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 Trade Disagreement: Opposition Grows to Controversial Treaty
As the 15th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations draws to a close today, the Internet freedom community is taking stock of what was said, and perhaps more significantly, what wasn’t. Developments over the last few weeks have suggested that the controversial treaty may be losing steam as public opposition gains momentum – and there was plenty of opposition in evidence at the negotiations. The secretive…
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Two big threats to Internet Freedom this week
This week sees two international meetings which both contain within them significant threats to internet freedom. ITU In Dubai, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is meeting, and will be considering changes to the current structure of global internet governance. The ITU is a state-based treaty organisation, that falls within the United Nations system, and has been the governing body for international telecommunications issues since the 19th century, when it was formed…
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EFA welcomes the government’s back down on mandatory internet filtering
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) welcomes today’s announcement by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy that the government has finally abandoned its plans to introduce mandatory internet filtering. EFA, through its Open Internet campaign, was one of the many civil society groups that campaigned hard against this policy over a number of years. The internet is built on open standards, and EFA strongly believes that maintaining its open nature is critical to…
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EFA members elected to ACCAN Board
EFA congratulates two of our life members, Marcus Wigan (current Vice-Chair of EFA) and Nigel Waters, on their election to the Board of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), Australia’s peak consumer body for telecommunications, broadband and other emerging services. Both Marcus and Nigel are long-standing privacy advocates, and Marcus is also an active advocate of Intellectual Property law reform, so we look forward to a continuing focus from ACCAN…
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War on the Internet video
This excellent video explaining many of the threats to our online freedoms has been put together by CCedRoxon (Twitter: @CCedRoxon).
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EFA’s evidence to Parliament on National Security proposals
Two weeks ago, on 5th September, long-standing EFA Board Member Andrew Pam appeared before the Federal Parliament’s Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. The Committee is reviewing the Attorney-General’s Discussion Paper on proposed changes to National Security laws, including the proposal for blanket data retention. Parliament has finally published the transcript of this hearing, which you can read in full at that link. We’ve selected some highlights for you…
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.