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Signal boss warns app will exit Australia if forced to hand over users’ encrypted messages (www.theaustralian.com.au)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone to c/australia@aussie.zone

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Signal president Meredith Whittaker is prepared to withdraw the privacy-focused messaging app from Australia — saying she hopes it doesn’t become a “gangrenous foot” by poisoning its entire platform by forcing it to hand over its users’ encrypted data to authorities.

Ms Whittaker says Signal would take the “drastic step” of leaving any market where a government compelled it to create a “backdoor” to access its data, saying it would create a vulnerability that hackers and authoritative regimes could exploit, undermining Signals’ “reason for existing”.

Pressure has been mounting on Signal and other secure messaging platforms. ASIO director general Mike Burgess has urged tech companies to unlock encrypted messages to assist terrorism and national security investigations, saying offshore extremists use such platforms to communicate.

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[-] KitKatKitCat@piefed.social 3 points 2 days ago

A VPN should have been my first thought. Rookie error on my part.

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 points 2 days ago

As someone who has toyed with using one to get around my state's porn ban a little, sometimes it just routes me other states with porn bans. So it's not necessarily a magic fix. It's better than nothing but if everyone starts banning something you will have trouble.