Australian draft cyber laws would curb rights – lawyers

Proposed cybersecurity laws to force global technology companies such as Facebook and Google to help police by unscrambling encrypted messages sent by extremists and other criminals would significantly limit individuals’ privacy and freedom, the president of Australia’s top lawyers’ group has told the parliament. A parliamentary committee on Friday began examining a bill introduced last year that is modeled on Britain’s Investigatory Powers Act, AP reports. That law has given British intelligence agencies some of the most extensive surveillance powers in the western world. The Australian bill would give security agencies new powers to demand that tech companies help them decrypt data. Arthur Moses, Law Council of Australia’s president-elect, told the committee that a secret service officer could be able to use the proposed law to side-step the need for a warrant to arrange a phone intercept. The bill “would authorize the exercise of intrusive covert powers with the potential to significantly limit an individual’s right to privacy, freedom of expression, and liberty,” Moses said.