> The problem seems to be the provision that a tech worker can be coerced by the Australian Government into creating a backdoor, and they are not authorised to

> The problem seems to be the provision that a tech worker can be coerced by the Australian Government into creating a backdoor, and they are not authorised to disclose it to their employer. > Is this true ? There is no way I am hiring an Australian citizen then. No. The request or notice is served to the company, not the individual, so the company is not left in the dark. There has been a lot of poor reporting about this law; roughly speaking, there are 3 types of requests for data allowed: 1. Technical Assistance Request - "give me this data please". Optional, no penalty to anyone for not complying. 2. Technical Assistance Notice - "give me this data if you can, or else..". Mandatory, penalty to the company if they can comply but do not comply.. but if the company would have to build a new thing to comply (e.g. they do not have the decryption key and there's no backdoor), then there's no penalty and they do not have to comply. 3. Technical Capability Notice - "give me this data or build a way to give me this data, or else..". Mandatory, and a penalty to the company if they do not comply. If they can't do the thing yet, they need to build a backdoor, unless doing so would introduce a "systemic weakness". In all cases, it's the company being targeted. Individuals in the company only become liable for penalties if they leak information to people not involved in the investigation. Yes, it's still a bad law that was rushed through with too little discussion. Yes, there is too much room for interpretation and too little oversight. (And yes, Australian tech companies like Atlassian are lobbying heavily to improve the situation[0][1][2].) But we're not at the point where it's reasonable to blacklist Australian tech workers yet, thankfully. Source: I am an engineering manager at Atlassian, a major Australian tech company; there has been a lot of internal discussion and guidance from our founders and legal team about this. Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, etc. Also, I am an Australian citizen. [0]: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/scott-farquhar-encryption-bill-a-gut-punch-to-tech-sector/news-story/911d5bdf788c3fa277d58622d568b4a5 https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/scott-f... [1]: https://www.afr.com/technology/web/security/atlassian-leads-encryption-law-revolt-as-peter-dutton-stands-firm-20190207-h1ayk2 https://www.afr.com/technology/web/security/atlassian-leads-... [2]: https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2019/tech-industry--fix-the-assistance-and-access-bill.html https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2019/tech-industry--fix-the-as...