This section provides information about EFA’s major projects and activities each year:

2011 | 2010 | 2009
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994

2011

  • EFA made a submission to the ALRC Classification Scheme Review
  • EFA board members made significant efforts to improve and update our infrastructure and relationships with members, including installing CiviCRM.
  • EFA made a comment to the public consultation on Australia’s proposed accession to the Council of
    Europe Convention on Cybercrime.
  • EFA made a Submission to the Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety.
  • EFA made a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committees Inquiry into the Australian film and literature classification scheme.
  • EFA Board Member David Cake attended the ICANN meetings in San Franciso and Singapore as an executive member of ICANN’s Non-Commercial Users Constituency, and also attended the Asian Regional Internet Governance Forum.
  • EFA representatives attended the Australian Digital Alliance forum on Restoring the Copyright Imbalance
  • [to be continued]

2010

2009

2008

  • EFA is mounting a campaign in support of an R18+ rating category for computer and video games. October 2008.
  • EFA made a submission to the Senate Select Committee Inquiry into the National Broadband Network. September 2008.
  • EFA is actively campaigning against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) which threatens to dramatically alter the copyright balance in favour of corporate rights owners, impose significant liability on Internet Service Providers, and require the institution of invasive surveillance and filtering. August 2008.
  • EFA made a submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), opposing a recently announced plan by online auction site eBay to require all Australian buyers and sellers to use PayPal for eBay purchases in most circumstances. 6 May 2008.
  • EFA has an ongoing campaign in opposition to the government’s proposed mandatory ISP filtering plan. See our No Internet Censorship for Australia site (nocleanfeed.com) for the latest information. Launched March 2008.
  • EFA commented in news media around the world about the government’s filtering proposal, including the New York Times, The Guardian, and the BBC.
  • Made a submission and gave testimony to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Inquiry into the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2008, 9 April 2008.
  • Made a submission to the Attorney-General’s review of sections 47J and 110AA of the Copyright Act 1968 which relate to private use of films, videos and photos, 29 Feb 2008.

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

  • Sent a submission in response to the Queensland Smart Card Driver Licence Proposal issued by Queensland Transport (21 November 2003).
  • Made a submission to and appeared before the Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Legislation Committee which was conducting an inquiry into the Spam Bill 2003 and Spam (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2003 (20 October 2003).
  • Prepared an analysis and commentary on the Spam Bills (3 October 2003).
  • Made a submission to the review of the “Digital Agenda” amendments to the Copyright Act (30 September 2003).
  • EFA’s Executive Director commenced participating in the ENUM Privacy and Security Working Group convened by the Australian Communications Authority (September 2003).
  • Wrote to the President of the Senate seeking a right of reply under Senate Privileges Resolution 5 following Senators Harradine and Alston having made a number of non-factual statements and allegations about EFA in Parliament. EFA’s reply was subsequently incorporated in Hansard of 18 September 2003 (September 2003).
  • Provided a speaker on the topic of Silent numbers, CLI, carriers and ISPs for the ‘Surveillance and Privacy 2003: Terrorists and Watchdogs’ Conference hosted by the Baker & McKenzie Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre and UNSW Law Faculty (September 2003).
  • Provided a panelist for the ‘Privacy Goes to the Movies’ evening hosted by the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner (September 2003).
  • EFA’s Executive Director participated on the panel of judges for the Australian Privacy Foundation’s Big Brother Awards (September 2003).
  • EFA’s Executive Director attended the 25th International Conference of Data and Privacy Commissioners which was hosted by the Federal Privacy Commissioner in Sydney (September 2003).
  • EFA’s Executive Director participated in the Sponsorship Panel convened by the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner to assess applications for sponsorship of the 25th International Conference of Data and Privacy Commissioners (July – August 2003).
  • Prepared a submission to the Internet Industry Association of Australia (“IIA”) concerning their proposed Cybercrime Code of Practice for ISPs (August 2003).
  • Sent a supplementary submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission inquiry into recent trends in practices and methods of cybercrime, following a proposal during public hearings in mid July for prohibiting free email accounts and requiring 100 point ID checks to obtain an Internet access account (August 2003).
  • Made a submission to and appeared before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission which was conducting an inquiry into recent trends in practices and methods of cybercrime (April & August 2003).
  • Provided assistance to three individuals during preparation of their joint representative complaint to the Federal Privacy Commissioner and the Australian Communications Authority concerning disclosure of silent and other blocked calling number information by some telephone call carriers when dial-up calls are made to some ISPs (June-July 2003).
  • Prepared a commentary on the mandatory filtering by ISPs Internet censorship scheme proposed by The Australia Institute (March 2003).

