For a year now, I've been talking about why Australia's anti-encryption Assistance and Access Act is a bad idea. Australia's Parliament passed that bill into law anyway last December. Now, in a landmark move, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has referred the Act to Australia's Independent National Security Legislation Monitor for him to conduct his own review. The INSLM solicited comments from the public, and I responded. My submission to the INSLM is available here. Per the INSLM's request, my submission addresses whether the Act is necessary, proportionate, and contains appropriate safeguards for protecting individual rights. (Spoiler alert: no, no, and no.) You can find all my previous submissions to the PJCIS here.
