
Prime Minister claims laws of mathematics 'do not apply' in Australia - valentinebm
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/malcolm-turnbull-prime-minister-laws-of-mathematics-do-not-apply-australia-encryption-l-a7842946.html
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aphextron
Sensational headlines like this completely miss the point of the constructive
conversation that should be taking place around crypto. The fact is that old
school politicians simply do not understand these things, and think that it's
something that can still be legislated away as things were in the past. That's
an information issue, not a political issue.

He went on to say

>"They can’t just wash their hands of it and say it’s got nothing to do with
them.”"

And he's right. Tech companies have an obligation to figure out a balance of
privacy and public safety that works for everyone, not just stonewalling
governments with complete noncompliance and then wondering why politicians
become adversarial.

~~~
shakna
The conversation was being had: this is the politicians ending it.

They've consulted with security experts, who said it would be universally bad
for encryption.

They've consulted with economists, who said it would be a dangerous idea that
could have unintended effects.

They consulted with sociologists, who said that history shows that this power
will be abused.

They consulted with lawyers, who said that this kind of law cannot currently
be made safe for the populace.

After all this consultation with the right people in the right fields...
They've decided that the handful of dangerous individuals who may make use of
this technology, without hard evidence that they actually do, make the risks
worthwhile. In direct contradiction to those they consulted.

What conversation is left to be had?

~~~
exodust
I have no idea what Turnbull's game is, but his late-to-the-party argument is
flawed.

People want encryption to work properly, not 'sorta, kinda'. The internet is
plagued by enough security flaws and threats, we don't need more.

In the event he gets his back door or weak encryption by law, there's nothing
stopping criminals from using systems that aren't part of the "broken
encryption gang".

There's no conversation left to be had. There is only comics...

[https://xkcd.com/538/](https://xkcd.com/538/)

