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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Discussing the government’s encryption plans
Our Executive Officer Jon Lawrence joined Jane Hebiton on Perth’s RTR FM yesterday to discuss the government’s plans to force providers to give access to encrypted communications. You can listen to the podcast here.
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Amid Unprecedented Controversy, W3C Greenlights DRM for the Web
Last week, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards body publicly announced its intention to publish Encrypted Media Extensions (EME)—a DRM standard for web video—with no safeguards whatsoever for accessibility, security research or competition, despite an unprecedented internal controversy among its staff and members over this issue. EME is a standardised way for web video platforms to control users’ browsers, so that we can only watch the videos under rules…
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83 organisations and experts from “Five Eyes” nations demand respect for strong encryption
Today, 83 organisations and individuals from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States have sent letters to their respective governments insisting that government officials defend strong encryption. The letter comes on the heels of a meeting of the “Five Eyes” ministerial meeting in Ottawa, Canada earlier this week. The “Five Eyes” is a surveillance partnership of intelligence agencies consisting of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United…
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Australia leads in disability access, thanks to copyright changes
Australians with a disability will have some of the strongest rights to access content in the world, thanks to changes to Australia’s copyright laws passed this week. Copyright peak body the Australian Digital Alliance elatedly welcomed the new laws. Executive Officer, Jessica Coates said: “This is a great step forward for all the Australians who have struggled to get content in the formats they need, whether that be large print,…
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Copyright Amendment Bill passes: onwards to Fair Use
Electronic Frontiers Australia – the country’s leading digital rights advocacy organisation –welcomes today’s passage of important updates to Australia’s Copyright Act and calls for urgent progress towards more comprehensive reform that will make Australia’s copyright system fit for purpose in the digital age. The Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill contains a number of important changes that will benefit Australia’s schools, universities, libraries, galleries and museums. These changes…
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Reincorporation project
Members should be aware that a project is underway to reincorporate EFA as a Company Limited by Guarantee. As part of this process, a consultation period on a new Draft Constitution is now underway. Members are encouraged to review the Draft Constitution, along with detailed explanatory notes and the answers to questions already submitted on our New Constitution page.
Help fight for our digital rights
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.