The 2025 Act arms tax officers with sweeping powers to crack open passwords, sweep digital lives, and hide their reasons from scrutiny.
      • bergetfew@sopuli.xyz
        6·
        2 days ago

        Even if we get people to shift to privacy respecting or encrypted apps, the problem still stands. They could just ask you to give access to those services. If you don’t, it would come with its own legal challenges.

        Section 247(1)(ii)–(iii) mandates individuals and businesses to disclose passwords or encryption keys and permits officers to “override the access control” of any device or account. If you don’t hand over your phone passcode or email password on demand, officials can hack into the device. Any refusal is now explicitly punishable as non-compliance.

        End-to-end encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp or Signal could be forced open during a tax raid.

        Solving the issue would need to come from challenging the act itself.

        • Artemis_Mystique@lemmy.mlOP
          4·
          2 days ago

          If you scroll down the article you would see that the select committee is shutting down any requests for change with the same set of arguments. The recourse might be to challenge the act in court but that seems unlikely, The public wont really do anything about it, because in their view it doesn’t affect them; they fail to see(and are veiled from seeing) the highly probable misuse angle of such far reaching legislation.

          Bottom line: As long as you don’t touch the street dogs you can get away with anything

        • Autonomous User@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          2 days ago

          They won’t know what we’re using.

          If you can’t challenge a few apps, you’ll never challenge that.

          • someacnt@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            21·
            2 days ago

            Do you really think it is feasible to convert people to less convenient alternative? What are you going to do, force them at a gunpoint?

            • Autonomous User@lemmy.worldEnglish
              12·
              1 day ago

              What are you going to do

              I’ve already done it and I never needed force.

              An app is never convenient when we do not control it.

          • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
            3·
            2 days ago

            They have to come around it themselves.

            I just plant seed, they come back once they are ready to have the adult discussion.

            it took years to move my friends into privacy focused product. with each new fiasco one or two would reach out.