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5 July 1997

Date: Sat, 05 Jul 1997 14:19:59 +1000
To: jya[at]pipeline.com
From: gtaylor[at]gil.com.au (Greg Taylor )
Subject: Walsh Report mirror

John,

Electronic Frontiers Australia has now been able to "officially" release the
Walsh Report, after negotiating copyright permissions.

It is now available at:
    http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Crypto/Walsh/

There are two versions provided:
  1.  A multiple file version suited to reading online.
  2.  A complete version (267K HTML) suitable for downloading.

These versions have some updates from the original so I suggest you replace
your mirror version with the amended versions we have now released.  The
main changes are:
1.  The Terms and Abbreviations section has now been marked up.
2.  Paragraphs deleted from the copy liberated under FOI are now annotated
      with references to the relevant sections of the FOIA.
3.  Minor typos corrected.


Regards,

Greg Taylor
Chair
EFA Crypto Committee

The July 1 version of the Walsh Report on this site has been replaced with the EFA version:

http://cryptome.org/jya/walsh-all.htm (270K)

Or a Zip-compressed file:

http://cryptome.org/jya/walsh-all.zip (88K)

See related news article:

http://cryptome.org/jya/walsh.htm

Here's EFA's opening document:

5 July 1997
Source: http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Crypto/Walsh/

The Walsh Report

The full report is rather large (96 A4 pages) and two versions are provided here:

1.

Separate HTML files for each chapter

2.

The complete report (HTML) suitable for downloading (267K)

History of the Report and its release under FOI

In February 1997, the Australian Attorney-General's Department put a hold on the public release of the Walsh Report, an important review of Australian cryptography policy.

The report, entitled Review of policy relating to encryption technologies, is the outcome of a study conducted in 1996 by Gerard Walsh, a former deputy director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). Publication of the report was eagerly awaited by members of the law enforcement community, other government departments, commerce, and the online community. It was expected that the report would examine the the various issues in the crypotography debate and encourage further comment and consultation.

The report was listed for sale by the Australian Government Publishing Service in January 1997, but was hurriedly withdrawn from the list 3 weeks later, following an enquiry by Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) as to the reasons why it was not actually available for sale. The original intention had apparently been to allow for a 3-month consultation period for public comment. EFA then released a Media Statement calling for the release of the report.

In March 1997, EFA applied for release of the report under the Freedom of Information Act. This request was denied, quoting various sections of the Act relating to national security and law enforcement as justification for the denial. EFA then submitted a request for review of the decision, and this request was successful, resulting in the release of an edited photocopy of the report in June 1997.

EFA has subsequently obtained permission to publish the report on the Internet. This is an important report and covers a number of issues of relevance to the global cryptography debate.

A number of paragraphs were deleted from the copy supplied to EFA. These have been identified in the report, together with an annotation referring to the section of the report under which that paragraph was claimed to be exempt from release.

Reproduced below are the 3 sections of the Act under which parts of the report were deleted. The full text of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 is available online from the Australian Legal Information Institute (AUSTLII).

Freedom of Information Act 1982 - Sect 33

Documents affecting national security, defence or international relations

33.  (1) A document is an exempt document if disclosure of the document under this Act:

• (a)

  would, or could reasonably be expected to, cause damage to:

  (i)

  the security of the Commonwealth;

  (ii)

  the defence of the Commonwealth; or

  (iii)

  the international relations of the Commonwealth; or

  (b)

  would divulge any information or matter communicated in confidence by or on behalf of a foreign government, an authority of a foreign government or an international organization to the Government of the Commonwealth, to an authority of the Commonwealth or to a person receiving the communication on behalf of the Commonwealth or of an authority of the Commonwealth.

(2)  Where a Minister is satisfied that a document is an exempt document for a reason referred to in subsection (1), he or she may sign a certificate to that effect (specifying that reason) and, subject to the operation of Part VI, such a certificate, so long as it remains in force, establishes conclusively that the document is an exempt document referred to in subsection (1).

(3)  Where a Minister is satisfied as mentioned in subsection (2) by reason only of matter contained in a particular part or particular parts of a document, a certificate under that subsection in respect of the document shall identify that part or those parts of the document as containing the matter by reason of which the certificate is given.

(4)  Where a Minister is satisfied that information as to the existence or non-existence of a document as described in a request would, if contained in a document of an agency, cause the last-mentioned document to be an exempt document under this section for a reason referred to in subsection (1), he or she may sign a certificate to that effect (specifying that reason).

