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by gravelc 3260 days ago
It does and it doesn’t. It’s entirely unclear what the new laws are hoping to achieve. PM Turnbull appears to think that companies can decrypt messages without a back door, with the only thing stopping them to date is the fact they haven’t been compelled to do so.

This is an actual real quote from him : “The laws of mathematics are very commendable but the only laws that apply in Australia is the law of Australia.”

3 comments

He does at least admit he knows exactly nothing about this area, and is leaning on the UK contact who told him this was "feasable".

But, considering they're ignoring Troy Hunt, who is usually an advisor in these matters, its clear they just don't care. (Moreso as this appears to be a bipartisan decision).

Possibly the legislation could force a limited keyspace to be implemented, thereby allowing those with sufficient compute power to brute force all the possible private keys. Obviously this is a terrible idea.

I think this is just an effort by Turnbull to muster the conservatives in his party back around him, as lately he's been getting flogged by party members over his 'moderate' policies.

I thought Tony Abbott was in a league of his own but clearly Turnbull is holding his own.