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The Australian Minister for Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity Angus Taylor has proposed a bill that would allow authorities to read private messages players send to one another over video games, and other encrypted digital communications.

The news comes via 9 News (Editor’s Note: This website features auto-playing videos with audio. User discretion is advised). Mr. Taylor stated:

“We know that more than 90 per cent of data lawfully intercepted by the Australian Federal Police now uses some form of encryption. This has directly impacted around 200 serious criminal and terrorism-related investigations in the last 12 months alone, we must ensure our laws reflect the rapid take-up of secure online communications by those who seek to do us harm. These reforms will allow law enforcement and interception agencies to access specific communications without compromising the security of a network. The measures expressly prevent the weakening of encryption or the introduction of so-called backdoors.”

Currently Australian telecommunication companies are obligated to assist law enforcement and national security services. This bill would mean “foreign providers and internet-based communications providers operating in Australia” would have to do the same.

We will keep you posted as this story develops.

Last month we also reported on another Australian senator proposing a bill to protect games from being banned on grounds of being offensive.