Your private messages and photos could be handed over to the government very soon if Malcolm Turnbull and his government get their way.
Our government is considering pushing through laws that could force tech giants like Apple, Facebook, and Google to give access to our private messages and hand them over to law enforcement agencies.
This opening of a ‘backdoor’ for the government would reduce security for all of us, putting our private lives at great risk and leaving us vulnerable to hacking.
We can stop this. The government is already getting backlash from tech companies like Apple and Facebook, which don’t want to do it.
If you and the SumOfUs community add your voices too, this could be enough pressure to force Turnbull put our privacy and security first.
Will you add your voice? Tell the government to stop this attack on our privacy and security.
We still don’t know much about the government’s proposal. They plan to model it on the British laws introduced a year ago, which gave intelligence agencies some of the most extensive surveillance powers in the western world.
What we do know is that the government wants internet companies to help Australian security agencies get access to encrypted messages -- messages that no one can read for our security and privacy. Not even the companies themselves.
This is the only way we know our pictures and messages are kept private, and that we won’t be spied on by foreign governments or criminals.
If companies weaken the encryption for the government, they weaken it for everyone else -- leaving you and me vulnerable to being hacked.
Turnbull and his government are preparing draft laws to be introduced by the end of the year. Now is the time to make noise about it before it gets any further -- and we need your help to do it.
Tell Malcolm Turnbull: stop the attack on our privacy and security now!
The SumOfUs community has come together to protect internet freedom before, mobilising tens of thousands of internet users to submit public comments, sign petitions, and make phone calls to pass strong Net Neutrality rules in the US.
SumOfUs exists for exactly this reason: to bring people together so we can use our collective power to stop deals between industry and government that are not in the public's best interest. But we’re only powerful when members like you raise your voice.
Add your voice now to stop the attack on our privacy and security.
More information
Sydney Morning Herald. 19 July 2017.
ABC News. 14 July 2017.
Sydney Morning Herald. 14 July 2017.
The Guardian. 14 July 2017.