Peter Dutton says the tech giants have a responsibility to help combat organised crime

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The Morrison government has criticised Silicon Valley’s biggest tech companies for opposing its planned encryption laws, saying the internet giants have a responsibility to help combat organised crime.

Peter Dutton, the home affairs minister, says Australia’s law enforcement agencies have been prevented from infiltrating paedophile networks and other organised crime groups because the messages they send over encrypted electronic messaging services, such as Wickr and Whatsapp, cannot be intercepted by authorities.

He said companies such as Google and Facebook must understand the government’s legislation, which is before parliament, does not be require them to create systemic weaknesses in their encrypted products or to build a decryption capability.

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He said a new report from the Australian Institute of Criminology, released on Wednesday, estimated the cost of serious and organised crime in Australia in 2016–17 was between $23.8bn and $47.4bn, and showed how sophisticated internet-based crimes can be.

“There are vocal opponents to this legislation, indeed some of the biggest critics of this legislation are multibillion-dollar Silicon Valley companies,” Dutton told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.

“The same companies that need to be hounded to pay tax in Australia and other jurisdictions, and the same companies who have misused personal data to commercial advantage.

“And it should be noted the same companies who protest about having to help police with the encryption problem, operate their business in less democratic countries and accept a compromise on privacy to allow their presence in those growth markets.”

Dutton said the government had consulted extensively with the industry about the proposed changes and had already amended the draft legislation to take their concerns into account. He said he would keep talking to the industry, and Labor must support the bill.

“It is important that tech firms understand and embrace their responsibilities to the community that has helped enrich them,” Dutton said.

“Currently our police and intelligence officers who have a warrant may be able to covertly recover an email or a photo or other evidence of a crime from someone’s computer, but they can’t crack encryption, which is why it is now being exploited by criminals.

“[This legislation] will enable our police and security agencies to work in the digital world and do so with all the existing requirements and oversight applied to their actions.

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“Of the data lawfully intercepted by the Australian Federal Police, 90% uses some form of encryption. Likewise it is impeding nine out of 10 priority national security matters being dealt with by ASIO.

“Society has long seen value in enabling our law enforcement agencies to access telephone communications and related data with the appropriate warrants and justifiable cause. This is legitimate activity that helps to protect our community.”

Tech giants Google and Facebook have joined an unusual alliance of civil and digital rights groups to try to defeat Australia’s planned encryption laws. The Alliance for a Safe and Secure Internet has called on Australia’s government to “slow down” and listen to “legitimate concerns” about its encryption bill.

The alliance includes rights groups such as the Human Rights Law Centre, Digital Rights Watch and Amnesty International, as well as the Communications Alliance – an industry group featuring telcos Optus and Telstra. It also features the Digital Industry Group Inc (Digi), an industry body including Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon as members.

Lizzie O’Shea, a spokeswoman for the new alliance, has said the group’s membership typically does not agree on policy issues but they were united for the first time in their opposition to the government’s encryption bill.

The encryption bill has already faced fierce resistance from rights groups since an exposure draft was released last month. The bill gives law enforcement new powers to conduct covert surveillance on electronic devices and compel technology companies to assist in decrypting private communications.

The bill is set to be reviewed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, but opponents fear the process will be rushed and the bill will become law within two months.

Dutton said on Wednesday that Labor leader Bill Shorten had to decide if he was on the side of Silicon Valley’s giants or on the side of protecting Australians.