Optus says that it would have struggled to comply with its legislative obligations without a decision by the government that exempted it from a requirement to encrypt all metadata collect as part of Australia’s data retention regime.
The Australian Greens have received the highest rating in an assessment of digital rights policies by a privacy advocacy group.
Major groups representing Australia’s Internet and telecommunications sectors as well the broader private sector have called for the government to back away from its attempt to cut short scrutiny of a controversial bill.
Shadow communications minister Michelle Rowland has called for the government to “engage directly” with industries and stakeholder bodies likely to be affected by its proposed encryption bill “regarding the significant concerns they have raised about the measures in this bill, with a view to developing workable solutions.”
The government appears set on swift passage through parliament of the Telecommunication and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018, which Canberra argues is vital to helping police and intelligence agencies mitigate the impact of encrypted communications services on their investigations.
They sometimes call national security the third rail of politics. Touch it and, politically, you're dead.