Google, Apple, Facebook and other technology groups may be forced to help Australian police decode certain forms of encrypted communications on their systems and devices or face fines of up to A$10m ($7.3m) under a draft law published on Tuesday.
But Canberra has stopped short of insisting companies install “backdoor” access to their systems that would have enabled police to tap into end-to-end encryption services such as WhatsApp.
Australia’s Assistance and Access Bill 2018 is part of a trend that has seen the UK, US and other authorities introduce laws to help police access user data to tackle serious crime, terrorism and national security issues.