Australia passes bill that lets police hack user devices to modify, collect, or delete data and take over social media accounts without a judge's warrant
The Microsoft database hack shows that data stored in the cloud must always be encrypted end-to-end.
What changes now is who needs convincing: the new bill removes the judge from the loop entirely, letting police themselves hack devices, alter or delete data, and take over social media accounts. Tutanota's framing ties it to the Microsoft database breach — if cloud-held data is exposed anyway, the last line of defense is encryption that even the service provider cannot break, which is precisely what the earlier legislation pressures vendors to undermine.
First-order effects
Australian users' devices and social media accounts are now legally reachable by police without prior judicial sign-off — including modification and deletion of data on them, not just collection.
The companies already subject to compelled-assistance demands under the anti-encryption regime — social media giants, telcos, retailers, Wi-Fi providers per the FOIA disclosure — see their compliance surface widened from handing over data to tolerating direct intrusion.
Second-order effects
Encryption-first providers like Tutanota gain a marketing argument against mainstream cloud services: the Microsoft database breach shows provider-held data is a target, and warrantless state access adds a second threat vector that only true end-to-end designs neutralize.
Other governments watching the Australian template — which was itself borrowed from the UK Investigatory Powers Act — face pressure to match its scope, turning 'no judge required' from an outlier into a negotiating baseline.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, the legislative sequence — retention, then decryption compulsion, then direct device hacking with no warrant — becomes a playbook other jurisdictions replicate, shifting trust in digital infrastructure away from legal process toward cryptographic design.
Vendors will be pushed to architect systems where they hold no decryptable copy of user data at all, because any data a provider can reach is data a state can compel — or, now in Australia, take without asking anyone.
The trend: Australia is completing a decade-long escalation from mandatory data retention to warrantless device hacking, exporting a surveillance-power template first borrowed from the UK.
WTF is happening in Australia? First the martial law-style lockdown and now an extreme surveillance bill passed. Is this the new world? https://tutanota.com/...
Australian law enforcement and intelligence agencies will have the power to modify, add, copy, delete or ‘disrupt’ your online data should you become a suspect in the investigation of a serious crime — with no judicial oversight. Via @TutanotaTeam. https://tutanota.com/...
I'm always going to vote to protect Australian civil liberties in Parliament. We don't want to live under a Xi Jinping style system! https://tutanota.com/...
So this is the shit politician do as we fight one another about jabs and masks “Australian police can now hack your device, collect or delete your data, take over your social media accounts - all without a judge's warrant.” Stop the madness https://tutanota.com/...
Struggling to picture how you frame it as a good thing that the police can now modify, add or delete data from anyone's phone, with no judicial oversight: https://tutanota.com/...
What the hell is happening over there. This is not just about Covid anymore. It never was. (it's been obvious for a while now) https://tutanota.com/...
“...actively help the police to modify, add, copy, or delete the data of a person under investigation...” what the hell Australia! https://tutanota.com/...
While the mods were sleeping one of the most intrusive online surveillance acts have been rushed through parliament, obviously all conducted in the fog of the pandemic this needs more coverage which I dare say won't happen. #australiasurveillance #auspol https://tutanota.com/...
Everyone should be worried about this law that the government rushed through within 24 hours. The fact that cops can add or delete data. Allowing them to possibly plant evidence or delete it is beyond mind boggling. #auspol https://tutanota.com/...
Not seeing any coverage in mainstream media about the Surveillance legislation amendment bill 2021 - top hits https://tutanota.com/... https://www.zdnet.com/... #privacy hardly any tweets other than @jathansadowski @Trismegistos4 thoughts @Lizzie_OShea @cameronwilson @arielbogle…
Australian police can now hack your device, collect or delete your data, take over your social media accounts - all without a judge's warrant. We must fight for our right to privacy! https://tutanota.com/...
Hey Freedom Protestors, get onto an issue that's going to be damaging Australians' privacy and freedom long after lockdowns end. Maybe this - https://tutanota.com/... #FreedomRally #lockdownextension #LockDown #auspol #PrivacyMatters