SYDNEY—The Australian parliament’s lower house passed a bill to force tech firms such as Alphabet Inc’s Google, Facebook and Apple to give police access to encrypted data on Dec. 6, pushing it closer to becoming a precedent-setting law.
However, the proposal, staunchly opposed by the tech giants because Australia is seen as a test case as other nations explore similar rules, faces a sterner test in the upper house Senate, where privacy and information security concerns are sticking points.
