DFAT briefing on the current state of ACTA
by Nic Suzor Today I attended a briefing session on ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement ) hosted by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). I felt it was a good meeting, and I really got the sense that DFAT were interested in public participation. There was a good deal of frustration on both […]
EFA condemns Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiaton process: No transparency, No balance
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today expressed its concern about the lack of transparency in the development of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). EFA is also troubled by the little information that is available about the substantive content of the proposed plurilateral agreement, which threatens to dramatically alter the copyright balance in favour of corporate rights owners, impose significant liability on Internet Service Providers, and require the institution of invasive surveillance and filtering.
EFA Chair Dale Clapperton slammed the negotiation process. “Negotiations for ACTA have been conducted secretly. The public have a right to be involved in the development of measures which will significantly alter their legal rights. So far, only copyright owners have been involved in this process, and the outcome will undoubtedly favour their interests over the legitimate interests of users and reusers of copyright material.”
Government can’t be trusted with Access Card database
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today said that the latest in a long series of embarrassing data security breaches proves that the Commonwealth government can not be trusted to maintain the security of the proposed Health Services Access Card database. “The government has dozens of databases containing sensitive and personal information about millions of every-day Australians,” […]
Access Card Submission
EFA’s submission to the Department of Human Services in relation to the Exposure Draft of the Human Services (Enhanced Service Delivery) Bill 2007 pointed out problems with the new proposed legislation, including privacy issues and over-reliance on questionable biometric technology for fraud prevention. See EFA Media Release
IPND Scheme
EFA has sent a submission in support of the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s proposed Integrated Public Number Database Scheme which is being established following the enactment of the Telecommunications Amendment (Integrated Public Number Database) Bill 2006.