5 ms·

"The Director-General of Security, the Director-General of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, the Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorat

"The Director-General of Security, the Director-General of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, the Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate or the chief officer of an interception agency may give a technical assistance request to a designated communications provider. • A technical assistance request may ask the provider to do acts or things on a voluntary basis..." Note that an interception agency also includes "the Police Force" p9 It later states that if a provider willingly complies: "an officer, employee or agent of the provider is not subject to any civil liability for, or in relation to, an act or thing done by the officer, employee or agent in connection with the act or thing mentioned in paragraph (b)" p17 Meaning, you're up for civil charges if you fail to respond to a non-warrant request.

mcv 8y ago
I don't see how you're up for civil charges if you fail to respond. It's voluntary. The line about not being subject to civil liability sounds to me like your employer can't fire or sue you for undermining the security of their product if you're doing so in response to a request.
- ApolloFortyNine 8y ago
  That's how I interpret it too. Though does that mean they can contact an employee directly, rather than going through the company to have the backdoor installed? That's how it sounds to me, since otherwise why would you bother with this provision. And if that's the case, software really is dead in Australia. You can't trust an Australian company, even if their leadership says they've never received a request, because one of their employees may have.
- cyphar 8y ago
  There are three kinds of notices. Only one is voluntary (Technical Assistance Request). The other two (Technical Assistance Notice, Technical Capability Notice) are both mandatory and carry several hundred penalty unit punishments for non-compliance.

mcv 8y ago

I don't see how you're up for civil charges if you fail to respond. It's voluntary. The line about not being subject to civil liability sounds to me like your employer can't fire or sue you for undermining the security of their product if you're doing so in response to a request.

ApolloFortyNine 8y ago
That's how I interpret it too. Though does that mean they can contact an employee directly, rather than going through the company to have the backdoor installed? That's how it sounds to me, since otherwise why would you bother with this provision. And if that's the case, software really is dead in Australia. You can't trust an Australian company, even if their leadership says they've never received a request, because one of their employees may have.
cyphar 8y ago
There are three kinds of notices. Only one is voluntary (Technical Assistance Request). The other two (Technical Assistance Notice, Technical Capability Notice) are both mandatory and carry several hundred penalty unit punishments for non-compliance.