In the wake of recent changes to NZ law to allow the NZ government to demand traveller's pass codes to their devices when they cross NZ borders, the Australian government is stepping up its plan to snoop on user communications by introducing a systematic weakness or vulnerability to products and systems including ISPs. While being very loose on details and unclear exactly how this would work the so called 'decryption bill' while claiming that "The protections provided in this bill are actually greater than what presently exists in the physical world.” Meanwhile, not one single person has provided concrete information about the practical real world implications of this bill.
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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
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @08:08PM (25 children)
In case you haven't noticed yet, the pecking order is this:
United States > UK > Canada > Australia > New Zealand
The NWO tries its authoritarian rubbish first on the lowest order of Anglo-Saxon culture, and then slowly tries to move it up toward the highest order, altering the plan as new problems arise.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @08:18PM (4 children)
In the old days, there was no theory of behavior that governments tried to impose on society. Rather, everybody just waited around for a problem to arise, and then that one, particular, exact, specific, precise case would be tried (it's in the name, folks: "tried") and thereby be adjudicated. This formed case law, and the collection of cases formed the common law of the land.
After a while, related cases would involve divergent adjudication, so a learned body of scholars known as legislators would standardize existing practice (you know, that's what "standardization" used to mean: Clarify and regularize EXISTING practice). In so doing, Anglo-Saxon government was both evolutionary and conservative, having society lead government, rather than having government try (and always fail) to lead society.
That's why the devastating revolutions of mainland Europe never hit the UK. But, that's all changing now. Common Law is giving way to Civil Law, where paper-pushing bureaucrats try to play the inherently impossible role of "Intelligent Designer".
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday October 24 2018, @08:47PM (1 child)
You can't try a case unless you have a law to accuse the person of breaking.
The bypass, the old way that did bind it together, was the influence of $church and their ability to interpret $scripture to say you were guilty of something.
And what is $scripture, if not a bunch of people agreeing to write down the social contract, as directed by $power ?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @08:56PM
Judges make law in Common Law, and they cover their asses by pointing the finger at as much precedent as possible.
You're speaking about mainland Europe's Civil Law, which hails from the Roman era, not Anglo-Saxon Common Law.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @12:29AM (1 child)
I guess you missed the actual revolutions that did occur. The Glorious Revolution, for example.
If you mean peasants' rebellions, what about Wat Tyler?
There was a lot that went on there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @01:02AM
Nothing has ever changed radically, because the system has been that fucking good.
Which Revolutionary Government are the French now operating under? And, let's forget the fact that they basically adopted an Anglo-Saxon framework, sans Common Law.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @08:40PM (3 children)
And this is why some of us will NEVER give up our weapons.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday October 24 2018, @08:58PM
Just leave them behind if you come to visit.
https://www.export.gov/article%3Fid%3DAustralia-Prohibited-Restricted-Imports [export.gov]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Wednesday October 24 2018, @10:21PM
From my cold dead hands.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @12:15PM
I never had any to begin with.
Well. Except for the range of potential weapons available at any hardware store.
A sword. A cheap ass katana that only looks good on a wall. A couple of smaller blades not worth of anything beyond giving someone tetanus.
Let's face it, if the world goes to kack I'll be heading out there with a cheap ass kitchen knife set looking to upgrade ASAP.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday October 24 2018, @08:47PM (10 children)
I know New Zealand had the whole Kim Dotcom thing, but is Australia really better than NZ?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @08:59PM (9 children)
Nobody even knew New Zealand existed until Lord of the Rings came out.
That's why they filmed it there; the landscape was alien to most people.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:17PM (5 children)
Sure, but Australia is the land of criminals, shitty NBN, c0lo, and deadly creatures.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:42PM
Not sure about the order of those things..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 24 2018, @11:27PM (3 children)
Deadly creatures would suffice, no need of a special mention for c0lo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @12:45AM (1 child)
You stole my thunder. Was just about to post that "c0lo, and deadly creatures" was redundant.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday October 25 2018, @01:03AM
See also the Deadlys [wikipedia.org] - not gonna get one of those, tho'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @12:18PM
The drop bears are easy to avoid.
The range of deadly snakes? Not so much.
Yes, kangaroos will fight back. Bring a gun.
(Score: 4, Funny) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:27PM
And that was how we liked it.
Now the place is full of tourists upsetting our hobbits and leaving rings lying about all over the place. It's getting so bad some of our volcanoes are nearly full.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:35PM
Not all of it, they had to film the Shelob's lair live action scenes in in Australia (the cost of CGI Shelob were just too high).
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday October 25 2018, @12:43AM
I was told the landscape is alien to New Zealanders too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @10:15PM (4 children)
You couldn't be more wrong. UK is still on top. UK has always been on top. US is just muscle. But the brain is UK.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @10:57PM (3 children)
I needed a good laugh.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @11:02PM (2 children)
You serve your masters well. You are to be commended. The state is proud of you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @05:55PM (1 child)
and your monarchy is owned by the rothchilds.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @06:17PM
Could very well be. Hardly matters, as long as the checks don't bounce
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:34PM (16 children)
How does this even work with 2FA? I would assume this is evidence that all 2FA hardware dongles have backdoors built in, otherwise there wouldn't be a point.
