Encryption from government interference is good - Pirate Party

Grinning Pirate

My fellow pirates/VPN-ers. The gov has got the shits with our invisible VPN-ness online, going so far as to blame the use of encryption for Terror!©. 

However as we all know it's because they just want to please their corporate mates who have the shits about us pirates (particularly Australian ones) who don't give a shit about corporations and don't have access to the sorts of things the rest of the world does. Turnbull thinks that by giving us shitty internet we'll have no choice but to sign up to Foxtell and the like. Pfffft! 

Truth is we're all smarter than that. Why pay for it when you can give the finger to Murdoch and get his stuff for nothing? As we all know, Australia is per capita the most pirate nation in the world. It must really piss off the corporates. Whaaaa, go cry to someone who cares. You can't bust half the country for doing it.

“Security online is weak enough without the government pushing to make it weaker,” said Simon Frew, President of Pirate Party Australia. “Any vulnerability created for intelligence agencies is a vulnerability for people with more nefarious intentions. A good example of this occurred last year when security experts published a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Secure Boot, a system that is designed to protect systems from hacking. Microsoft included a workaround so developers could test systems without needing to validate the software. This was used to install malware that Secure Boot was specifically designed to stop[2]. With such benign work arounds being exploited for malware, breaking end-to-end encryption would be a disaster in the making.”

 “This is the beginning of the next round of ‘crypto wars’ between the government and private citizens. With each new power granted to spies and law enforcement agencies, people concerned with their privacy take new measures to protect themselves from the government,” Mr Frew continued. “Forcing social media giants to employ backdoors in their messaging services will just lead to other platforms being adopted and those who wish to communicate anonymously will continue to do so. Those without technical knowhow to work around broken encryption will be at greater risk.”

 “Private communications are vital for an open society. When citizens believe they are under constant surveillance, they self-censor and this creates a chilling effect. Legitimate criticisms of government policy may not be aired and our democracy suffers as a result. This is also a risk to the economy, with businesses relying on encryption to securely do business, weakening encryption puts businesses at significant risk. We call upon the government to abandon its misguided plans to weaken encryption and instead suggest more investment in police resources to manage the known terrorist threats. Increasing the size of the data haystack collected by mass surveillance isn’t working, it has turned everyone into a suspect and eroded the presumption of innocence.” Simon concluded. Pirate Party Australia