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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Are Ageing Aussies destined for the fast lane?
This afternoon Delimiter posted an article from Exetel’s CEO about Ageing Australia not being interested in seeing broadband speeds of up to 1Gbps. Here is an excerpt from the article: During the election campaign, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy revealed the NBN would support speeds of up to 1Gbps, instead of the 100Mbps initially planned — after NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley informed him the upgrade would cost no extra. But in…
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How you shaped the Election
This election, online issues finally got the attention they deserve. And the situation is here to stay. I’m not talking about which party had the most Facebook followers or made the most gaffes on Twitter (Julia Gillard and Family First, respectively). Serious issues around internet governance and our internet future came into play, and by all accounts will continue to be significant as the situation plays out this week. The…
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The Necessary Broadband Network
This week is good news for Australian internet users. Both the cyber-safety (covered yesterday) and broadband issues have had their moment on the election stage. We now know the details of all the major parties’ broadband policies and can do a side-by-side comparison. Which one will deliver the best outcome for Australia’s future? Refreshingly, the Labor and Liberal broadband policies differ greatly, and represent a very different vision for Australia’s competitiveness in…
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Coalition's Cyber-Safety policy: mostly harmless
Internet issues appear to have finally gotten some oxygen in this election. The National Broadband Network and the Coalition’s alternative broadband plan have gotten a lot of coverage in recent days. We’ll have a breakdown of the two policies for you in our next update. Let’s turn, instead, to the issue of “cyber-safety”, the banner under which the Government has been pushing its mandatory ISP filtering policy. If you follow…
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Ausvotes 2010: Party Policy Guide is now available
The Ausvotes 2010: Party Policy Guide is now available for download. The guide is available here.
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Is the filter truly dead?
It hasn’t been 24 hours since Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey let slip on JJJ’s Hack program that the Coalition won’t back the Labor Government’s plan for mandatory ISP-level internet censorship. Whether they win or lose, they have stated categorically that they will vote against such a scheme. Does this mean the battle of the last three years has ended in victory? Can we all pack up and move on? Yes…
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.