[AusNOG] Assistance and Access Bill moves to PJCIS

[Robert Hudson]

On Fri, 23 Nov 2018 at 14:47, Paul Brooks <pbrooks-ausnog at layer10.com.au>
wrote:

> On 23/11/2018 11:37 AM, Alex Samad wrote:
> > Wondering what the implications of this bill and the recent China was
> stealing our
> > traffic....
> >
> > So in theory could china steal / sniff our traffic and because of these
> weakening of
> > encryption allow china to snope on our stuff
> >
> > A
> In theory no - this bill doesn't weaken encryption, and explicitly doesn't
> allow any
> changes that would weaken encryption.
>

They say that - but I don't believe them.  I don't think they even
understand what they're suggesting (or if they do understand, they're
relying on others not understanding, or not caring).

>
> This bill seeks to bypass encryption entirely by giving the agencies
> easier access to
> get into devices and the back-end databases of apps and websites, to see
> what is
> stored in there -bypassing unlock codes, PINS, thumbprint readers etc on
> devices for
> example. So for traffic being sniffed 'in the middle' the information is
> still
> sent/received as fully encrypted - and man-in-the-middle snooper won't see
> anything.
> But if the authorities get hold of your phone or PC, they'll have easier
> access to
> look into your sent/received message stores and read whats in there, which
> is stored
> in your device un-encrypted.
>

The tools the authorities have access to will invariably fall into the
hands of others.


>
> In practice, if they balls-up the change request given to the device
> manufacturer or
> app/website developer, anything could happen.
>

Yep.  Aside from the direct ramifications, it's the indirect and unintended
consequences that REALLY have the potential to be damaging.

>
> P.
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