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Australia Set to Pass Controversial Encryption Law

posted by takyon on Wednesday December 05 2018, @10:45PM   
from the everyone-cave-in dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

With the Australian Labor Party caving in on the proposed encryption law that will allow Australian police and agencies to access private data directly from vendors, the new proposed laws are now agreed in principle to introduce government level snooping of user messages and encrypted files. Agencies like ASIO or the Australian Federal Police will have the ability to request that telecommunications and tech companies help them with their investigations and compel companies to build ways to allow targeted access to encrypted communications data.

Previously: Australian Government Pursues "Golden Key" for Encryption
Five Eyes Governments Get Even Tougher on Encryption
Apple Speaks Out Against Australian Anti-Encryption Law; Police Advised Not to Trigger Face ID
Australia follows New Zealand to demand passwords
New Australian Push For Encryption Backdoor in Wake of Alleged Terrorist Plot

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Original Submission

• Re:In other words (Score: 3, Interesting) by Blymie on Friday December 07 2018, @12:31AM

  by Blymie (4020) on Friday December 07 2018, @12:31AM (#770957)

  the NSA was spying on Americans illegally. The NSA was spying on US companies illegally. It still is.

          What infrastructure have you destroyed? How have you fought this?

  Destruction not yet justified. They are doing something wrong under the guise of terrorism. Yet, at that same time there is spirited debate, great pushback at the intellectual level at least, and we still are allowed to legally use strong encryption. They're going after the companies, performing PR campaigns, vaccuming up all plain text data that you can imagine, but they are not yet outlawing the use of the Signal protocol, or mandating that all computer users register their encryption keys.

  I have fought this. I've supported the EFF, have been supportive of, and use, encryption. I'm working on secure platforms myself, and contribute to the open source movements that have the goals of providing privacy and data security.

  Thing is, at each slow step of encroachment -- this is what happens. Each "little thing" is never quite enough to make a sane man pick up a gun, and just shoot and kill every authority figure around him.

  Where were you after 9/11, and even today -- right now, when laws were passed to spy on all credit card transactions? When libraries were forced to spy for the government?

          Have you fought that?

  I stopped using credit cards for any kind of personal transactions. Only the most boring shit, like gasoline and some bare necessities. I paid utility bills with them. Otherwise, any sensitive was paid with cash or pre-paid cards. Don't recall how libraries were forced to spy. I've got the Internet :)

  Again, various acts of civil disobedience.

  Amusing. I'm Canadian, and took very much the same tact. Here though, debit cards have 'been a thing' for 30 years. Everyone uses them instead of cash, and while the government doesn't have transactional history, well... let's say I know ways that the data gets out, regardless of the fact.

  But I use it for grocery shopping, gas. I use cash for almost everything else. I leave a 'trail', when I legitimately don't care.

  But my phone? Not linked to me name, never on at home (wifi or 4G), only paid for it by cash, pay for top-up minutes by cash, only paid for google play by cash cards + adding, don't use google for addresses/etc, fake name, etc.

  So the phone doesn't link to me in any way. I don't even give out the phone number, because once someone has your number? You can easily be tracked by a variety of means.

  (I have VOIP forward to my cell phone, and give out the VOIP number)

  Because a war of 1 makes zero sense.

  Wrong. Standing up for your principles and fighting for your basic human rights, always makes sense. Even if the other people around you are scared, apathetic, or ignorant. I would rather not be living in the world where such fundamental and basic human rights have been stripped from me. I would rather die as an example to the rest.

  Sorry, but my name is, and always will be forever, Kunta Kinte. You're going to have do a lot fucking more than chop off one of my feet before I cooperate and call you master.

  You seem reasonable, and disillusioned, and doubtful of Americans. I respect your decision to just slowly have your rights stripped away, like a frog in boiling water. Whether you can understand mine or not, is immaterial and irrelevant to whatever forms of civil disobedience I will perform in an increasing tyrannical government.

  I find this fascinating. You've not fought anyone with a gun, not used physical force to change things, yet you act/talk as if you have.

  Frankly, I doubt you've done as much as I have. Note.. I certainly admit that you do more than 99.9999% of people out there.

  But I'm not doubtful of Americans. I just know history, and what I've seen. Most Americans don't care. They just don't. That's not doubt, that's fact.

  Prove to me that Americans care. No one cares, dude. Just you and me, and a few others.

  I mean -- you also have to know history, to know *why* you should care. You need to be well read, to know why you should care.

  Most people aren't that.

  It's like any other problem today. People will only care, when it directly, immediately, effects them. I mean *care*, not hit the like button on a Facebook post, or complain on Reddit. But *care*.

  Parent

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