Teaching Encryption In Australia Could Soon Land You In Prison

Under the Defence Trade Control Act (DTCA), Australians could be subject to as many as ten years in prison for teaching forms of encryption. The new government legislation will make it criminally prosecutable, for Australians to teach or provide information on encryption without having a permit. The ability to charge Australians with a crime for teaching forms of encryption, are scheduled to go into effect in next year.

There will be a 12 month implementation period. So that the new law can be phased in. During that time Australians can and should be safe from any prosecution.

Original complete article by Natalie Johnson on May 23, 2015 to bitcoinist.net: Click Here

The Police State takes a little more away from the people. I'm so not surprised.

You could do what PGP did.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy#Criminal_investigation

 

Shortly after its release, PGP encryption found its way outside the United States, and in February 1993 Zimmermann became the formal target of a criminal investigation by the US Government for "munitions export without a license". Cryptosystems using keys larger than 40 bits were then considered munitions within the definition of the US export regulations; PGP has never used keys smaller than 128 bits, so it qualified at that time. Penalties for violation, if found guilty, were substantial. After several years, the investigation of Zimmermann was closed without filing criminal charges against him or anyone else.

 

Zimmermann challenged these regulations in an imaginative way. He published the entire source code of PGP in a hardback book, via MIT Press, which was distributed and sold widely. Anybody wishing to build their own copy of PGP could buy the $60 book, cut off the covers, separate the pages, and scan them using an OCR program (or conceivably enter it as a type-in program if OCR software was not available), creating a set of source code text files. One could then build the application using the freely available GNU Compiler Collection. PGP would thus be available anywhere in the world. The claimed principle was simple: export of munitions—guns, bombs, planes, and software—was (and remains) restricted; but the export of books is protected by the First Amendment. The question was never tested in court with respect to PGP. In cases addressing other encryption software, however, two federal appeals courts have established the rule that cryptographic software source code is speech protected by the First Amendment (the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the Bernstein case and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in the Junger case).

 

US export regulations regarding cryptography remain in force, but were liberalized substantially throughout the late 1990s. Since 2000, compliance with the regulations is also much easier. PGP encryption no longer meets the definition of a non-exportable weapon, and can be exported internationally except to seven specific countries and a list of named groups and individuals (with whom substantially all US trade is prohibited under various US export controls).

 

We don't have any amendments in Australia... free speech, freedom of information and freedom of trade are US concepts. Along with a pile of other freedoms.

What does the government do?  Keep you placated with beer and shrimp on the barbie?

 

You can't go outside because it's a desert and every animal is just waiting to kill you.  Indoors probably isn't that safe either.

 

You can't swim in the ocean because it's full of sharks (and God knows what else) that are just waiting to kill you.

 

And you're not even allowed to complain about it.  Except for a tiny exception for political speech.

What does the government do?  Keep you placated with beer and shrimp on the barbie?

 Australian people have never suffered major inequality or internal conflict. They generally  have no idea about the slow but constant erosion of their rights. They get BS speeches like " "X" was never actually a right, is was just implied." when freedoms are taken away... seriously, I've heard this exact wording. They get their pay packets and go home to their "safety", whilst their freedom is taken away piece by piece.

On top of that there are the new metadata laws.

 

Metadata includes the identity of a subscriber and the source, destination, date, time, duration and type of communication.

It excludes the content of a message, phone call or email and web-browsing history.

Attorney-General George Brandis said telcos had been collecting this type of data for 20 years, however billing changes and the cost of storage mean it's more likely to be discarded.

 

Senate passes controversial metadata laws

 

Free country my A.....

Edited by NickAu, 25 May 2015 - 12:36 AM.

Scary world..

Holy Crap!  Don't you at least have the right to bear arms?

 

 

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Edited by JWebb, 25 May 2015 - 12:49 AM.

 

Holy Crap!  Don't you at least have the right to bear arms?

Not like you do in the USA.  Guns are not a big thing here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Australia

I can't imagine living in a country where I would be legally be prohibited from protecting myself.

 

WHAT!!! TEACHING ENCRYPTION WOULD BE A GOOD THING!

I can't imagine living in a country where I would be legally be prohibited from protecting myself.

 

You have the right to run away if someone breaks into your house in Australia.

 

You will be charged to the full extent of the law if you injure an intruder. No BS.

I think you'll find you're allowed to use "reasonable force" to defend yourself against attack. 

 

Years ago, at a neighbourhood watch meeting, a police sergeant told us some of the tricks. Keep a wood saw under your bed - you can use it to fend off an attacker, and it can't be taken off you easily - fingers are lost that way.

 

A saw is also something that a householder might commonly have, and is not a weapon.

Hm

Edited by RobertHD, 25 May 2015 - 07:03 PM.