Apple in Australia: "This is not the time to weaken encryption"

Apple has officially opposed the new bill proposed by the Australian government which, according to critics, weaken encryption.

If the 2018 Access and Assistance Bill were adopted, it would create a new type of mandate that would allow governments to often call "lawful access" to thwart encryption, which the Former Australian Attorney General had proposed last year.

The California company said in a document given to journalists Friday that the proposal was wrong.

"This is not the time to weaken encryption," the company writes. "There is a significant risk of making the jobs of criminals easier, no more difficult, and encryption is becoming more powerful and not weaker – the best way to protect yourself from these threats."

Apple has directly attacked what the US authorities have called the problem of "darkness", that the powerful encryption makes it too difficult for law enforcement to access hardened devices.

The Justice Department and the FBI have unsuccessfully been asking for something similar for decades – no specific law has been introduced in the United States since the failure of the "Clipper Chip" proposal under the law. Clinton administration. However, senior DOJ and FBI officials, under the Obama and Trump administrations, continued to press the issue.

"Some suggest that exceptions can be made and that access to encrypted data could be created only for sworn people who advocate for the public good," continued Apple. "This is a false premise: encryption is simply mathematical, any process that weakens the mathematical models protecting users' data for all users would also undermine the protection of all." It would be wrong to weaken the security of millions. of law-abiding clients to investigate the few people who pose a threat. "

Dozens of other parties filed other briefs in which they commented on the bill.

The Office of the Information Commissioner of Victoria expressed similar concerns, as did Riana Pfefferkorn, a Stanford lawyer, who called the bill "dangerous and misguided".

In the meantime, the Australian Police Federation has offered its support to the bill.