Why does any government need access to a device if all the data the device can access is on servers the .gov already has total access to? I'm kinda missing that point. Maybe its to support industrial espionage, not attack individual citizens who already have zero privacy.
Could just be security theater, if you make travelers uncomfortable via sexual molestation searches or this password BS, given that good security can be a PITA therefore any PITA "must" be good security...
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:52PM (3 children)
This is entirely possible, if you consider all of the hoops we jump through at the airport security theatre, which I do.
I have stated that the next time I travel outside New Zealand I intend to refuse handing over my phone's unlock code, and take my chances in court.
It is extremely unlikely I will need to do that, but fortunately we have a politically neutral, ferociously independent judiciary (for the most part) and I for one would love to see this law tested in court.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday October 24 2018, @10:19PM
Might be easier to just leave the phone at home. I've started doing that on vacations, its relaxing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @10:24PM (1 child)
I intend to refuse handing over my phone's unlock code
You'll just lose your phone. Save yourself the trouble and carry a burner. It's just not worth the hassle as long as people keep voting for psychopaths.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @04:18PM
Carry a suitcase full of dead cellphones.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday October 24 2018, @10:06PM (8 children)
You will now need a separate password for vpn access to your company's share drives, or somehow ensure they aren't even visible when logged on at the airport.
Maybe a special wipe is now needed before travelling to any country, making the device bootable with a few TPS reports saved, and one open as a "working" document, and with a thumb drive or sd card to load the rest of the OS and VPN and mount all the share drives..with the sd or thumb drive encrypted and couriered to the destination ahead of time..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday October 24 2018, @10:24PM (2 children)
Not having a pr0n collection will be evidence you're hiding something; just to be a jerk I would D/L the grossest (legal) stuff I can find for the border agents to examine.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @12:09AM (1 child)
Pr0n might be equally dangerous if you happen to visit an Arab state or just meet an inspector with a mission. Install several Bible/Quran texts or some classical literature from gutenberg.org (as appropriate for your trip and your preferences) and a reader, make sure it opens within a book when launched. Absolutely do not alienate the agents, it's their playing field and they write the rules, you simply cannot win.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @11:00AM
Or Canada? Or plenty of other nations?
You may believe it's legal, but as soon as you bring it through customs, it becomes quite illegal indeed.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday October 25 2018, @12:51AM (2 children)
That thumb drive had better not be in your possession at the time they are asking for passwords. "Citizen, why do you have an encrypted file on your thumb drive? We need the key. Ohhhh - so you have a backup file for something? For a phone, it seems. Hmmmm. Is it THIS phone? Thank you very much - now give us the real password for the phone - we'll be keeping the phone and the thumb drive. We may also be keeping you."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @12:25PM (1 child)
Hide it up your ass along with your father's gold watch
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 27 2018, @08:22AM
With the both arms of that large TSA goon.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @12:20PM (1 child)
Is it time for hidden OS duel boot mobile phones?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 27 2018, @08:31AM
Pistols or swords?
(Score: 1) by mrkaos on Thursday October 25 2018, @03:58AM
Ten years jail and $60,000 fine if you don't hand your 2FA over. They're not bothering with the decryption, they just straight up threaten to send you to jail. All foreign data requests are then handled through Australia under intelligence sharing arrangements that by-pass that countries constitution.
So this law fucks you up no matter where in the world you are. You're welcome.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 26 2018, @03:03AM (1 child)
2FA is dead.
Maybe get an unlock screen that looks and acts like a normal unlock screen but just shows a parody of the OS?
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Friday October 26 2018, @02:21PM
That's called a honeypot. A well-known technique. Likely the snoops know of it too, if they're competent.
(Score: 1) by TechieRefugee on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:48PM (3 children)
Seems like if you wanna physically bring data out of the country, outside of SSHing into your country of origin's computer, a hidden VeraCrypt volume + a super bare OS install is gonna be the Way of the Future (tm). After all, if they can't find it, they won't know to ask for it! As for phones, well... good luck have fun.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday October 24 2018, @10:20PM (1 child)
Chromebook?
I would assume the government has 100% access to those, yet, who knows, maybe not?
(Score: 1) by TechieRefugee on Wednesday October 24 2018, @10:43PM
Something where they wouldn't really see much of any use digging into it, like a light W7 install with the basics (Chrome/Firefox and a few other common apps maybe). Obviously without VeraCrypt installed to it, you'd need to do that once you're where you need to be. Of course, the best option is to not go to countries like this with horrible practices, but that ain't always possible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 26 2018, @03:21AM
Perhaps an application with a countdown that erases data from the phone and hides or uninstalls itself after a period of time has passed.
Set the countdown before getting off the plane. If need be login to reset the timer.
