The truth is that the government secret courts have already decided this issue and have forced companies to give access to the cloud and told them they are not allowed to disclose this to their customers. And now they are bringing this to the public in fake debates and legislation to make it look like they are trying to watch out for the little guy so they can get reelected.

The truth is this thing you completely fabricated with no verifiable sources other than your conspiracy-filled brain.

 

[alexgowers]

This is flawed logic on epic scale. The level of delusion is intense. A backdoor in something is a backdoor anyone can use. You invent a way to bypass security, you effectively don't have security.

It's not a matter of making it illegal, there is no way to prevent encryption if it is wanted for nefarious actions. Taking away the safeguards of encryption from the masses is far worse.

There are no defences for this action, the usual ones such as 'I have nothing to hide' is not valid. Governments are full of criminals from top to bottom, allowing them unfettered access is the worst idea possible. This is not just conjecture there is objective evidence that political figures are embroiled in crime from fraud to sexual assaults more often than the average person in the street. These are the very people 'WE' the people need protections from.

 

[morcutt11]

This is what fascism looks like.

Or a country without Apple products. But hey - good luck Australia; let us know how that works out for yeah.

Honestly, do they believe that Apple (and other's) would re-engineer their whole platform to accommodate these regulations, risking weakening their entire technology base? We talk about "the power of the people" but what we really see is an interesting transition of power from the Church, to the Government, to the corporations.

 

[alexgowers]

Just two words that should give pause to this (almost out-of-date) debate: Quantum Computers.

Probably, well within the next decade, Quantum Computers (based on qubits) will replace today's binary computers, which are modeled after the century-old Turing Machine.

And, while only available to a few governments, the Quantum-analog computer will enable decryption of public-key algorithms (implemented with RSA and/or ECC asymmetric keys) child's play.

"The reason that quantum computers are such a threat to RSA and ECC is that such machines compute using quantum physics. Unlike a classical computer, in which a bit can represent either 1 or 0, in a quantum computer a bit can represent 1 or 0 or a mixture of the two at the same time, letting the computer perform many computations simultaneously. That would shorten the time needed to break a strong 1024-bit RSA code from billions of years to a matter of minutes..."​

The key (pun intended) development of a multiple qbit (>50) analog computer will be available only to the few, bringing about a new generation, decrypting, Enigma Machine.

Changing the debate from too-many-secrets to no-more-secrets.

So you can then use quantum computers to create keys that can be used by normal computers but is unbreakable by quantum computers. Sorry but your hypothesis is a non starter.

 

[Zaqfalcon]

Malcolm went full Trump, never go full Trump.

 

[ColdShadow]

You sound like you're in denial about this to be honest lol.

You don't need 'some random doctors approval' to see a specialist either, where did you get that blinder from? Haha! Pay private and you can see whoever you like

Look I was misfortunate enough to experience all that in Uk for 2 years
The cost of private healthcare in UK is unrealistic,and overpriced compared to US.and quality is not on par.the whole country is designed based on the NHS and it is failing.
Yes you can pay private and see whoever you like, but you get much better quality & value for the money in US.you don't need to be a millionaire in US to have decent healthcare.
Not just healthcare..what I said is correct about pretty much anything.
There are some socialist countries who are doing it right like Scandinavian countries,Netherlands,etc but Uk is stock between US and European systems.offers benefits of neither and has the negatives of both.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Look I was misfortunate enough to experience all that in Uk for 2 years
The cost of private healthcare in UK is unrealistic,and overpriced compared to US.and quality is not on par.the whole country is designed based on the NHS and it is failing.
Yes you can pay private and see whoever you like, but you get much better quality & value for the money in US.you don't need to be a millionaire in US to have decent healthcare.
Not just healthcare..what I said is correct about pretty much anything.
There are some socialist countries who are doing it right like Scandinavian countries,Netherlands,etc but Uk is stock between US and European systems.offers benefits of neither and has the negatives of both.

You're entitled to your opinion. Enjoy.

 

[stylinexpat]

Look I was misfortunate enough to experience all that in Uk for 2 years
The cost of private healthcare in UK is unrealistic,and overpriced compared to US.and quality is not on par.the whole country is designed based on the NHS and it is failing.
Yes you can pay private and see whoever you like, but you get much better quality & value for the money in US.you don't need to be a millionaire in US to have decent healthcare.
Not just healthcare..what I said is correct about pretty much anything.
There are some socialist countries who are doing it right like Scandinavian countries,Netherlands,etc but Uk is stock between US and European systems.offers benefits of neither and has the negatives of both.

Healthcare in America and the UK is no value for money paid. Both rip you off. I found Taiwan to be much better value for Healthcare.

 

[Eraserhead]

This sums up the issue - eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=86540

 

[vvswarup]

To my rudimentary understanding, with E2E encryption, only the sender and recipient of the encrypted information have the decryption key. The only way tech companies can comply with this law is to weaken encryption. Tech companies have to either keep the key or build a special way to break the encryption, both of which make the encryption scheme weaker. Keys can and will get stolen. It's only a matter of time. The smart thing to do would be to restrict access to the key to as few entities as possible.

Governments around the world seem to have gotten the memo that backdoors are a nonstarter. They're now just playing with the wording. If the police go to a company like Apple with a lawful court order to hand over something, Apple cannot refuse to hand it over. That would be obstruction of justice but that's not what's happening here. Tech companies like WhatsApp and Apple who provide E2E encryption platforms simply do not have the capability to decrypt information upon request from law enforcement. That's what's at stake here. This law calls for companies like Apple and WhatsApp to build their systems with the deliberate capability in place to break encryption. Such encryption is fundamentally weaker than it could be.

 

[NeilHD]

Look I was misfortunate enough to experience all that in Uk for 2 years
The cost of private healthcare in UK is unrealistic,and overpriced compared to US.and quality is not on par.the whole country is designed based on the NHS and it is failing.
Yes you can pay private and see whoever you like, but you get much better quality & value for the money in US.you don't need to be a millionaire in US to have decent healthcare.
Not just healthcare..what I said is correct about pretty much anything.
There are some socialist countries who are doing it right like Scandinavian countries,Netherlands,etc but Uk is stock between US and European systems.offers benefits of neither and has the negatives of both.

Really? My private healthcare in the UK is very reasonably priced, and excellent quality. I'm not a millionaire. And of course I have the NHS if I need it. To me, it's the best of both worlds.