EFA Publications - Electronic Frontiers Australia

This page provides references to significant EFA papers, submissions and analyses, presented in chronological order (most recent first).

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

2008

EFA submission to the Senate Select Committee Inquiry into the National Broadband Network. September 2008.

EFA 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 submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Inquiry into the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2008, 9 April 2008.

EFA submission to the Government’s Review of sections 47J and 110AA of the Copyright Act 1968 relating to copying photos and films for private use, i.e. time-shifting, format-shifting and space-shifting, 29 Feb 2008.

2007

EFA submission to the Department of Human Services in relation to the Exposure Draft of the Human Services (Enhanced Service Delivery) Bill 2007 released for public comment by the Minister, 21 Aug 2007.

EFA submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs Inquiry into the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2007, 10 Jul 2007.

EFA submission to the Senate Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committee Inquiry into the provisions of the Communications Legislation Amendment (Content Services) Bill 2007, 28 May 2007.

EFA submission to the Attorney-General’s Department in response to the Material that Advocates Terrorist Acts Discussion Paper 2007, 25 May 2007.

EFA submission to the DHS Access Card Consumer and Privacy Taskforce in response to the Discussion Paper No. 3 – Registration, 16 Apr 2007.

EFA submission to the DHS Access Card Consumer and Privacy Taskforce in response to the Discussion Paper Number 2 – Voluntary Medical and Emergency Information, 16 Mar 2007.

EFA submission in response to the consultation paper on the Integrated Public Number Database Scheme issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, 2 Mar 2007.

EFA submission to the Inquiry into the Access Card / Human Services (Enhanced Service Delivery) Bill 2007 conducted by the Senate Finance and Public Administration Standing Committee, 28 Feb 2007.

EFA submission in response to the Exposure draft of Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2007 issued by the Attorney-General’s Department, 23 Feb 2007.

EFA submission re the Exposure Draft of Bill on the Access Card to the Department of Human Services, 12 Jan 2007.

EFA submission in response to Issues Paper 31 Review of Privacy issued by the Australian Law Reform Commission, 8 Jan 2007.

2006

EFA submission to the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts in response to the Discussion Paper Review of the structure and operation of the .au Internet domain, 28 November 2006. EFA submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs Inquiry into the Provisions of the Copyright Amendment Bill 2006, 30 October 2006.

EFA submission in response to the Discussion Paper on an Industry Standard for the Making of Telemarketing Calls, issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, 6 September 2006.

EFA submission in response to Discussion Paper No. 1 on the Australian Government Health and Social Services “Access Card”, issued by the DHS Access Card Consumer and Privacy Taskforce, 31 July 2006.

EFA’s analysis of Labor’s (ALP’s) mandatory ISP filtering/blocking proposal , 29 March 2006.

EFA submission to the Inquiry into the provisions of the Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Bill 2006 conducted by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee, 12 March 2006.

EFA submission in response to the Spam Act 2003 Review Issues Paper issued by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, 1 February 2006.

2005

EFA submission in response to the Discussion Paper titled Introduction of an Australian Do Not Call Register issued by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, 28 November 2005.

EFA submission to the Review of the Classification (Waiver of Fee) Principles 2000 conducted by the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department, 18 November 2005.

EFA submission to the Inquiry into Technological Protection Measures Exceptions conducted by the House Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, 21 October 2005.

EFA submission in response to Discussion Paper: Unauthorised Photographs on the Internet and Ancillary Privacy Issues issued by the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General, 14 October 2005.

EFA submission in response to the Draft Telecommunications Industry Standard (Use of Integrated Public Number Database) 2005 issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, 28 July 2005.

EFA submission to the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department in response to the Issues Paper on Fair Use and Other Copyright Exceptions, 1 July 2005.

EFA submission to the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts public consultation on Spyware, 29 June 2005.

EFA submission to the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department in response to the policy review concerning unauthorised access to and use of subscription broadcasts, 17 June 2005.

EFA supplementary submission to the Inquiry into the Privacy Act 1988 conducted by the Senate Legal & Constitutional References Committee, 30 May 2005. (See also EFA’s initial submission to the inquiry, 24 February 2005).

EFA submission to the Review of the Regulation of Access to Communications under the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979 conducted by the C’th Attorney-General’s Department, 20 May 2005.

EFA submission to the Inquiry into the provisions of the Criminal Code Amendment (Suicide Related Material Offences) Bill 2005 conducted by the Senate Legal & Constitutional Legislation Committee, 3 April 2005.

EFA submission to the Inquiry into the Privacy Act 1988 conducted by the Senate Legal & Constitutional References Committee, 24 February 2005.

2004

EFA submission to the Review of the Private Sector Provisions of the C’th Privacy Act 1988 being undertaken by the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner (“OFPC”), 22 December 2004.

EFA submission to the Australian Communications Industry Forum (“ACIF”) regarding Consumer Contracts draft Industry Code, 5 November 2004.

EFA submission to the Inquiry into Crimes Legislation Amendment (Telecommunications Offences and Other Measures) Bill (No. 2) 2004 conducted by the Senate Legal & Constitutional Legislation Committee, 6 August 2004.

