Untangling the web

TECH giants will be forced to unlock terrorist secrets under controversial Federal Government laws that aim to reclaim the technical advantage in the fight against jihadists.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will today reveal the Government will give spooks and law enforcement agencies new powers to access encrypted messaging.

The reforms will ensure Australia has similar laws to its Five Eyes alliance counterparts – Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Outdated laws put Australians at risk of a deadly terror attack. Advice from ASIO is that encryption on the internet has affected technical intelligence coverage in at least nine out of 10 of its priority cases.

In some cases it has taken a week to decrypt messages between terrorists because laws were written before the explosion of social media platforms.

The Government will introduce legislation that will modernise powers for law enforcement agencies, but the reforms mean that internet companies, device manufacturers and social media platforms will be first asked to hand over encrypted data.

It is understood the Government wants tech companies to take responsibility for the safety of Australians.

Law enforcement agencies will allow tech giants to decrypt their own encrypted messages from terrorists. If they refuse to help for a specific case, agencies will be able to flex their muscle under the new laws.

The Government wants to ensure Australians that the new laws are not equivalent to Big Brother-style monitoring and will be used for current and unfolding terror and child sex crimes.

Mr Turnbull said Australia was playing a leading role to ensure that terrorists could not evade authorities.