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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Passwords Reuse: Why You Need A Password Manager
National Cyber Security Awareness Week kicked off yesterday with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy declaring passwords as the main focus. A simple way to be more secure online is to toughen up our passwords, as well as change them regularly, so that our online information is as safe as it can be. – Stephen Conroy Unfortunately, this advice misses a key rule of password security: never tell any. As obvious as it might…
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Like the filter, only worse
The news this week that the Australian Securities and Investment Commission has admitted to inadvertently blocking 1,200 websites while attempting to shut down one fraudulent site displays the agency’s technical incompetence. The revelation yesterday that they have actually blocked numerous websites over the last nine months is a worrying sign for digital access in Australia. It is a real concern that after the government finally abandoned their plans for a mandatory…
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ASIC Blocks Scam Website and Takes 1,200 Innocent Sites Down With It.
Last night news broke that Australia’s financial regulator, ASIC did in fact block the 1200 websites on 12th April, ASIC. According to Delimiter in a statement made last night by the office of Stephen Conroy: ASIC believed that the website in question was operating in breach of Australian law, specifically section 911a of the Corporations Act 2001 Under Section 313 of the Telecommunications Act, websites that breach Australian law can be blocked.…
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Melbourne Members Event: Thursday 21st March
EFA is teaming up with Electron Workshop and Cryptoparty to bring you a fun and informative meet-up. Date: Thursday 21st March Time: 6.30pm to 9.00pm Venue: Electron Workshop, 31 Arden Street, North Melbourne 3051 Come and join us at the location of the inaugural Cryptoparty, and: – meet with your Melbourne-based EFA colleagues – learn about and get involved with EFA’s current projects, including our campaign against the government’s Data…
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Celebrate Internet Freedom Day
EFA is joining Internet freedom groups from around the world to celebrate Internet Freedom Day today (Friday, 18th January), to mark this movement’s milestones in the fight for Internet freedom. Check out some of our successes so far: In the U.S., the pro-Internet community made a stand against threats to freedom of speech and privacy in their activism against the restrictive bill SOPA, causing the defeat of the invasive legislation.…
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WCIT: Freemasons, Internet memes and salt
Digital Consumers by Dr Jeremy Malcolm IN THE wake of the anti-climactic conclusion to the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) earlier this month, readers could be forgiven for being confused about whether all the hype about the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) staging a UN takeover of the Internet had ever represented a real threat, or had just been a beat-up by special interest groups with an agenda to push.…
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.