
Australian bill to create back door into encrypted apps in 'advanced stages' - incompatible
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/13/australian-bill-to-create-back-door-into-encrypted-apps-in-advanced-stages
======
neumann
anybody have any input if this is feasible for apps like Signal?

How would this be technically feasible? \- have a backdoored version on Google
Play / App Store? \- MITM the SMS registration? \- Force WhisperSystems to run
a different binary? \- Jam communications if they can't intercept?

~~~
incompatible
I'm not sure I want to give the Australian government ideas, but I doubt I'll
come up with anything original, and I can't resist imagining how I'd do it if
I was the authoritarian type.

They obviously can't touch foreign organizations and services directly, so
they have to influence what happens in Australia. They could force ISPs to
block the IP addresses of the services. They could also make it illegal for
people in Australia to have a device that can't be unlocked by the
authorities, and make it illegal to install encrypted communication apps. That
way, if they get a wiretap and discover that they can't decrypt the
communications, they can simply arrest and charge the person for that.

Edit: I doubt the Australian government could actually get away with this
approach. Encrypted apps have gone mainstream and too many people would be
upset if they were banned. Hopefully the Labor Party would oppose such a bill
and it wouldn't make it through the Senate (no guarantees).

~~~
jazoom
Luckily for us they're probably not competent enough to enforce it.

~~~
incompatible
I can't imagine the politicians themselves to be competent enough to even
understand the problem and write the legislation. But maybe they employ people
who can.

The technical details of the "encryption with backdoors" would be left to the
companies that have enough presence in Australia that they need to conform to
it.

The enforcement against criminals using encryption would be as simple as the
police finding that they can't decrypt the contents of a wire tap because the
app isn't backdoored.

~~~
jazoom
To bad they didn't employ people who understand this stuff to stop them from
making stupid decisions on the first place.

~~~
incompatible
They are at the top, they employ who they like, and being generally ignorant
psychopaths they employ people who will pander to them. It's too bad the
population won't elect people who understand stuff in the first place.

