Federal Government wants companies’ help decrypting terrorist messages

ATTORNEY GENERAL PROPOSES NEW LAWS, BUT ISN’T ASKING FOR BACKDOORS.

Attorney-General George Brandis has proposed changing the federal law in order to force telco companies to help decrypt communications sent using their service. Although invasive, Senator Brandis pointed out that he wasn’t after the kind of ‘backdoor’ access that would essentially give authorities a key to encrypted material due to this method’s potential for being exploited. The request is in response to the revelation that a number of terrorists used encrypted messaging services such as Telegram in order to communicate and plan their attacks. Although unsure of exactly how to address the issue, Senator Brandis suggested improving the effectiveness of access warrants, as “at one point or more of that process [end-to-end encryption], access to the encrypted communication is essential for intelligence and law enforcement”. Another focus of the Senator’s is to make international exchanges more efficient and universal, so allied countries could act upon companies that weren’t based locally and they could be certain of its legality, given the agreed-upon conditions.