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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Australians deserve a surveillance oversight inquiry
Ever since Edward Snowden’s first NSA spying revelations, the Australian Signals Directorate (formerly Defence Signals Directorate, DSD hereafter) has been implicated as a complicit ‘Five Eyes‘ partner. The Guardian has today released shocking new information from Snowden showing just how complicit DSD has been. These latest revelations involve documentation of a ‘Five Eyes‘ information sharing meeting hosted by Britain’s GCHQ at its headquarters in Cheltenham on 22-23 April, 2008. Of all the security agencies involved, the…
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An open letter from the Our Fair Deal Coalition to TPP trade ministers
The Our Fair Deal Coalition, an international group of civil society groups and commercial enterprises from across the countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement negotiations, has today written to responsible ministers in each of the TPP countries, calling on them to reject copyright proposals that would limit the open Internet, access to knowledge, and curtail economic opportunity. The Australian members of the Our Fair Deal Coaltion are EFA,…
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Google Books wins ‘fair use’ but Australian copyright lags
This article was originally published at The Conversation. Read the original article. By Nicolas Suzor. Nicolas is a Former Chair and Life Member of EFA and is currently a Senior Lecturer at Queensland University of Technology School of Law. Australia wants to foster innovation in a digital economy, but our copyright laws discourage businesses from investing in new technologies and make it harder for individuals to access the knowledge upon…
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No fair, no share: Australia sells out…again
EFA considers the leaked Intellectual Property chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership to represent looming disaster for Australian citizens. Not only are the secret negotiations deplorable, as is Australia’s almost total agreement with the US positions, but if passed, its provisions will severely restrict choice, increase prices, and reduce freedom of expression. EFA agrees with many comments collected by Phillip Dorling in his article in The Age today. Greens Senator Scott Ludlam’s has…
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EFA applauds Simon Hackett’s appointment to NBN Co Board
EFA is quoted in Business Spectator endorsing Simon Hackett’s appointment to the NBN Co Board. We said that: “Hackett’s ideas allow for market-friendly solutions to keep costs down and genuine entrepreneurialism, but specifically do so without introducing the kind of potential for network inequalities that have been mooted about a free-for-all FTTN rollout,” Dr Rintel told Technology Spectator. “Importantly, Hackett has already considered the wholesale and consumer cost barriers involved…
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Ten Steps You Can Take Right Now Against Internet Surveillance
This is a modified version of an article first published by Danny O’Brien on EFF’s Deeplinks blog on 25th October 2013. See the original article. One of the trends we’ve seen is how, as the word of the NSA’s spying has spread, more and more ordinary people want to know how (or if) they can defend themselves from surveillance online. But where to start? The bad news is: if you’re…
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.