If put in a position of someone demanding your phone tell them you'll think about it. Wait for the countdown. The phone either mysteriously dies while in their position, in which case accuse them of breaking it, or give them the logon once the logon screen indicates that the wipe is done.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @10:01PM
Yay over-reaching government trying to restrict freedoms!
As usual this will only hurt innocent people while anyone trying to smuggle digital goods will find plenty of ways to do so. Encrypted file storage, upload to any service you'd like, download where needed. There is no way that even the best decrypting supercomputers will catch it unless you know who to target and where to look.
Just criminalize the things that should be and leave the over reaching filtering methods out. It would be much easier to catch someone if they DON'T bother encrypting their shit and try to spread it on the network once inside your country. It is a losing arm's race for the authorities and they'd do better to make it EASIER to catch whatever.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Wednesday October 24 2018, @11:25PM (3 children)
From what I can read in the article, which seems to be a script to some dialogue rather than interpretation of the bill. What the aussie feds are trying to push for is if they already have a warrant, they can use the same warrant to compel the suspect to unlock their phone, rather than have to go through a separate legal blackhole.
There's nothing in that article that says anything about arbitrarily forcing anyone and everyone to unlock their phone, say customs in airports... not so sure about the actual bill.
(Score: 1) by mrkaos on Thursday October 25 2018, @04:15AM (2 children)
There's nothing in that article that says anything about arbitrarily forcing anyone and everyone to unlock their phone, say customs in airports... not so sure about the actual bill.
I have read an analysed the entire Bill. I can most certainly assure you that according to the amendments to the criminal code police can force you to unlock your phone otherwise you are subject to between 5-10 years jail and between $30,000 and $60,000 in fines.
And that's the benign parts of the Bill, wait until you read just how badly they treat IT professionals who refused to be coerced and those do co-operate. It is the ultimate damned if you do and damned if you don't law.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @12:23PM (1 child)
Link to the law?
So, it's time to get a new phone then. One that wipes with a specific password but doesn't show this as it opens the phone and wipes in the background.
My current phone can be drained in minutes easily through the USB port
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @06:03PM
no, it's time to boycott any gov that pulls this shit. if it's your gov, then do something about these pieces of shit ruing the world.
(Score: 4, Informative) by mrkaos on Thursday October 25 2018, @01:32AM (7 children)
If you are an IT professional, you should not ignore this Bill.
The government can coerce I.T professionals to co-operate. If you do you are subject to secrecy clauses where you can be fined or jailed for revealing government operations.
If you don't co-operate I.T professionals are subject to 5-10 years jail, up to $30,000-$60,000 fines and enforced liability for any damages that the government causes in the collection of information.
In the list of things that are applicable all hardware and the entire OSI stack are covered, along with every manufacturer from the component level all the way up to the installer interacting with the purchaser of the equipment.
From a civil rights perspective a police officer can demand you open your phone as a result of any normal frisk search or suffer 5-10 years jail, any evidence of crimes committed found on your phone then give police just cause for the search in the first place.
The entire Bill is 176 pages and the submissions I wrote totaled 40 pages. The Australian AG invited all 5 eyes AG's to the Gold coast earlier in the years where aspects of the implementation of this law in other countries in line with the constitutions there.
Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 [aph.gov.au]
or AssAccess [youtube.com]
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this law is that it allows foreign law enforcement access to these laws via intelligence sharing arrangements.
In 20 years of lobbying against these Bills and reading them from other countries, this is the worst one I have ever seen as it effectively allows warrant-less search of peoples property.
If this Bill passes in Australia all 5 eyes countries wll be affected and there will be no escape from it. This Bill has world wide consequences.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @05:51PM (1 child)
Does it say anything about IT Amateurs?
(Score: 1) by mrkaos on Monday October 29 2018, @07:23AM
No - it is a very good question.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @06:29PM (2 children)
The problem will fester as long as people keep voting for this class of politicians. It is true tyranny. The dystopian future is coming. How do we protect ourselves from that? The endless cycle of revolutions is growing quite tiresome. How do we shut down the authority, for good this time?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @06:39PM (1 child)
we simply have to stop paying for it and use our resources to develop alternatives. this starts with the fact that the enemy is winning the education/propaganda war. this is why they wanted you to put your kids into slave training centers all day. it was not an accident.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 26 2018, @02:57AM
Vote for the PPAU?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @06:36PM
go ahead and do this in the US and see what happens. not right at first, but corner people by making everyone a criminal and over time you will get a chain reaction that you wish you hadn't started. then it won't just be underfunded, institutionalized minorities, but well armed people who naively thought they were free. unite the people in their hatred for the controllers and their henchmen. go ahead, the tree of liberty is quite parched.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 26 2018, @02:52AM
omfg that is utter crap
how can the people who represent us put this into law?!?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @06:41AM (1 child)
I have not seen one in years, if ever.
Australia, go see the venomous snakes and spiders, poisonous everything else and toxic society.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @12:37PM
If you like I can stop posting Aussie articles like this, but I suspect that there will be no news then