Australia’s Prime Minister says laws of mathematics don’t apply in his country

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is trying to give the Australian government access to encrypted messaging apps.

And not even the laws of mathematics will stand in his way, The Independent reported.

“Well the laws of Australia prevail in Australia, I can assure you of that. The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia," he said, according to The Independent. “I’m not a cryptographer, but what we are seeking to do is to secure their assistance. They have to face up to their responsibility. They can’t just wash their hands of it and say it’s got nothing to do with them.”

Under legislation proposed by the Australian government, messaging apps like WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage would have to deliver the contents of encrypted messages to the government at its request.

According to the BBC, Turnbull and other critics of encryption believe these apps create safe havens for terrorists and criminals.

Opponents of the legislation believe this it is more “Orwellian” in nature, giving the government too much access to user’s private messaging habits.

Prof. Alan Woodward, a computer scientist at Surrey University in Guildford, England, told the BBC that criminals using encrypted messaging services can be a problem, but legislation mandating corporations hand over data may not be the best solution.

"I think most people agree that there is a problem," Woodward told the BBC. "The trouble is trying to force companies to decrypt via legislation is the very reason end-to-end encryption was introduced — particularly by US-based firms post-Snowden — to give their global customer base confidence that no government could get them to do what the Australians now propose."

Attorney General George Brandis told ABC that encrypted messaging potentially creates the "greatest degradation of intelligence and law enforcement capability.”

Brandis compared this legislation to the United Kingdom’s Investigatory Powers Act, which mandates that UK-based communications service providers give the UK government access to encrypted files, according to Gizmodo. But it excludes companies outside its borders such as WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook.

"What this does is merely contemporize for the modern era what is a well-established legal principle and that is persons, including companies, can be subject to an obligation to assist law enforcement in solving crimes," Brandis said.

This story was originally published July 15, 2017 at 6:58 PM with the headline "Australia’s Prime Minister says laws of mathematics don’t apply in his country."