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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In principle support of R18+ rating for video games
Some of EFA’s campaigns, such as fighting against the Internet Filter and pushing for a R18 rating for video games, can be seen as long-term goals. We’ve been fighting them for a number of years and sometimes it can be difficult to see light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how hard we try or how logical our arguments seem to be. Today we’ve made a significant step…
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New domain names on the way
At last weeks ICANN meeting in Singapore, the ICANN board made a historic decision, to go ahead with a program of creating many new top level generic domain names, and EFA was there. A top level domain is one at the top level of the domain system (a name like .com, or .org, or .au), and a generic name is a name that isn’t a country code domain (e.g. a…
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EFA News
I’d like to quickly update our members and supporters with a few bits of EFA news. Things have been outwardly quiet recently; although we have been active behind the scenes and in the media, commenting on issues such as privacy, copyright, censorship and games, we have not been producing as much content and commentary as we’d like to. Why is this? We’ve been working on some much-needed internal reorganisation, which…
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Conroy: Filter alive and kicking
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy went in to bat for the Labor Government’s mandatory internet filter again, reaffirming the commitment to the unpopular policy. Nothing has changed since earlier debates; the filter still has the same problems it has always had – it’s useless, unworkable and expensive. It still won’t help anybody. The latest line, that the Minister trusts “to the common sense of the Australian public with respect to the…
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EFA Welcomes R18+ games guidelines
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today welcomed the release of draft guidelines for the classification of computer games that includes an adults-only category. “Australia is the only developed country where computer games with adult themes are seized at the docks,” said EFA Chair Colin Jacobs. “It is long past the time to harmonise classification laws and give adults the freedom to choose what to watch and play. Whether the disc goes…
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Righting the Copyright Imbalance
The Australian Digital Alliance’s policy forum, Righting the Copyright Imbalance, brought together activists, policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders interested in copyright reform. There was an excellent range of speakers, and I highly recommend that you check out the podcasts of the forum available on the ADA website. The most striking theme that came up during the forum was the role that international agreements have played in shaping Australia’s copyright law.…
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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.