Australia’s Attorney General Thinks He can Convince Apple Encryption Back Doors are Good – The Mac Observer

Australia is proposing laws that would require companies like Apple and Facebook to give the government access to our personal encrypted data, and now the countrys attorney general thinks he can convince Apple thats a good idea. Australia Attorney General George Brandis is meeting with Apple this week in a effort to coax the iPhone maker into voluntarily building back doors into it encryption.

Australia wants access to our encrypted data

His argument for access into encrypted data is in line with the ongoing government fight in the United States for the same: criminals, terrorists, and pedophiles can act cover their trails and act with impunity. Brandis says hed like to see tech companies voluntarily cooperate, but wants legislation to force compliance, too.

Australias stance isnt new or even innovative. Its the same position the U.S. and U.K. have taken on encryption, and like the U.S., Australia is saying it doesnt want a back door. Instead, it wants a way to bypass security protections that prohibit anyone from decrypting data without a passcode.

The government is also saying it isnt seeking to weaken encryption, but instead simply wants the access to user data.

Apple argued thats the same thing as a back door into our data and it weakens security for everyone. That was part of Apples stance during the very public fight with the FBI over a 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.

In that case, the FBI sought a court order forcing Apple to create a special version of iOS the agency could hack so it could see what was on the shooters iPhone. Apple argued that doing so would expose millions of iPhone to attack, and that even though the FBI promised it wouldnt be used on other phone or ever released, the hack would eventually leak.

The FBI dropped that fight only hours before a scheduled court hearing after paying US$900,000 to a company for a hack into suspects iPhone. Ultimately there wasnt anything of value on the phonesomething the San Bernardino police chief suspected from the beginning.

Now Senator Diane Feinstein has a bill she hopes will pass that gives the U.S. government authority to force companies to make their encryption unlockable by law enforcement agencies.

Like the U.S., Australia is pushing its stance that creating a way for governments to access our encrypted data isnt the same as a back door. That doesnt make it any less of a back dooror less of a security threatno matter how much Brandis argues.

His hope that Apple will voluntarily erode the privacy and security measures we see on the iPhone and Mac will only lead to disappointmentsomething the FBI learned very publicly last year.

[Thanks to Sky News for the heads up]

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Australia's Attorney General Thinks He can Convince Apple Encryption Back Doors are Good - The Mac Observer