EmailDiscussions.com - View Single Post - Stunningly bad privacy law just passed in Australia

TenFour · 27 Mar 2019, 07:23 PM

I imagine in the worst case scenario Fastmail could move operations to Philadelphia in the USA, which is where POBox.com, their affiliate, is headquartered. I believe their servers are already located in the USA. I suspect a good share of their business is from the USA. One thing I am not clear on is exactly what this law means for email service providers like Fastmail since they keep claiming it doesn't impact them. But, doesn't the law mean the government could compel any technology company, including FM, to build a "backdoor" if the government wanted it to? I realize that FM isn't end-to-end encrypted, but still it would seem that there is a possibility that backdoors could be required and that would be bad for everyone's security. On the other hand, will this law prevent companies like ProtonMail from doing business in Australia, even though they are based in Switzerland? By the way, since this law is already in force I wonder what companies and services have already been compelled to provide information?

27 Mar 2019, 07:23 PM	#66
TenFour Master of the @ Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: USA Posts: 1,749	I imagine in the worst case scenario Fastmail could move operations to Philadelphia in the USA, which is where POBox.com, their affiliate, is headquartered. I believe their servers are already located in the USA. I suspect a good share of their business is from the USA. One thing I am not clear on is exactly what this law means for email service providers like Fastmail since they keep claiming it doesn't impact them. But, doesn't the law mean the government could compel any technology company, including FM, to build a "backdoor" if the government wanted it to? I realize that FM isn't end-to-end encrypted, but still it would seem that there is a possibility that backdoors could be required and that would be bad for everyone's security. On the other hand, will this law prevent companies like ProtonMail from doing business in Australia, even though they are based in Switzerland? By the way, since this law is already in force I wonder what companies and services have already been compelled to provide information? Last edited by TenFour : 27 Mar 2019 at 07:37 PM.