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 90s and Now: FBI and its Inability to Cope with Encryption
This post, by Amul Kalia, was originally published on EFF’s Deeplinks blog on 29th October 2014. Australian authorities are using many of the same arguments, including to justify the mandatory data retention legislation introduced into parliament last week. Recently, FBI Director James B. Comey, along with several government officials, have issued many public statements regarding their inability to catch criminals due to Apple and Google offering default encryption to their consumers. We…
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Does Tor + Facebook = better privacy?
This post is by Thomas Karpiniec, Chair of EFA’s Policy & Research Committee. On Friday Facebook announced that they are making their website available as a Tor hidden service. This will improve the Facebook experience for anyone who uses Tor to make their web browsing more anonymous, but there are downsides. Tor (The Onion Router) is free software to help people conceal their web browsing from their ISP, and by…
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Data Retention a boon for Copyright Trolls
As AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin confirmed to a press conference in Canberra yesterday, mandatory data retention will include data that will enable copyright holders to chase people they believe have infringed their copyright. Communications Minister Turnbull tried to play this down, saying, “They do this pretty much in real-time, so the two year holding of data doesn’t make a big difference in terms of copyright infringement, they’re dealing with the here…
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Copyright in the Trans-Pacific Partnership echoes past mistakes
This article, by Kimberlee Weatherall from the University of Sydney was originally published at The Conversation. See the original article. Ten years on from the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, Australia is entering another round of negotiations towards the new and controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership. In this Free Trade Scorecard series, we review Australian trade policy over the years and where we stand today on the brink of a number of significant new trade…
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Corrupted Nerds: Metadata & surveillance with Carly Nyst
Last week, Stilgherrian joined Privacy International’s Legal Director Carly Nyst in Sydney to discuss data retention and surveillance. He’s edited that conversation into his latest Corrupted Nerds podcast, which we encourage you to listen to: Conversations 12: Metadata & surveillance with Carly Nyst.
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.