PRINCIPLES. EVIDENCE. PROGRESS.

Our newest policy formalises our support for universal access to publicly-funded research.

Download this submission:
Submission to the NSW draft Electoral Bill 2017 (PDF, 253 KB, 17 September 2017)

This submission was prepared jointly with Flux, who share some of our frustration with the current NSW state political party registration system.

New device access laws proposed by the government increase national security risk by increasing the attack surface for hacking on all devices.

The implementation of this law will create one of the world's largest reservoir of high-value security holes for hackers to take advantage of in terms of obtaining access to personal devices. It will be hard to control access to exploits and the networks of the AFP, ASIO and other policing bodies when so much valuable information can be obtained by hijacking a single law enforcement agency.

A law that requires individuals to produce decryption keys for encrypted data could send innocent people to jail, because it is hard to tell the difference between encrypted data and white noise. The government wants to increase the penalty for not providing decryption keys to law enforcement from 2 to up to 10 years. 

Telecommunications metadata was illegally accessed almost as soon as the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill came into force. Now the government wants new powers to force companies to put in back-doors into electronic devices, and it puts all of us at risk.