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.

  • Sneaky change to the TPP drastically extends criminal penalties

    When the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was first released in November last year, it included provisions dictating the kinds of penalties that should be available in cases of copyright infringement. Amongst those provisions, the following footnote allowed countries some flexibility in applying criminal procedures and penalties to cases of willful copyright infringement on a commercial scale: With regard to copyright and related rights piracy provided for under paragraph…

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  • Documentary about Screen Culture & Digital Technology

    Hi. My name is Jore. I’m an artist, activist and independent film-maker from Melbourne. For the past 5 years, I’ve been working on my first feature-length documentary about the rapidly enveloping world of screens and digital technologies we find ourselves living inside, from both a societal and environmental perspective Promo video   Help fund this project   I’m particularly interested—and in equal measure, fascinated and alarmed—by the impact of digital…

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  • OpenMedia supports the Digital Rights 2016 campaign

    OpenMedia, a Vancouver, Canada-based digital rights advocacy organisation that utilises creative community-driven campaigns to keep the Internet open, affordable, and surveillance-free is supporting the Digital Rights 2016 campaign. Co-ordinated by Electronic Frontiers Australia, Digital Rights 2016 is a non-partisan awareness-raising campaign intended to raise the profile of the whole range of digital rights issues in the mainstream political discussion in Australia into the 2016 federal election and beyond. OpenMedia ran…

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  • Why Digital India took on Facebook and won

    This week marked a significant event in the life of Digital India, in a country that is home to more than 400 million internet users. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) passed a regulation prohibiting discriminatory tariffs on internet connections sold to end customers by telecom service providers. The verdict states in no uncertain terms that any form of differential pricing based on the content accessed by users is…

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  • Violence against women: does technology do more harm than good?

    Federal MP Tim Watts spoke in parliament on Monday about the ways in which new technologies are being used to stalk, intimidate, threaten and harass women. This abuse, he suggests, often happens in domestic violence situations. It is also happening in new ways, such as via “revenge pornography”, to which our current laws are unable to respond effectively. This comes in light of a growing recognition of the ways communications…

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  • EFA launches Digital Rights 2016 campaign

    EFA today announces the launch of the Digital Rights 2016 campaign. This generic and non-partisan campaign is intended to raise awareness of the importance of digital rights throughout the Australian community in the lead-up to the 2016 Federal election and beyond. The primary issues that will be addressed as part of the campaign are: Privacy – including mass surveillance and privacy protections Access – including net neutrality and digital inclusion…

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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.