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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EFA Evaluation: Australia Post Digital Mailbox beta privacy policy
Australians can now register for the beta version of Australia Post Digital Mailbox. The service allows mail to be sent to you digitally, to pay bills, and aims to be your go-to storage solution for the business of life, so to speak: Copies of official documents, receipts, and family records, for example. It’s convenient, to be sure, but is this just making it a lot easier for the government to access sensitive…
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Is fair use coming to Australia?
This week, the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) released a Discussion Paper as part of its review of Australia’s Copyright laws in the context of the Digital Economy. As had been previously indicated, this Discussion Paper recommends the introduction of the principle of fair use into Australia’s copyright regime. As ALRC Commissioner Jill McKeough said in their media release: “The reforms proposed include the introduction of a broad, flexible exception…
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PRISM: the NSA is watching…the whole world.
This week’s revelations in The Guardian and Washington Post about PRISM, the United States’ National Security Agency’s top secret global internet surveillance program are extremely alarming. The leaked information suggests that the NSA has ‘direct access’ to the systems of the majority of the most popular online services on the planet, including Google (including Youtube), Facebook, Hotmail, Yahoo!, Apple and Skype, allowing them to access content and communications in real…
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Copyright Bullies: Sydney law firm targeting downloaders
At the end of last month, it came to light that Sydney-based Marque Lawyers has issued letters to Australian ISPs to ask them to hand over details about the identity of their users who have allegedly used peer to peer Internet file sharing platforms such as BitTorrent in a way that infringes copyrighted content owned by Marque’s clients. The exact identity of Marque’s clients is still unknown. Apparently some of…
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Victoria considers updating laws for sexting
The Victorian Parliament’s Law Reform Committee has completed an inquiry into the issue of ‘sexting’ and has issued a series of recommendations which together represent a refreshingly sensible approach to a complex and legally problematic issue. The Terms of Reference define sexting as, “creating, sharing, sending or posting of sexually explicit messages or images via the internet, mobile phones or other electronic devices by people, especially young people”. The Committee’s…
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.