Australia's Assistance and Access Orders (TAN, TCN, etc.) [0] basically allow the government to order mandatory backdoors into various software. They do have some oversight, but it isn't significant. They can order any employee, not just the company.
The wording is also... Squirelly. You can't introduce a weakness, but the definition of weakness excludes the entire concept of backdoors.
However, Technical Capability Notices can be ordered where:
> reasonable, proportionate, practicable and technically feasible
The employee/company can push back and argue one of those isn't met, but ultimately it is the office of the Governor General that decides.
So far, it has basically only be used against journalists [1], as far as we know, which is nice and horrific.
Maybe don't put too much into the word "court order", but instead interpret it as an order from the government to force the company to use the tool for the governments/country's benefit.
One could also assume that the owners and/or management of the company are in the same boat as the government/country so they do not mind using the tool for the country's benefit when needed.
shakna|1 year ago
The wording is also... Squirelly. You can't introduce a weakness, but the definition of weakness excludes the entire concept of backdoors.
However, Technical Capability Notices can be ordered where:
> reasonable, proportionate, practicable and technically feasible
The employee/company can push back and argue one of those isn't met, but ultimately it is the office of the Governor General that decides.
So far, it has basically only be used against journalists [1], as far as we know, which is nice and horrific.
[0] https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about-us/our-portfolios/natio...
[1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-15/abc-raids-australian-...
flakeoil|1 year ago
One could also assume that the owners and/or management of the company are in the same boat as the government/country so they do not mind using the tool for the country's benefit when needed.