“It could mean that if Facebook were confronted with a government request in that way, one of Facebook’s responses could be…do it and keep it a secret. And in fact, they are required to keep it a secret,” Mr Lennon said.
But Australia’s secretive anti-encryption laws could actually work in Facebook’s favour, according to Mr Lennon.
“Strangely, Australia’s secrecy around the anti-encryption regime might actually, in theory, serve Facebook well because Facebook could be required to co-operate legally and not only will it keep it quiet, but it is required by law to keep it quiet. It’s possible that it therefore take no hit to its reputation,” Mr Lennon said.
“It could take that cold-blooded calculation when considering the issue,” he said.
Facebook declined to comment on how its encrypted messages will apply to Australians, or whether certain services would not be available in Australia.
Monique Mann from QUT’s Faculty of Law agreed that Facebook’s encryption proposal conflicts with Australia’s anti-encryption laws.
Zuckerberg’s blog post is a veiled announcement that it will now be combining user data from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, according to Dr Mann.
“We should not drink the Facebook privacy Kool-Aid. Facebook’s entire operation is fundamentally built on a business model of surveillance capitalism where the aim of the game is to learn vast amounts of information about you in order to target advertising at you,” said Dr Mann.
Others have suggested the announcement is a last ditch effort by Facebook to regain trust with its users, following a spate of scandals last year that eroded confidence in the social media giant’s privacy capabilities.
Jason Kint, chief executive of US trade organisation for the digital publishing industry, Digital Content Next, said Zuckerberg’s announcement is a reaction to mounting international regulatory pressure to prevent Facebook from pooling user data between Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
“Facebook’s failure to hold itself accountable has opened up suspicion and the market should take this more than anything as a tactic to push off regulatory solutions,” said Mr Kint.
Facebook declined to specifically comment on concerns regarding the pooling of user data.
from Credence news https://credencenews.com/why-aussies-will-be-left-out-of-facebooks-privacy-promise/
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