26 Jun Austria Plans To Monitor Messaging Apps, Australia May Follow Suit
According to Reuters last Monday, the Austrian government has asked experts in political, civil right, and technological fields to review laws that can allow real-time monitoring of messaging apps.
Apps such as Skype and WhatsApp are can be used by criminals to communicate. With the power to monitor messaging services, police can zero in on criminals who do not communicate using telephones.
To protect citizens, surveillance will only be allowed with a court order. Monitoring can only be done during criminal investigations and probes into terrorist activities.
It is still unclear how Austria is planning to conduct the app surveillance, but tech experts think that it would be done via a monitoring software installed on cellphone and computers with end-to-end encryption that prevents access using traditional, remote eavesdropping techniques.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull gave comments that supported the move, saying that surveillance isn’t about creating backdoors for governments but rather returning the challenge to Silicon Valley. He said that the creators of these messaging apps should ensure that criminals don’t “strip away freedoms” using their technology.
Source: ZDNet
