‘Five Eyes’ to Crack Down on Digital Space

Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the US, will meet next month to push ahead with plans to crack down on technology firms with a scheme to force them to share their encrypted data with security agencies, Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Tuesday.

The meeting of the joint intelligence operations comes at a time of growing so-called Islamic State attacks in several countries, including Britain and Iran, where subversive groups use Internet applications to hide their plans, Reuters reported on June 13.

The meeting will be held in Canada “to make sure terrorists and organized criminals are not able to operate with impunity in ungoverned digital spaces online,” Turnbull said.

“The privacy of a terrorist can never be more important than public safety - never,” he said in parliament.

Technology companies across the globe don’t share their data with governments for fear of privacy breaches, but are under pressure from western governments that seek to access all personal data available.

Apple and Facebook did not answer requests for comment from Reuters, but both companies have previously resisted sharing such valuable data.

British Prime Minister Theresa May proposed in her election manifesto that if re-elected she would crack down on adult content in the United Kingdom.

“We need to work with allied democratic governments to reach international agreements that regulate cyberspace,” she said.

Turnbull last week signaled a drive to reform parole laws, including a ban on parole for violent offenders with links to militancy, following a deadly siege in Melbourne claimed by the Islamic State group.