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Australia PM claims the laws of mathematics are secondary to the law of Australia

X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...ot-apply-australia-encryption-l-a7842946.html

Prime Minister claims laws of mathematics 'do not apply' in Australia
Malcolm Turnbull makes 'Orwellian' comments when challenged on problem of encryption

Rachel Roberts
Saturday 15 July 2017 17:46 BST

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said the laws of mathematics come second to the law of the land in a row over privacy and encryption.

Under new legislation proposed by the Australian Government, messaging apps like WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage would be forced to hand over the contents of encrypted messages.

When challenged by a technology journalist over whether it was possible to tackle the problem of criminals using encryption – given that platform providers claim they are currently unable to break into the messages even if required to do so by law – the Prime Minister raised eyebrows as he made his reply.

“Well the laws of Australia prevail in Australia, I can assure you of that. The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia," he said.

“I’m not a cryptographer, but what we are seeking to do is to secure their assistance. They have to face up to their responsibility. They can’t just wash their hands of it and say it’s got nothing to do with them.”
Click to expand...

Mr Turnbull stressed during the press conference that he was asking for the companies to work with the Government to change their current systems.

“I am not going to get into hypotheticals. The important thing is to recognise the challenge and call on the companies for assistance.

“I am sure they know morally they should. Morally they should.

“They have to face up to their responsibility. They can’t just wash their hands of it and say it’s got nothing to do with us.”

Critics of WhatsApp – owned by Facebook – and other encrypted platforms says they provide the perfect hiding place for criminals because only the sender and the recipient can see the contents of the messages.

But George Brandis, the Australian Attorney General, said the UK security agency GCHQ has assured him it was possible to unlock encrypted systems.

Facebook has argued that weakening encryption for the purposes of law enforcement effectively means weakening the system for everyone, and would risk making the messages available to hackers and others with malevolent intent.
Click to expand...

Mr Turnbull said the proposed law was modelled on the UK’s controversial Investigatory Powers Act, which compels service providers to decrypt their supposedly private communications under certain circumstances.

The UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd is due to travel to the US in the next few weeks to hold talks with technology companies over the problem of how to tackle encryption and criminality.
Click to expand...
 
O

Oozer3993

Member
Dear Senator Lindsey Graham,

Who was it that changed your mind on encryption? Cause they're badly needed in Australia.

Sincerely,

Oozer
 
B

BigAT

Member
442808.gif
 
C

cameron

Member
“Well the laws of Australia prevail in Australia, I can assure you of that. The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia," he said.
Click to expand...
Know your place, math.
 
Rktk

Rktk

Member
With the IP bill in the UK, does that law force WhatsApp to provide a backdoor to its messages? I was under the impression it did not.
 
C

Captin Quacker

Member
“Well the laws of Australia prevail in Australia, I can assure you of that. The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia," he said.
Click to expand...
I swear I heard some say this in game of thrones
 
S

StalkerUKCG

Banned
He seems ignorant of the realities of the situation. As if some kind of Oath exist's that Mathematicians are unwilling to break.

Rktk said:
With the IP bill in the UK, does that law force WhatsApp to provide a backdoor to its messages? I was under the impression it did not.
Click to expand...

AFAIK it does not and it's not possible anyway. It could be implemented today for the future but it currently doesn't exist. Whatapp APK's and .IPA files are ripped apart upon release to check for such things.

Relevant
 
Dude Abides

Dude Abides

Banned
I don't see the problem with breaking encryption under certain circumstances, like a valid search warrant.

Is the controversy here that the tech companies claim they can't provide for decryption so the AUS government essentially wants them to use weaker encryption that will?
 
kamineko

kamineko

Does his best thinking in the flying car
I mean, the US president doesn't believe in physics, biology, or chemistry

If he knew what math was, he'd probably blow that off, too

Keep hope alive, Australia
 
30yearsofhurt

30yearsofhurt

Member
FUME5 said:
Nah, reasonably progressive for a liberal but held back (forced to toe the line?) by the conservative faction of the party.
Click to expand...

He's also a more of a big picture guy and not down with the details.
His time as opposition spokesman on telecommunications was proof of his stunning inability to grasp technical details. Also when asked who would win the rugby league grand final nominated an aussie rules team. uggh.
 
J

jellies_two

Member
Australia isn't big enough to get Facebook Apple and WhatsApp etc to backdoor their systems for ASIO even putting aside issues of making sure master keys are only used for good.

If he suggests banning any software that isn't backdoored then the business wing of his party will call him off.
 
D

Dryk

Member
Dude Abides said:
I don't see the problem with breaking encryption under certain circumstances, like a valid search warrant.

Is the controversy here that the tech companies claim they can't provide for decryption so the AUS government essentially wants them to use weaker encryption that will?
Click to expand...
Tech companies are currently using unbreakable encryption. The government essentially wants to mandate that the encryption is breakable by court order. Obviously this requires moving to breakable encryption for all customers.

Also it recently came out that the last set of cybersecurity laws the government passed under the guise of terror protection are being used to find welfare and tax discrepancies.
 
A

AusRoachman

Member
Spending too much time with the Donald .

There are some bad hombres in the digital stuff , lots of bad stuff there . We need to build a digital wall and make it a clear wall so people can see through it and stuff .
 
J

jotun?

Member
Sure, I'll decrypt that message for you

It will be ready in 23124 years and will cost you $1.23e+18 in energy bills
 
Mohonky

Mohonky

Member
Turnbull is idiot, especially when it comes to techbology, but this is such a non issue looking for one.
 
D

danm999

Member
Royal_Phalanx said:
So is this guy the Australian version of Theresa May or something?
Click to expand...

Malcolm was Theresa May before she was.

Seriously. He also called an early election thinking he'd increase his majority, stuffed up his campaign majorly (including accidentally using a slogan from Veep), and ended up with a one seat majority meaning he's gridlocked and is basically circling the drain.

The scary part is that he's more articulate and moderate than the guy he took over from.
 
F

FyreWulff

Member
Dude Abides said:
I don't see the problem with breaking encryption under certain circumstances, like a valid search warrant.

Is the controversy here that the tech companies claim they can't provide for decryption so the AUS government essentially wants them to use weaker encryption that will?
Click to expand...

It's literally because making encryption any weaker than it is weakens it for everyone. math doesn't care who's computing it.

Trying to ban or weaken encryption is trying to put a genie back in the bottle. It isn't happening. Algorithmically unreversable encryption has been around for almost a century. Since then it's just been improving it's ability to withstand brute force and shortcut attacks.
 
Falcs

Falcs

Banned
This is the idiot that's responsible for our shitty, short-sighted national Internet plan that's currently being rolled out. The plan that the rest of the world is laughing at us about because 25Mbps "should be enough".
And now he's running our country.
 
M

MarionCB

Member
This is the grasp of technical details that allowed this guy to single-handedly destroy the largest infrastructure project in Australian history, waste perhaps upwards of $100 billion and set our internet back generations.

Also typical is seeing an awful law in the UK and just knowing it'll come here later.
 
C

CadetMahoney

Member
Uhh what't the point of mandating weak encryption instead of just mandating a backdoor to everything instead. Probably an additional failsafe.

If they can force them change their encryption they can force them to backdoor as well.
 
N

Nokterian

Member
cheezcake

cheezcake

Member
CadetMahoney said:
Uhh what't the point of mandating weak encryption instead of just mandating a backdoor to everything instead. Probably an additional failsafe.

If they can force them change their encryption they can force them to backdoor as well.
Click to expand...

Backdoors please god no. This thread is making me worried.
 
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