(5)  The responsible Minister of an agency may, either generally or as otherwise provided by the instrument of delegation, by writing signed by him, delegate to the principal officer of the agency his or her powers under this section in respect of documents of the agency.

(6)  A power delegated under subsection (5), when exercised by the delegate, shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to have been exercised by the responsible Minister.

(7)  A delegation under subsection (5) does not prevent the exercise of a power by the responsible Minister.

.........

Freedom of Information Act 1982 - Sect 36

Internal working documents

36.  (1) Subject to this section, a document is an exempt document if it is a document the disclosure of which under this Act:

(a) would disclose matter in the nature of, or relating to, opinion, advice or recommendation obtained, prepared or recorded, or consultation or deliberation that has taken place, in the course of, or for the purposes of, the deliberative processes involved in the functions of an agency or Minister or of the Government of the Commonwealth; and (b) would be contrary to the public interest. (2)  In the case of a document of the kind referred to in subsection 9 (1), the matter referred to in paragraph (1) (a) of this section does not include matter that is used or to be used for the purpose of the making of decisions or recommendations referred to in subsection 9 (1).

(3)  Where a Minister is satisfied, in relation to a document to which paragraph (1) (a) applies, that the disclosure of the document would be contrary to the public interest, he or she may sign a certificate to that effect (specifying the ground of public interest in relation to which the certificate is given) and, subject to the operation of Part VI, such a certificate, so long as it remains in force, establishes conclusively that the disclosure of that document would be contrary to the public interest.

(4)  Where a Minister is satisfied as mentioned in subsection (3) by reason only of matter contained in a particular part or particular parts of a document, a certificate under that subsection in respect of the document shall identify that part or those parts of the document as containing the matter by reason of which the certificate is given.

(5)  This section does not apply to a document by reason only of purely factual material contained in the document.

(6)  This section does not apply to:

• (a)

  reports (including reports concerning the results of studies, surveys or tests) of scientific or technical experts, whether employed within an agency or not, including reports expressing the opinions of such experts on scientific or technical matters;

  (b)

  reports of a prescribed body or organization established within an agency; or

  (c)

  the record of, or a formal statement of the reasons for, a final decision given in the exercise of a power or of an adjudicative function.

(7)  Where a decision is made under Part III that an applicant is not entitled to access to a document by reason of the application of this section, the notice under section 26 shall state the ground of public interest on which the decision is based.

(8)  The responsible Minister of an agency may, either generally or as otherwise provided by the instrument of delegation, by writing signed by him, delegate to the principal officer of the agency his or her powers under this section in respect of documents of the agency.

(9)  A power delegated under subsection (8), when exercised by the delegate, shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to have been exercised by the responsible Minister.

(10)  A delegation under subsection (8) does not prevent the exercise of a power by the responsible Minister.

..........

Freedom of Information Act 1982 - Sect 37

Documents affecting enforcement of law and protection of public safety

37.  (1) A document is an exempt document if its disclosure under this Act would, or could reasonably be expected to:

• (a)

  prejudice the conduct of an investigation of a breach, or possible breach, of the law, or a failure, or possible failure, to comply with a law relating to taxation or prejudice the enforcement or proper administration of the law in a particular instance;

  (b)

  disclose, or enable a person to ascertain, the existence or identity of a confidential source of information, or the non-existence of a confidential source of information, in relation to the enforcement or administration of the law; or

  (c)

  endanger the life or physical safety of any person.

(2)  A document is an exempt document if its disclosure under this Act would, or could reasonably be expected to:

• (a)

  prejudice the fair trial of a person or the impartial adjudication of a particular case;

  (b)

  disclose lawful methods or procedures for preventing, detecting, investigating, or dealing with matters arising out of, breaches or evasions of the law the disclosure of which would, or would be reasonably likely to, prejudice the effectiveness of those methods or procedures; or

  (c)

  prejudice the maintenance or enforcement of lawful methods for the protection of public safety.

(2A)  For the purposes of paragraph (1) (b), a person is taken to be a confidential source of information in relation to the enforcement or administration of the law if the person is receiving, or has received, protection under a program conducted under the auspices of the Australian Federal Police, or the police force of a State or Territory, for the protection of:

• (a)

  witnesses; or

  (b)

  people who, because of their relationship to, or association with, a witness need, or may need, such protection; or

  (c)

  any other people who, for any other reason, need or may need, such protection.

(3)  In this section, "law" means law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory.