Release of information and survey results: perceived and potential economic impacts of the #AABill

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has released a report, Perceptions survey: Industry views of the economic implications of the Assistance and Access Bill 2018. This piece of work has been sponsored by AustCyber – the Australian Cyber Security Growth Network.

AustCyber also has released the first in a series of communiques that provides information to industry about key economic concerns related to the recent Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018, which is now legislation.

AustCyber’s role is to focus on the economic opportunity of Australia’s cyber security sector. The communication materials aim to support a baseline awareness of the economic concerns about the legislation – and to support stakeholders to better understand the potential impacts for Australian businesses.

The results of the survey informed the development of Part 1 of AustCyber’s communiques, focusing on four key perceived economic impacts of the Assistance and Access Bill 2018 that were identified through by ASPI’s analysis of survey respondents.

These are:

1. Direct costs associated with compliance to the three forms of requests or orders.
2. Negative economic impacts related to perceptions that Australian encryption products, or products with Australian encryption embedded in them, or both, are less secure than competitors’ products as a result of the Bill.
3. Development costs associated with Australian market participants seeking to manipulate their ability to comply with the law.
4. Costs incurred by companies and the broader ecosystem related to poor or poorly thought through implementation of a technical capability notice.

AustCyber will continue to engage with industry and the Government on these matters and will publish future iterations of its communication toolkits.

The survey report, and AustCyber’s communication toolkit, provide an evidence-base for future examination of the perceived and potential economic impacts of the recent amendments to the legislation. AustCyber understands the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security has commenced a review of the legislation and has indicated it will consider new matters arising with the passing of the legislation.

Both documents are available on AustCyber’s website:

Perceptions Survey: Industry views on the economic implications of the Assistance and Access Bill 2018

#AABill in economic context – Part 1: key perceptions about the economic implications of the legislation