2002

  • Made a submission to the Australian Communications Authority in response to the ACA Discussion Paper titled Introduction of ENUM in Australia (November).
  • Conducted a comprehensive review and analysis of the Federal Internet censorship regime and made a submission to the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (“DCITA”) Review of the Operation of Schedule 5 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (November).
    EFA’s review found there is no evidence or indication to support the Minister’s claim (21 Aug 2002) that the Internet has been made safer as a result of the scheme.
  • Made a submission to the Australian Communications Industry Forum (“ACIF”) re ACIF’s Draft Calling Number Display Industry Code C522 (November).
  • Commenced campaigning against mandatory Calling Number Display (CND) disclosure to ISPs, in view of efforts by the Internet Industry Association (“IIA”) to take away from Internet users the privacy rights that other telephone callers have under Australian law (September).
  • Made a submission to the National Office for the Information Economy (“NOIE”) in response to the NOIE Interim Spam Review Report (September).
  • Made a submission to the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner in response to the Consultation Paper for Information Sheet: Privacy and Collection of Publicly Available Personal Information (August).
  • Made a submission to HREOC’s Background Paper for the Cyber-Racism Symposium (October 2002) re Online Hate Speech and Section 18C of the Australian Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (July) and attended the Symposium.
  • Submitted a response to auDA’s call for public comment on the draft WHOIS policy (April).
  • Made a submission to and appeared before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee which was conducting an inquiry into the Telecommunications Interception Legislation Amendment Bill 2002 (March – April).
  • Submitted a response to the Internet Industry Association (IIA) Industry Code of Practice Version 7.1 (April).
  • Researched and released a comprehensive study Internet Censorship – law & policy around the world in response to a request from the NSW Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Issues for information on whether or not other countries have Internet censorship laws similar to NSW’s proposed laws (March).
  • Made a submission to and appeared before the NSW Parliament’s Standing Committee on Social Issues which was conducting an inquiry into the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Enforcement Amendment Bill 2001 (February – March).
  • Provided a speaker on the topic Online Civil Liberties & Laws in Australia for the Linux Australia Annual Conference dinner (February).
  • Prepared an introduction to defamation laws, focusing primarily on Australian civil defamation laws, and the applicability of those laws to material published via the Internet (January).

2001

  • Launched a campaign opposing the NSW Internet censorship Bill, prepared a comprehensive analysis of the Bill, met with NSW politicians and political advisers, etc (November – ongoing 2002).
  • Lodged a submission in response to The Office of Film and Literature Classification’s Review of Classification (censorship) Guidelines for Films, Videos, Internet Content and Computer Games (October).
  • Issued a statement on the September 11 terrorist attacks in the USA.
  • Provided a speaker for the IBC Privacy Conference on the topic of online privacy issues (September).
  • Issued an Open Letter to the Federal Privacy Commissioner regarding revised (non-public) draft National Privacy Principle Guidelines (August).
  • Lodged a submission and presented verbal testimony to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee Inquiry into the Provisions of the Cybercrime Bill 2001 (July).
  • Presented a paper at the UNSW Continuing Legal Education seminar on eSecurity/eCrime on the topic of the CoE Convention and implications for Australia (July).
  • Presented evidence at a hearing of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal concerning their review of the Australian Broadcasting Authority’s decisions regarding an EFA Freedom of Information application to the ABA re Internet censorship legislation (July).
  • Provided a speaker for the BTell Privacy for Marketers Conference on the topic of online privacy issues (May).
  • Prepared an analysis (titled Regulatory Failure: Australia’s Internet Censorship Regime) of the ABA Reporton the second six months of operation of the Federal Internet regulatory scheme. The analysis revealed a regime that is both ineffective and unaccountable (May).
  • EFA’s Executive Director participated in the Privacy Commissioner’s Reference Group on development of guidelines for implementing the National Privacy Principles (NPPs). (March – August)
  • EFA’s Executive Director participated in the Privacy Commissioner’s Research Reference Committee, concerning research into community, business and government attitudes towards privacy in Australia. (March – May)
  • Lodged a submission, and was invited to present verbal testimony, to the Inquiry of the Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts References Committee into the provisions of the Interactive Gambling Bill 2001 (April).
  • Lodged a submission to the Inquiry into The Law Enforcement Implications of New Technology being conducted by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Crime Authority. EFA is very concerned about proposals put forward by several law enforcement agencies for legislation to require Australian ISPs to retain transaction logs of all user activities (April).
  • EFA Board members attended the ICANN meetings in Melbourne and hosted meetings of the Civil Society Internet Forum (CSIF), an international body established to lobby ICANN to ensure that civil liberties of Internet users are protected in any decisions made (March).
  • Lodged a submission to the auDA Names Policy Advisory Panel and a submission to the auDA Competition Model Advisory Panel who were considering what changes should be made to existing policy in relation to domain name registration and management in the .au ccTLD.
  • Launched a campaign opposing the South Australian Internet censorship Bill. Prepared a comprehensive analysis of the Bill and lodged a submission to the subsequent SA Parliamentary Committee inquiry (Feb – July).

