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TECHNOLOGY Saturday 15 July 2017
Coders to Australia plans law to force tech giants to decrypt messages

compete in

national

contest in

Delaware

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP)
-- Up to 100 talented
software creators are ex-
pected to converge on
Delaware later this year
for the final round of a na-
tionwide coding compe-
tition. The News Journal
reported Thursday that
organizers of OpenBrack-
et Delaware announced
plans to host the contest’s
championship round in
Wilmington from Oct. 20-
22 and will feature indi-
viduals competing in a
single elimination brack-
et-style competition for a
share of $15,000.
OpenBracket’s website
says up to 100 coders
who compete in the first
round from Aug. 4-6 will
earn paid travel for the
championship in Wilming-
ton. Some 10,000 coders In this June 17, 2016 file photo, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull raises his hands as he speaks during a leaders debate
hosted by Facebook Australia and News.com.au in Sydney.
are expected to partici- Associated Press
pate in the first round’s
online trials, in which the
winner receives $5,000 By ROD McGUIRK ficials said. ment in the tech sector,” also leave it vulnerable to
and second-place Associated Press Under the law, internet Turnbull said. hackers, Brandis said.
$1,000. Tariq Hook of soft- CANBERRA, Australia (AP) companies would have “We need to say with one Facebook said it had a
ware development boot — The Australian govern- the same obligations tele- voice to Silicon Valley and protocol to respond to re-
camp Zip Code Wilming- ment on Friday proposed phone companies do to its emulators: ‘All right, quests for police help. But
ton says the competition a new cybersecurity law help law enforcement you’ve devised these great the social media giant said
draws some of the world’s to force global technology agencies, Prime Minister platforms, now you’ve got it could not read individual
smartest programmers.q companies such as Face- Malcolm Turnbull said. Law to help us to ensure that encrypted messages.
book and Google to help enforcement agencies the rule of law prevails,’” “Weakening encrypted
2 UK police police by unscrambling en- would need warrants to he added. systems for them (police)
crypted messages sent by access the communica-
Attorney-General George would mean weakening it
forces team suspected extremists and tions. “We’ve got a real Brandis described the for everyone,” a Facebook
other criminals.
statement said on Friday.
problem in that the law growth of encrypted com-
up to launch But some experts, as well enforcement agencies are munication applications Australia was a major driv-
as Facebook, warned that increasingly unable to find such as WhatsApp, Signal, er of a statement agreed
drone unit weakening end-to-end en- out what terrorists and drug Facebook Messenger and at the Group of 20 lead-
cryption services so that traffickers and pedophile iMessage as “potentially ers’ summit in Germany last
police could eavesdrop rings are up to because of the greatest degradation week that called on the
LONDON (AP) — Two Brit- would leave communica- the very high levels of en- of intelligence and law en- tech industry to provide
ish police forces have tions vulnerable to hackers. cryption,” Turnbull told re- forcement capability that “lawful and non-arbitrary
combined efforts to The new law would be porters. we have seen in our life- access to available infor-
create what they say is modeled on Britain’s Inves- “Where we can compel it, time.” mation” needed to protect
the nation’s first police tigatory Powers Act, which we will, but we will need the Brandis said he met the against terrorist threats.
unit dedicated to us- was passed by the Brit- cooperation from the tech British government’s chief The Australian Federal Po-
ing drones. The forces of ish Parliament in Novem- companies,” he added. cryptographer last week lice say the proportion
Devon and Cornwall to- ber and gave intelligence The government expected and believed it was tech- of communication traffic
gether with that of Dorset agencies some of the most resistance from some tech nically possible to decode they monitor that was en-
in southwest England say extensive surveillance pow- companies, many of them encrypted messages in crypted had grown from
the drones are a cost- ers in the Western world, based in the United States. a time frame that police 3 percent to more than 55
saving alternative for the government said. But the companies “know needed to act. percent in only a few years.
monitoring crime scenes The Australian bill that morally they should” coop- This could be achieved Police say 65 percent of
or searching for people would allow courts to order erate,” Turnbull said. without so-called back organized crime investi-
who go missing during tech companies to quickly “There is a culture, particu- doors — built-in weak- gations including terror-
walks along the rugged unlock communications larly in the United States, nesses that allowed a tech ism and pedophile rings
600 miles (965 kilometers) will be introduced to Par- a very libertarian culture, company access to a involved some kind of
of coastline in the area. liament by November, of- which is quite anti-govern- communication but could encryption.q
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