Australian politicians are planning to introduce a general duty of care to the act, explicitly without encryption safeguards, which will pressure service providers to compromise the confidentiality of encrypted communications, enabling widespread surveillance.
In 2023, the Australian government published a study that shows how desperately Australians want privacy and how they are frustrated by the lack of privacy protections.
the Australian Online Safety Act erroneously characterises end-to-end encryption as an obstacle to online safety and law enforcement, instead of recognising that it is essential for online security and weakening it reduces safety for all.
Continuing battle for privacy:
The open letter comes at a difficult time as encryption is under pressure in many parts of the world