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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The Necessary Broadband Network
This week is good news for Australian internet users. Both the cyber-safety (covered yesterday) and broadband issues have had their moment on the election stage. We now know the details of all the major parties’ broadband policies and can do a side-by-side comparison. Which one will deliver the best outcome for Australia’s future? Refreshingly, the Labor and Liberal broadband policies differ greatly, and represent a very different vision for Australia’s competitiveness in…
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Coalition's Cyber-Safety policy: mostly harmless
Internet issues appear to have finally gotten some oxygen in this election. The National Broadband Network and the Coalition’s alternative broadband plan have gotten a lot of coverage in recent days. We’ll have a breakdown of the two policies for you in our next update. Let’s turn, instead, to the issue of “cyber-safety”, the banner under which the Government has been pushing its mandatory ISP filtering policy. If you follow…
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Ausvotes 2010: Party Policy Guide is now available
The Ausvotes 2010: Party Policy Guide is now available for download. The guide is available here.
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Is the filter truly dead?
It hasn’t been 24 hours since Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey let slip on JJJ’s Hack program that the Coalition won’t back the Labor Government’s plan for mandatory ISP-level internet censorship. Whether they win or lose, they have stated categorically that they will vote against such a scheme. Does this mean the battle of the last three years has ended in victory? Can we all pack up and move on? Yes…
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EFA welcomes Liberal stance on filter
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today welcomed an announcement by Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey that the coalition will oppose any move to legislate mandatory internet censorship in Australia. On Thursday’s Hack program on Triple J radio, Mr Hockey stated that “we believe the internet filter will not work and we believe it’s flawed policy.” “We applaud Mr Hockey’s announcement that the Liberal Party will vote against Labor’s filter,” said EFA Chair…
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Data retention: Got nothing to hide?
It recently came to light (thanks to some good reporting) that the Government has been fishing around with ISPs for their support on a new and radical data retention policy. This would legally oblige telcos to retain large amounts of data about their customers’ communications activities in case law enforcement needed them at some point in the future. We know this because some in the industry have spoken out, quietly,…
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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.