{"id":2806,"date":"2017-09-21T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T23:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/crime-and-justice-research-centre\/?p=2806"},"modified":"2018-01-15T13:56:18","modified_gmt":"2018-01-15T03:56:18","slug":"event-attacks-on-encryption-privacy-civil-society-and-the-surveillance-state-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/crime-and-justice-research-centre\/2017\/09\/21\/event-attacks-on-encryption-privacy-civil-society-and-the-surveillance-state-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Event: Attacks on Encryption – Privacy, Civil Society and the Surveillance State"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Join the Australian Privacy Foundation<\/strong>,\u00a0Digital Rights Watch Australia<\/strong>,\u00a0Future Wise<\/strong>, and the QUT Crime and Justice Research Centre<\/strong>\u00a0at ThoughtWorks<\/strong>\u00a0Brisbane to discuss ‘Attacks on Encryption: Privacy, Civil Society, and the Surveillance State.’<\/p>\n

The Australian Government’s intention to pursue new and increased powers to access encrypted communications via statutorily required ‘backdoors’ has been met with wide-ranging privacy and information security concerns.<\/p>\n

On 5 October 2017, a panel of encryption experts, international privacy law experts, academics, politicians, digital rights advocates, and journalists will unpack the social and technical consequences of the proposed new ‘backdooring’ powers.<\/p>\n

At present, it is unclear if Australia’s laws will require so-called ‘backdoor’ vulnerabilities to be built into messaging applications like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. However, if this were to occur, it would enable government access to these services via decryption keys and\/or enable remote access to devices for interception of communications “at the ends”. Experts argue that these powers are unnecessary and should be highly concerning for Australians who, unlike other western democracies, do not have a constitutional right to privacy.<\/p>\n

This Attacks on Encryption event is relevant to anyone concerned about security and responsible governance and will cover the consequences of engineering ‘backdoors’ into commercially available encryption software, the issues associated with companies being compelled to decrypt user data, and forcing the design of communications tools that allow government interception.<\/p>\n

Speakers include:<\/p>\n