"[The Five Eyes will] discuss what more can be done among our like-minded nations and with the communications and technology industry to ensure that terrorists and organized criminals are not able to operate with impunity in ungoverned digital spaces online," Turnbull said in a national security statement published by the government.
According to Turnbull, Australia’s government wanted to find a balance between individual liberties and citizens’ common safety.
"The privacy of a terrorist can never be more important than public safety – never," Turnbull stressed.
Earlier this month, in the wake of the recent terror attacks in Manchester and London, UK Prime Minister Theresa May urged the international community to cooperate and control cyberspace more attentively, stating that the internet is a "safe space" for the planning of terrorist attacks and Islamist extremism.
Last year, US federal law enforcement and Apple had a legal battle after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) requested the tech giant to create a defeat mechanism to break the encryption on an iPhone used by one of two individuals responsible for a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California in December 2015. The FBI later called for tech companies to be opened for law enforcement access to the encrypted content of secure communications. In response, companies such as Apple and Google opposed the request to create "backdoors" in electronic devices, which they say would jeopardize users’ security.
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