2000

1999

  • Submitted a response to the ABA Consultation Paper on Restricted Access Systems.
  • Submitted a request for right of reply to the Australian Senate Committee of Privileges in relation to adverse remarks about EFA made in the Senate by Senator Richard Alston, Minister for Information Technology and the Arts. EFA’s reply was tabled in the Senate on October 21.
  • Submitted a comprehensive critique on the Internet Industry Association’s draft Code of Practice Version 5.0
  • Lodged a Submission with State and Territory governments on the Draft Model State/Territory Legislation for On-line Content Regulation.
  • Lodged a Freedom of Information application on the Queensland Department of Equity and Fair Trading (which includes the Queensland censorship office) in relation to Film and Literature censorship policy development.
  • Sent a representative to the Bertelsmann conference on Internet content control in Munich, Germany.
  • Provided a speaker for the IIR Conference on Privacy Law in Sydney.
  • Launched the Say NO to Net Censorship campaign opposing the Federal Governments’s Internet censorship legislation.
  • Organised protest rallies around Australia in May 1999 in opposition to the Internet censorship legislation.
  • Made a submission to the Senate Select Committee on Information Technologies Inquiry into the Internet censorship legislation and presented oral testimony at a Senate Committee hearing – April 1999.
  • Provided a speaker for the IIR Conference IT Security 1999 in Canberra on the topic of cryptography policy.
  • Participated in a panel on cryptography policy at the Computers Freedom and Privacy Conference (CFP99) in Washington DC.
  • Submitted a response to the Internet Industry Association (IIA) Industry Code of Practice Version 4.2 – February 1999.
  • Submitted response to the Victorian Government’s proposed Data Protection Bill – February 1999.
  • Published a complete uncensored copy of the Walsh Report (Review of Policy relating to Encryption Technologies) which the government had tried to suppress.

1998

  • Issued an open letter to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, arguing against the application of the Racial Discrimination Act to web sites – Nov 98.
  • Submitted a response to the ACCC regarding the Australian Direct Marketing Association’s application for authorisation of their Code of Practice – Oct 98.
  • Prepared a response to the National Office of the Information Economy (NOIE) policy proposal Towards an Australian strategy for the Information Economy – Oct 98.
  • Delivered a presentation on encryption policy to a meeting of the IT&T Security Forum in Canberra – Oct 98.
  • Issued a policy questionnaire to all major Australian political parties seeking their position on critical Internet issues and subsequently issued an appraisal of party policies – Sep 98.
  • Issued an open statement calling for the removal of cryptography controls from the Wassenaar Arrangement in conjunction with other members of the Global Internet Liberty Campaign (GILC) – Sep 98.
  • Lodged a complaint with the Commonwealth Ombudsman regarding the failure of the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) to provide a legislatively mandated service – Aug 98.
  • Participated on a panel at the INET 98 Conference in Geneva on the topic The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Developing Internet Policy: The Global Internet Liberty Campaign, thanks to OSI sponsorship – Jul 98.
  • Submitted a response to the Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee Inquiry into Privacy and the Private Sector (Privacy Amendment Bill 1998) – Jul 98.
  • Been represented at a public consultation meeting on the Victorian Data Protection Bill Promoting Electronic Business and the Electronic Commerce Framework Bill by an EFA Board member – Jul 98.
  • Launched The Crypto 98 Campaign calling for the abolition of all controls on cryptography in Australia – Jul 98.
  • The EFA Crypto Group prepared an FAQ on the Australian Government’s crypto policy.
  • Been represented at the 1998 Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Cryptography and Privacy Conference held in Washington, by an EFA Board Member, thanks to sponsorship from EPIC and OSI – Jun 98.
  • Prepared a response to the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC)’s draft revised Guidelines for Classification of Publications – May 98.
  • Made application to the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) for classification of a printed publication, the Full Federal Court judgment in Michael Brown and Others v Classification Review Board, following indications from the Acting Chief Censor that freedom to access case law was under threat – Apr 98.
  • An EFA Board Member participated on a panel on W3C’s Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) Project at the WWW7 Conference in Brisbane to present the skeptical view of P3P – Apr 98.
  • Been represented at the E-Commerce Enabling Australia Summit held in Canberra, by an EFA Board member, following invitation from Senator Alston’s office – Apr 98.
  • Prepared a response to the Internet Industry Association’s (IIA’s) draft Code of Practice v3 – Mar 98.
  • Prepared a paper, in conjunction with GILC, for presentation at the OECD seminar on International Co-operation Concerning Content and Conduct on the Internet. An EFA Board member participated on a seminar panel at the meeting in Paris – Mar 98.
  • Prepared a response to the Senate Committee on Information Technology’s Self Regulation in the Information and Communications Industries Inquiry – Feb 98. Appeared before the Senate Committee at their hearing in Adelaide. Refer Hansard transcript – Apr 98.

