George Brandis's salvo in cryptowars could blow a hole in architecture of the internet

Attorney general isn't just proposing a backdoor into encrypted communications - it's a giant sinkhole your backdoor fell into

In 1993 the US president Bill Clinton's administration introduced the "Clipper chip" into America's digital and consumer electronics. It was one of the earliest attempts to enforce a backdoor into digital products, and the first in what is known as the cryptowars, when the US government fought to control and regulate strong encryption.

The Clipper chip was a catastrophic failure. It's a failure the attorney general, George Brandis, may find instructive, as he places Australia on the frontline of a new cryptowar.