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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Linux Conference – EFA hosting post-event drinks
EFA is proud to be hosting the post-conference social event for the 2016 Linux Conference Australia. We’ve secured some sponsorship from Twitter Australia for this event. WHERE Edge Bar, 6-8 Eastern Beach Rd, Geelong – just 100 metres southeast of Deakin Uni’s Waterfront Campus. Edge Bar on Google Maps We’ll be in the Pool Room, and if the weather holds, on the outside deck as well. WHEN Friday, 5th February, 6pm till late.…
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Tell Trade Ministers: Do Not Sign The TPP!
This week, the 12 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) nations will meet in New Zealand to sign the final agreement. And once it’s signed, there are no changes, and no going back. If TPP countries sign, we will enter the final phase before the agreement becomes law, and locks us into an extreme Internet censorship pact that will overwrite our national laws and restrict how we innovate and share culture online. The…
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Attorney-General must properly resource Information Commission
EFA today calls on the Attorney-General to cease his absurd war of attrition with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Since announcing in 2014 that it intended to abolish the Office, the government has starved the agency of funds and has failed to reappoint two of the three statutory officer positions, despite the reality that it is unable to get its legislation to abolish the Office through the Senate.…
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AG must reject agencies seeking access to telecommunications data
EFA today calls on the Attorney-General to promptly reject the requests from most of the 61 agencies that are seeking to be provided with warrantless access to telecommunications data (metadata). It is less than a year since the parliament resolved to restrict warrantless access to telecommunications data to a carefully chosen list of agencies, and barely three months since that legislation came into force. On 26th March 2015, the Attorney-General…
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Even if Netflix is serious about blocking VPNs, it is unlikely to succeed
Netflix has sent the world into a frenzy of anxiety by announcing through their blog that they will be trying to restrict users to only viewing content licensed to the country where they are physically located. This effectively means stopping customers from using a variety of techniques to get around geographical restrictions. Getting around “geoblocked” services is relatively easy and can be done using a VPN or proxy service provided…
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Why privacy is important, and having “nothing to hide” is irrelevant
The governments of Australia, Germany, the UK and the US are destroying your privacy. Some people don’t see the problem… “I have nothing to hide, so why should I care?” It doesn’t matter if you have “nothing to hide”. Privacy is a right granted to individuals that underpins the freedoms of expression, association and assembly; all of which are essential for a free, democratic society. This article, by Robin Doherty,…
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.