Loading The bill would compel business to open 'backdoors' – deliberate gaps – throughout Australia's information networks, leaving them ripe for targeting by foreign governments or criminal enterprises. For example, Australia’s law enforcement could compel Apple to provide access to a customer’s iPhone and all communications made on it without the user’s awareness or consent. An engineer involved would, in theory, be unable to tell their boss about this, or risk a jail sentence. The end result is a nightmare scenario. Backdoors are the very basis for the criminal world’s ability to manipulate software for nefarious purposes. Previously unknown vulnerabilities that are accessed - known as “zero day exploits” in the security industry - have gone on to be exploited for ransomware and malware, it would also leave open a door for foreign intelligences services to access private communications. And it would hurt Australian technology companies internationally, in the same way China's Huawei has been banned from taking part in Australia's 5G wireless network.

The government's core assurance that the bill won't systemically weaken software is at odds with what Australian businesses must do to comply with the legislation. Typically, intelligence agencies and hackers rely on accidental security flaws to sneak into systems. Arguably, the most pernicious aspect of the bill is the Technical Assistance Request (TARs). These are notionally voluntary, unconstrained in what can be requested, not required to be reported and, given corporate self-preservation and implicit threats by government, display the most potential for abuse. A company compelled to comply has little recourse to object, given the distinct lack of independent oversight in the legislation. A retired judge and technical specialist, of the governments choosing, could be empanelled to assess the merits of a capability notice. The likelihood of this being a fair or transparent exercise is clearly in doubt. In a climate where commercially operated communication apps such as WhatsApp cannot be trusted, it would be reasonable to assume that criminal and terrorist networks, will shift their activities to rely upon open source products, such as Signal and Telegram that publish their code openly for review. Given these are not subject to Australian jurisdiction, it is hard to see how the application of the government's law can be achieved. The government would require wholesale access to the handset or device itself if these types of services are to be monitored. Something that industry players such as Apple have strenuously resisted.

East Timor's then Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri with John Howard and Alexander Downer in 2006 after signing a "Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea". Credit:AAP Despite proponents’ claims that the law’s intended application is honourable, there is little to preclude it being applied more broadly. Protesters, political groups, journalists, government whistleblowers, minorities or the targeting of cross-sections of the community can be the subject of law enforcement and intelligence-gathering via the introductions of these capabilities. For the intelligence agencies, the siren call is the relative technical simplicity to implement this. The potential uses extend well beyond criminal or national security needs, including its use in state-sponsored commercial spying, given our efforts to bug the cabinet of Timor during negotiations for the Timor oil and gas reserves. Prior to the advent of widespread encryption a decade ago, there were well-documented programs of large scale data collection by intelligence agencies, including George W Bush's notorious warrantless wire-tapping program. The main constraint on these agencies' ability to exploit the data was their capacity to process vast amounts of information. The rate of technological change means that constraint is now gone. The intentions today may be wholesome in their construction but the return to unfettered access, unchecked, creates fertile territory for temptation, corruption and abuse.