A substantial amount of media and public attention on the issue of workplace surveillance has been created by an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday 14 April 2008.  That article quoted the Commonwealth Attorney-General Mr Robert McClelland as saying that Labor intended to give extra powers to intercept telecommunications to private-sector companies dealing with critical infrastructure, and that these new powers were necessary to avoid the threat of cyber terrorism.  These powers are currently only held by a select few intelligence, police, and anti-corruption organisations specifically named in legislation.

Under the law as it currently stands, it is illegal to intercept a communication passing over a telecommunications system unless the person making the communication knows it is being intercepted.  This is why, for example, when you telephone a call-centre you will usually hear a recorded message that your call may be monitored for various purposes.  Similarly, if a company’s Internet usage policy notifies employees that their Internet usage may be monitored, then that monitoring would not be an illegal interception under Commonwealth law, although State and Territory laws dealing specifically with the issue of workplace surveillance may impose additional requirements in some states.

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Filed in: General, Interception

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) has lodged a submission to the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department (AGD), arguing that Australian consumers be given the right to make digital copies of their films, photographs, and computer and video games for their private use.

The submission is in response to the AGD’s review of sections 47J and 110AA of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), which currently only permit certain forms of analog to digital and digital to analog copying. For example, the current law allows Australians to digitise a purchased photo once, or to print a purchased digital photo once, or to make a DVD copy of a VHS tape.

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Filed in: Copyright, Media Releases

The ALP government’s pre-election policy requiring all Internet Service Providers (”ISPs”) to implement a mandatory Internet filtering/blocking system has been reaffirmed by the Minister for Communications, Senator Conroy. This policy was first announced in March 2006 by Kim Beazley (then Leader of the Federal Opposition). EFA today attacked the government plan as onerous, ineffective, technically inept, and an affront to civil liberties. While EFA supports measures to provide filtering software to homes where it is requested, and to educate parents on monitoring their children’s online activities, we firmly believe that ISP based filtering will not make the Internet safe for children, and may even cause harm. If parents are deceived into believing that a ‘filtered’ Internet service is safe for children, they will be less likely to take sensible precautions such as supervising their children while they use the Internet.

For further information, see:

EFA analysis of the ALP proposal

Filed in: Censorship

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today welcomed a court decision that the operator of an Australian Internet forum site was not liable for comments containing racial discrimination which were posted in the forum by a third party.

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Filed in: Media Releases

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today welcomed the decision by software vendor 2Clix Australia Pty Ltd (2Clix) to abandon their lawsuit against Internet forum site Whirlpool.net.au.

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Filed in: Defamation, Media Releases

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today said that the latest in a long series of embarrassing data security breaches proves that the Commonwealth government can not be trusted to maintain the security of the proposed Health Services Access Card database.

“The government has dozens of databases containing sensitive and personal information about millions of every-day Australians,” said EFA Chair Dale Clapperton. “Yet the government is unable to prevent its own employees from illegally snooping through personal records that they have no business accessing.”

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Filed in: Media Releases, Privacy

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) is appalled by Friday’s announcement that the federal Coalition government will force all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Australia to provide ‘filtered’ Internet connections upon request. This ‘initiative’ is nothing more than a tiresome repeat of previously announced and abandoned policies, and comes before the government has even conducted their recently-announced feasibility study of ISP-level filtering.

The government has also failed to implement their National Filter Scheme, first announced in June 2006 and aimed at providing free PC-based filters, and they have now announced it once again. The Minister has no credibility in this matter.

‘Internet censorship to “save the children” has always been a political “free kick” for both sides of politics,’ said EFA Chair Dale Clapperton. ‘It seems that in the lead-up to the federal election, the Howard government wants to be seen to be “doing something” to make the Internet safe for children.’

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Filed in: General, Media Releases

EFA has been actively involved during the last four years in efforts by the Parliament to deal with the vexed issue of interception of stored communications (e.g. email), and we have fought to ensure that there is an appropriate balance between protecting the privacy of telecommunications users and meeting legitimate needs for access by security and law enforcement agencies.

The 2007 Bill currently before Parliament includes major new powers for security and law enforcement agencies and significantly changes the existing “telecommunications data” access framework. It contains provisions that were not recommended, nor even mentioned, in the Blunn Report, and some provisions that are contrary to recommendations in the Blunn Report. Furthermore there are a number of technical problems with the drafting of the Bill that would create severe practical problems if implemented. Accordingly, EFA has recommended that this Bill be rejected by the Parliament. A Senate Committee is inquiring into the Bill.

See: EFA’s submission to the Inquiry

Filed in: Interception, Privacy