Promoting and protecting digital rights since 1994

EFA is an independent non-profit association that relies on membership subscriptions and donations. If you're concerned about digital rights in Australia, please join or donate today.
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Updates from EFA
Infrastructure

EFA Condemns Government’s “Opportunity-First” AI Plan: Our Safety Sacrificed as Ex Ante Laws Are Bumped

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) condemned the Australian Government’s decision to abandon standalone, ex ante (proactive) AI legislation, warning the imminent National AI Plan prioritises “opportunity-first” adoption at the expense of citizen safety, fundamental digital rights and basic legal safeguards. “The early signals are clear,” said EFA Chair John Pane. “Many people are unaware that this Big Tech and Big Business friendly light touch approach to regulation was also used in the implementation of the National

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General

Notice of Annual General Meeting

The EFA Annual General Meeting is to be held on Saturday, 29 November 2025 at 13.00 AEDT.  The meeting will be held on Google Meet. Details at end of this email. The Constitution dictates that at least five positions are up for election each year and accordingly, there are seven Board positions open for election. All currently serving Board members are eligible to nominate again, should they choose to do so.  Meeting Agenda The meeting will consider

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Surveillance

Being Snooped On by your Boss? SafeTrac Case Should be a Wake Up Call for All

Disturbing revelations have emerged that compliance training company SafeTrac covertly activated the microphones on employees’ laptops while they were working from home and recorded conversations in the name of monitoring productivity. Ironically, SafeTrac’s core business is advising companies on how to adhere to the law. Yet, they may have broken the law themselves by covertly surveilling their employees through their use of an employee monitoring software called Teramind, a matter currently under investigation by the

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Online Safety

EFA Gives Evidence at Hearing on Social Media Ban and Internet Search Engine Code

Internet Search Engine Services Online Safety Code and Social Media Minimum Age Rules On Monday, 13 October 2025, John Pane, EFA Chair appeared before Senate Estimates and gave evidence in respect of the fundamentally flawed “social media ban” for under 16 year olds and the proposed Internet Search Engine Code. EFA strongly believes both codes are not fit for purpose, and that the government has had its thumb on the scale while drafting its policy,

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General

Call for Nominations to Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. Board 

EFA members are invited to nominate for election to the Board. As per Rule 10.4 of the EFA Rules of Incorporation, there will be five vacant Board seats at the AGM. EFA has been in existence for over 30 years now and many past and present Board members have made significant contributions to shifting the needle on government policy and legislation covering digital rights and privacy. EFA exists today because of the achievements and hard

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Internet Governance

Our Statement of Solidarity With The People of Nepal

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) stands in solidarity with the people of Nepal following the government’s decision to block access to major social media platforms on 05 September 2025. This action, taken under the guise of maintaining public order, is in response to protests organised by local activists highlighting  government corruption and also its authoritarian approach to regulating social media platforms. To date, 19 protesters have been killed and over a hundred injured, including many school children

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What We Do

Policy

We actively monitor a number of policy areas and specific issues. The topics below provide a detailed view of EFA’s policy positions.

Copyright

Australia’s copyright laws are outdated, inflexible and not fit for the digital age. As such, EFA is a long-standing supporter of reform of Australia’s Copyright Act.

Privacy & Security

Privacy is fundamentally about consent and control over access to information, and goes hand-in-hand with security. Privacy is a human right.

Censorship

Adults should be able to make their own informed decisions about what content they create and consume.

Encryption

Access to encryption technologies is vital for individuals and groups to be able to safeguard the security and privacy of their information.

Internet safety

Surveillance is not safety. Safety for whom, against what? This complex problem is more likely to be exacerbated, rather than solved, by measures that allow for unaccountable surveillance and the undermining of communications security.

Surveillance

EFA is committed to ensuring that Australian’s home life is not subject to arbitrary interference.