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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Filtering: Followup to Newton letter
Internet engineer Mark Newton has published a followup to his earlier letter and meeting with his MP, Government Frontbencher Kate Ellis. Many of our members and the public have written to their MPs about this issue and have been frustrated with the responses they have been getting, which are basically boilerplate containing the same misleading assertions they were complaining about in the first place. EFA has been supportive of Mark’s…
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Filtering Pilot and ACMA Blacklist – Not just "illegal" material
Filtering the blacklist As the Government’s plans for Internet filtering move forward, the new details we learn do little to dampen concerns about the scheme. The technical issues remain as acute as ever, but to many of us the implications for Government control of speech on the Internet are just as significant. Yet the Government has consistently (some would say monotonously) referred to stamping out child pornography when defending its…
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R18+ for Games campaign launched
A recent article reports that the discussion paper on whether Australia should introduce an R18+ rating for video games is not likely to be released. Australia is the only Western country without an R rating for computer and video games. If a game is deemed unsuitable for MA15+ by the Office of Film and Literature Classification, it is refused classification and cannot be sold. Titles including 50 Cent, Bulletproof, Postal 2,…
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EFA's Dale Clapperton on Sunrise
EFA’s Chair, Dale Clapperton, was interviewed on Channel 7’s Sunrise program on 29th October about the government’s proposed mandatory filtering policy. A phone-in survey on the program revealed that 80% of respondents were opposed to the censorship plan.
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Can Labor implement "clean feed" without legislation?
by Dale Clapperton A question that has been asked a lot recently is this: can Labor implement their ‘clean feed’ proposal without legislative amendments? Much turns on the answer to this question. To get any legislation through the Senate at the moment, Labor require the support of either the Coalition, or all seven of the other Senators (five Greens, plus Steve Fielding and Nick Xenophon). If the Coalition oppose the…
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The Mark Newton letter
There has been a great deal of publicity in recent days about a letter written by Mark Newton, a network engineer with a leading Australian ISP, to a government Minister concerning the Australian government’s proposed mandatory Internet censorship scheme. The letter resulted in an apparent attempt by the office of the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, to lean on Newton’s employers to have him silenced. Nothing could better illustrate the weakness…
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.