EFA submission to the Inquiry into Entry, Search and Seizure Provisions in Commonwealth Legislation conducted by the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills, 26 July 2004.

EFA supplementary submission, responding to a Question on Notice, to the Inquiry into the Provisions of the Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment (Stored Communications) Bill 2004 conducted by the Senate Legal & Constitutional Legislation Committee, 12 July 2004.

EFA submission to the Inquiry into the Provisions of the Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment (Stored Communications) Bill 2004 conducted by the Senate Legal & Constitutional Legislation Committee, 28 June 2004.

EFA Briefing Paper on the provisions of the Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment (Stored Communications) Bill 2004, 3 June 2004.

EFA submission to the Inquiry into the Provisions of the Surveillance Devices Bill 2004 conducted by Senate Legal & Constitutional Legislation Committee, 18 May 2004.

EFA submission to the Australian Communications Authority in response to the ACA’s discussion paper Who’s Got Your Number?: Regulating the Use of Telecommunications Customer Information, 14 May 2004.

EFA submission to the Senate Select Committee inquiry into the Australia – United States of America Free Trade Agreement, 30 April 2004.

EFA submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties inquiry into the Australia – United States of America Free Trade Agreement, 13 April 2004.

EFA submission in response to the Exposure Draft of the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Telecommunications Offences and Other Measures) Bill 2004 issued for public comment by the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department, 12 April 2004.

EFA submission to the Senate Legal & Constitutional Legislation Committee’s inquiry into the provisions of the Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Bill 2004, 9 March 2004.

2003

EFA submission in response to the Queensland Smart Card Driver Licence Proposal issued by Queensland Transport for public comment, 21 November 2003.

EFA submission to the Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Legislation Committee inquiry into the Spam Bill 2003 and Spam (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2003, 20 October 2003.

EFA analysis and comments on the Spam Bills, 3 October 2003.

EFA submission to the review of the “Digital Agenda” amendments to the Copyright Act, 30 September 2003.

EFA letter 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.

EFA submission to the Internet Industry Association of Australia (“IIA”) concerning their proposed Cybercrime Code of Practice for ISPs, 19 August 2003.

EFA’s supplementary submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission inquiry into recent trends in practices and methods of cybercrime, 6 August 2003.
(The above was prepared and sent following the Committee’s public hearings in mid July 2003 during which a former member of the National Crime Authority advocated prohibiting free email accounts and requiring 100 point ID checks to obtain an Internet access account.)

EFA submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission inquiry into recent trends in practices and methods of cybercrime, April 2003.

EFA commentary on mandatory filtering by ISPs, a paper discussing the Internet censorship scheme proposed by The Australia Institute, March 2003.

2002

EFA submission to the Australian Communications Authority in response to the ACA Discussion Paper titled Introduction of ENUM in Australia – November 2002.

EFA 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 2002.

Hoodwinking the Public: Australia’s Internet Censorship Regime – 6 Nov 2002.
In this paper EFA analyses government reports on the Federal Internet censorship regime, in light of the Minister’s admissions to the Senate that official reports contain statistical errors exaggerating the alleged effectiveness of the scheme, and reviews the overall operation and effectiveness of the scheme. We conclude 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.

EFA submission to the Australian Communications Industry Forum (“ACIF”) re ACIF’s Draft Calling Number Display Industry Code C522 – November 2002.

EFA analysis of the proposal for mandatory Calling Number Display (CND) disclosure to ISPs – September 2002.
This analysis resulted followed efforts by the Internet Industry Association (“IIA”) to take away from Internet users the privacy rights that other telephone callers have under Australian law.

EFA submission to the National Office for the Information Economy (“NOIE”) in response to the NOIE Interim Spam Review Report – September 2002.

EFA 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 2002.

EFA submission to HREOC’s Background Paper for the October 2002 Cyber-Racism Symposium re Online Hate Speech and Section 18C of the Australian Racial Discrimination Act 1975 – July 2002.

EFA’s analysis of the implications of the Telecommunications Interception Legislation Amendment Bill 2002and submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee inquiry into the Bill – March 2002. The Bill proposed to allow interception of E-mail and SMS messages without a warrant, but these elements of the legislation were subsequently rejected by the Senate.

EFA response to the Internet Industry Association (IIA) Industry Code of Practice Version 7.1 – April 2002.

EFA Review: Internet Censorship – law & policy around the world – 28 March 2002.
EFA undertook extensive research into the current status of laws and government policy outside Australia and was unable to find any indication that any country broadly comparable to Australia (in terms of democratic political systems and cultures) has, or intends to introduce, Internet censorship laws as restrictive as either the existing Commonwealth legislation or the existing or proposed State/Territory laws.

EFA submission to the NSW Parliament’s Standing Committee on Social Issues inquiry into the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Enforcement Amendment Bill 2001 – February 2002.

EFA’s Introduction to Defamation Laws, focusing primarily on Australian civil defamation laws, and the applicability of those laws to material published via the Internet – January 2002.

