A new proposal by the Australian government that would mandate its ability to access encrypted data held by companies both foreign and domestic has been met with fierce opposition from many in the privacy and technology communities. The notion, as Canberra explains it, is to enhance “the ability of our law enforcement and security agencies to access the intelligible data necessary to conduct investigations and gather evidence.”

It would create a new type of warrant that would allow what governments often call “lawful access” to thwart encryption, something that the former Australian Attorney-General proposed last year. As the Department of Home Affairs outlined: The Bill introduces a suite of measures that will improve the ability of agencies to access intelligible communications content and data. Across the Pacific, the Department of Justice and the FBI have pushed for something similar for decades, to no avail-no specific legislation has been put forward in the United States since the failed “Clipper Chip” proposal during the Clinton administration.