The Government Wants Your Text Messages

Last Thursday, Australia's parliament passed legislation that allows the country's intelligence and law enforcement agencies to access end-to-end encrypted digital communications. If you use apps like WhatsApp, text messages are unreadable to anyone but the two in the conversation, as the messages are turned into a scrambled mess before being decoded on the other side. The new law will allow Australia's government to force tech companies to allow law enforcement access to such private communications in order to assist in their investigations.

Just so we're clear, this is bad.

Proponents of the bill argue that this will be a large step forward in fighting terrorism, and by proponents, I don't just mean Australia. There have also been calls for such legislation in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand. (Together, these countries are referred to as the "Five Eyes".) The tech companies, however, have spoken out heavily against such legislation, as they believe that it is a threat to people's privacy. Apple, in particular, has challenged court orders to allow law enforcement to encrypted data on criminals' iPhones, including the San Bernadino shooter.

Why would tech companies be hesitant to assist in such investigations? Well, aside from the obvious concern of government surveillance, and the loss of privacy as a selling point, access to encrypted data could be implemented through a "backdoor" in the system, a piece of software that circumvents security measures. Sure, the government might use this backdoor for investigations, but what if hackers use such a backdoor to their advantage, gaining access to your private data? Here's a sophisticated graphic to help explain the threat:

The "what if" doesn't matter. What matters is that a major Western country has a law that allows its government to force its way into your private data, and it's a pretty inadequate one at that. Critics of the law state that it is overly broad and vaguely worded in regards to what the government can do, and for which crimes such measures are allowed to be taken. In addition, the law also allows the government to approach individual employees, such as the people in charge of product updates, rather than the company itself. Failure to comply could lead to millions in fines or prison time.

This is a problematic and dangerous law that could serve as a model for future legislation to come. United States Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is among those in support of backdoors being built into encryption systems. What needs to be understood is that any attempt to undermine encryption may lead to personal data being put at risk, regardless of the government's intentions.