EFA’s Comprehensive Analysis of the NSW Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Enforcement Amendment Bill 2001 – January 2002.

2001

EFA submission to the OFLC Review of the Classification Guidelines for Films, Videos, Internet Content and Computer Games October 2001.

EFA submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee Inquiry into the Provisions of the Cybercrime Bill 2001 – July 2001.

EFA Commentary on the Cybercrime Bill 2001 – July 2001.
The Cybercrime Bill 2001 was tabled by the Attorney-General on 27th June 2001. The Bill implements the Model criminal Code (Chapter 4) computer offences, which replace offences in the Crimes Act which were inserted in 1989. EFA has a number of concerns about the Bill, the most critical of which is the requirement to release encryption keys on a magistrate’s order.

EFA submission in response to the consultation paper on the draft National Privacy Principles Guidelines issued by the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner – 4 July 2001.

Regulatory Failure: Australia’s Internet Censorship Regime
EFA’s Analysis of the ABA Jul-Dec 2000 report – April 2001.
EFA has analysed the Australian Broadcasting Authority report on the second six months of Australia’s Internet regulatory regime and concluded that the scheme is an expensive and unaccountable waste of taxpayers’ money. The ABA has used misleading statistics, refuses to provide details of its investigations, and the scheme places Internet users at risk of prosecution if they report illegal material.

EFA submission to the Joint Committee On The National Crime Authority Inquiry into The Law Enforcement Implications of New Technology – April 2001.

EFA submission to the Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Legislation Committee Inquiry into the Interactive Gambling Bill 2001 – April 2001.

EFA analysis of the South Australian government’s Internet censorship legislation – March 2001.

EFA Submission to auDA Names Policy Advisory Panel
EFA Submission to auDA Competition Model Advisory Panel
These panels are considering what changes should be made to existing policy in relation to domain name registration and management in the .au ccTLD – March 2001.

2000

Model Acceptable Use Policy for Employee Use of the Internet – November 2000
EFA has developed this model “Acceptable Use Policy” in order to make it available to anyone to adapt to their own workplace needs. The model AUP does not necessarily signify EFA’s views about what ought to be “acceptable use” in workplaces.

EFA submission to the Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Legislation Committee Inquiry into the provisions of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment Bill 2000 – October 2000.

EFA submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee Inquiry into the provisions of the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Bill 2000 – September 2000.

EFA submission to the Senate Select Committee on Information Technologies Inquiry into e-Privacy – July 2000.

Publications too ‘raunchy’ for Queensland adults to read?
This paper provides information about Queensland Government censorship policy obtained by EFA under the Queensland Freedom of Information Act in March-June 2000.

Current Legal Issues
A paper presented at the AUUG2K Conference in Canberra in June 2000 by EFA Chair Kim Heitman.

EFA submission to the Inquiry by the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee into the provisions of the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Bill 2000 – May 2000.

EFA submission to the Inquiry by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee into the amendments to the Classification Act to change the X classification to NVE (non-violent erotica). More information on the Inquiry is available at:
http://libertus.net/censor/censor_bill_2000.html

1999

EFA response to the ABA Consultation Paper – Restricted Access systems – November 1999
The ABA released a draft proposal for age verification and EFA, along with many other organisations, submitted a response critical of many of the proposals.

EFA response to Senate Committee of Privileges October 1999
The Senate Committee of Privileges granted a right of reply to EFA following adverse comments by Senator Richard Alston, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. EFA’s response was tabled in the Senate on Thursday October 21, 1999.

Community Views – Whose Views?
A paper by EFA Executive Director Irene Graham that discusses the OFLC Review of Publications Classification Guidelines (undertaken during 1997-1999) that resulted in revised, considerably more restrictive, guidelines effective from 1 September 1999.

EFA’s response to draft State & Territory Net censorship legislation – September 1999
The Australian State and Territory Governments have a role in the Internet Censorship regime in that power to legislate on media content (publications, film, video and computer games) is a State rather than a Federal responsibility. A draft model law to regulate content providers was proposed for implementation as a common law in all States. As at December 1999 the States and Territories had failed to reach agreement.

EFA report on Internet Sheriff filtering software – May 1999

EFA submission to Senate IT Committee – April 1999
A hastily-convened Senate Committee Inquiry was charged with examining the Government’s proposed Online Services legislation. EFA appeared before the Committee and also submitted a written reponse on the proposed law.

EFA submission to Parliamentary Joint Committee on Review of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) Legislation Amendment Bill 1999 – April 1999
This was another hastily-convened Committee hearing investigating proposed increased powers for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).

EFA response to the Victorian Government’s proposed Data Protection Bill – February 1999.

1998

EFA response to NOIE policy proposal Towards an Australian strategy for the Information Economy – October 1998.

EFA submission to the Senate Legal & Constitutional References Committee Inquiry into Privacy And The Private Sector (Privacy Amendment Bill 1998) – July 1998.

EFA submission to OFLC review of classification guidelines for publications – May 1998.

EFA Submission to Senate Select Committee on Information Technologies Self Regulation in the Information and Communication Industries Inquiry – January 1998.