Australia’s New ‘Assistance and Access’’ Bill Law Could Destory dApps Potentially

Australia’s New Potential Anti-dApps Law

Australia’s government recently proposed a bill that allows it access to its citizen’s encrypted messages for surveillance purposes. The bill has received a great deal of backlash, especially because it impedes upon individuals’ right to privacy.

The bill, called Assistance and Access, proposes three new powers for the country’s government, including:

1. The government can voluntarily request assistance from companies to retrieve information.
2. The government can demand assistance from a company to retrieve information.
3. Technology will feature a “backdoor” that compromises user encryption

The new law is troubling for dApps as well. Such apps are founded upon blockchain technology. Most people interact with the blockchain using dApps. The trouble is, many are not familiar with the blockchain-specific coding languages required to build the apps.

EOS protocol Regium has software that may be able to resolve the problem. The software, called software development kits, helps users build on the blockchain. Users can develop and build the blockchain-based dApps by using programming languages like Javascript, GO, and C#.

Passage of the bill may mitigate the development process. It is unlikely that dApp developers would want to comply with government requests and there is no indication just how the law will impact such apps.

Several platforms, including Microsoft and Facebook, have responded to the proposed bill by sending a notice to the country’s Attorney General Department. The notice states that the platforms will “continue to maintain that the current voluntary data breach notification arrangements are being put to good use by the Australian business community.”