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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Perfect Forward Secrecy: an Important Web Privacy Protection
This is a modified version of an article first published by Parker Higgins on EFF’s Deeplinks blog on 28th August 2013. See the original article. When you access a Web site over an encrypted connection, you’re using a protocol called HTTPS. But not all HTTPS connections are created equal. In the first few milliseconds after a browser connects securely to a server, an important choice is made: the browser sends…
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Opt-out, opt-in: the internet filter hokey pokey
This article by EFA Board Member Sean Rintel was originally published on The Conversation. See the original article. A ‘badly worded sentence or two’ put shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull on the back foot yesterday. AAP/Dan Himbrechts As of last night both major Australian political parties can claim to have at one time backed and then rejected internet filters. Is this an epic win for netizens? Yes, for the…
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The internet filter that wasn’t – an Open Internet back on the political agenda
Electronic Frontiers Australia again reiterated its opposition to an internet filter today after the Coalition announced, and then abandoned, plans to implement an ‘opt-out’ internet filter Thursday. The announcement was one of the key points of the party’s 11 page policy ‘to Enhance Online Safety for Children’. The proposed content filter would have affected smart phones and major internet service providers and would have been switched on as the default…
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Election 2013: Greens, Pirate Party rate highest on digital rights
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA), Australia’s leading voice for digital rights since 1994, today released an election scorecard rating a number of national political parties on a range of policies relating to digital rights. The Australian Greens and the Pirate Party Australia were the only parties whose policies were reviewed that received full marks on each issue. The Australian Labor Party was marked down particularly on its stance on surveillance, while…
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Thinking of using a VPN? Check the privacy policy first
With new threats to online freedoms appearing with frightening regularity (from SOPA to ACTA, and from the TPP to the recent PRISM scandal), it’s logical to assume internet users will increasingly turn toward privacy tools to protect their online data over the coming years. While the free-to-use TOR platform remains the most popular way to protect your online identity, many people choose to use commercial Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), primarily…
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Electoral silence on digital rights from both politicians and journalists
This article by EFA Board Member Sean Rintel was originally published on The Conversation. See the original article . Where is the election reporting on digital rights? Flickr: g4ll4is We’ve had #stopthenotes, #suppositories, and #sexappeal to keep us amused, but since the election campaign period began there has been very limited reporting in the mainstream media (MSM) of the electoral relevance of the digital rights issues faced by Australian citizens.…
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.