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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Colin Jacobs reflects on SBS Insight
Colin Jacobs, Vice Chair of EFA, was a guest on SBS Insight on Tuesday night, discussing internet filtering with Senator Stephen Conroy, Mark Newton, Lyle Shelton and others. If you missed the show, you can stream it or view the transcript from the SBS website. Colin has an interesting wrap-up of Senator Conroy’s long-awaited engagement with the substantive issues on the New Matilda blog, PollieGraph: The most significant revelation was…
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Conroy faces the filtering music on Q&A
Australia’s frustration with the Government’s push for mandatory Internet filtering is coming to a head. Last night Communications Minister Stephen Conroy appeared on ABC’s Q&A and faced a mountain of questions from the Australian public on this scheme – far and away the most questions the ABC have received on any subject. By starving the public of information on the policy and dismissing criticisms with sound bytes about children, the…
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Answering a few questions about the leaked blacklist (updated)
Update 9.55pm: Wikileaks has published a more up-to-date copy of the ACMA blacklist, current as of the 18 March. This list includes abortiontv, wikileaks itself and Philip Nitschke’s Poison Pill Handbook as well as a similar smattering of legal material and innocent sites. The leaking of the ACMA blacklist as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday and commented on by EFA has provoked a lot of interest and we…
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Leaked Government blacklist confirms worst fears
Edit 19/3 4.00pm: The Minister has refuted the authenticity of the list in a media release. Indications are that the leaked list contains the ACMA list plus sites chosen by the filter vendor. In any case, comments about individual sites on the list should therefore be treated with caution. Electronic Frontiers Australia today hailed the leaking of the government’s secret internet blacklist as a “wake-up call for Australians concerned about…
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Newmatilda.com – The Tangled Web filtering forum
Next week I will be speaking at a forum organised by New Matilda, “The Tangled Web: Beyond an Internet Filter”. The abstract reads: The Federal Government’s proposal to block internet sites with a mandatory filter has drawn overwhelming opposition from voices across politics and civil society. So what are the real questions for policy-makers? These forums explore the ethical, social and political questions raised by government regulation of the internet.…
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ACMA censors, Australians protest
Despite premature celebrations or wishful thinking that the Government are looking for an exit strategy, the Government is powering ahead with its plans to censor Australia’s Internet. On Sunday’s edition of Background Briefing on radio national – an excellent and in-depth look at the scheme, available here for download – the Minister could be heard proclaiming the necessity of the scheme, dismissing the critics, and confusing the issue, saying that…
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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.