1997

  • Prepared a response to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) PICSRules specification, in conjunction with the Global Internet Liberty Campaign (GILC), of which EFA is a founding member – Dec 97.
  • Launched The 1997 STOP! Campaign in opposition to proposals by the Department of Communications and the Arts (“DoCA”) to legislate to impose burdensome content regulation on the Internet Services industry in Australia – Jul 97.
  • Prepared a major response to the Australian Government’s proposals to censor and regulate the Internet, i.e. the Principles for a Regulatory Framework for On-line Services in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 issued by the Department of Communications and the Arts (DoCA) – Aug 97.
  • Organised an online petition to the Senate opposing the DoCA Internet regulation proposals.
  • Organised an industry-wide meeting with DoCA and Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) officials in relation to the proposed regulatory framework.
  • Obtained release of the Review of Policy Relating to Encryption Technologies, otherwise known as the Walsh Report, under Freedom of Information legislation – Jul 97.
  • Amended our Rules of Incorporation to place more emphasis on online civil liberties.
  • Prepared a major submission to the Senate Select Committee on Community Standards Relevant to the Supply of Services Utilising Electronic Technologies’ inquiry into Regulation of Computer On-Line Services.
  • Appeared before that Senate Committee at their hearing in Brisbane, refer Hansard transcript – Apr 97.
  • Assisted people faced with harassment by the Church of Scientology.
  • Actively participated in The Campaign for Fair Privacy Laws with a number of other privacy advocacy groups seeking to convince the Australian government to implement effective privacy legislation.
  • Actively participated in almost all of the Privacy Forums with the Federal Privacy Commissioner in various States.
  • Addressed several seminars on online issues.
  • Campaigned to question the Lyons Forum’s influence on public policy.
  • Obtained substantial media coverage of critical online issues.
  • Prepared a response to the Copyright enquiry.
  • Met with political representatives on a number of occasions.
  • Were represented at the Virtual Opportunities Congress by an EFA Board member.
  • Prepared a response to the Taxation Office online tax discussion document.

1996

  • Prepared a critique of the INTIAA Code of Practice – Nov 96.
  • Prepared a response to the government Discussion Paper Privacy Protection in the Private Sector – Nov 96.
  • Prepared a response to the proposed PKAF Australian standard.
  • Launched The Stop Telstra Campaign in opposition to proposals by Telstra to introduce timed local data calls.
  • Prepared a response to the ABA’s Report on the Investigation into the Content of On-line Services – Oct 96.
  • Launched the 1996 Stop! Campaign opposing national Net censorship legislation – Jun 96. This campaign originated with proposals by the NSW Attorney-General in February 1996 to introduce draconian Internet censorship legislation.
  • Prepared an analysis of the draft NSW Net censorship legislation which was proposed as a model for national legislation – Jun 96.
  • Sponsored the Electronic Freedom March on NSW Parliament House opposing the proposed NSW Net censorship legislation – May 96.
  • Met with representatives of Attorneys-General in most States regarding proposed Net censorship legislation.
  • Prepared a response to the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA)’s Investigation into the Content of On-line Services – Feb 96.

1995

  • Made a submission in response to the Department of Communications and the Arts Consultation Paper on the Regulation of On-line Information Services – Aug 95.

1994

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