EFA Newsletter
Vol 2 No 1 - 22nd May 1996 


     //////     //////    //\\         ELECTRONIC FRONTIERS AUSTRALIA
    //         //        //  \\               editor@efa.org.au

   //         //        //    \\          http://www.efa.org.au/
  /////      /////     /////\\\\\        ftp://ftp.efa.org.au/pub/efa
 //         //        //        \\        Phone: 08 384 7316 (+618) 
//////// * //      * //          \\ *  PO Box 382 North Adelaide SA 5006
                                       Fidonet: EFA Editor at 3:632/552
Your volunteer voice on the electronic frontier.

Whatever its starting point and expressed intention, the end of
the censor's road is repression of "dangerous" ideas - not only
about sex but about morals, politics, art and life. Opposition to
censorship must inevitably involve us in defending things and
people whom we may dislike and disapprove of (sometimes
passionately). Voltaire's well known saying that "I detest what
you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it" may
seem trite to us but is as apposite as it ever was.

Contents

March Against Proposed NSW Legislation

The Background to the Protest

The NSW Government is planning legislation targeting people who publish offensive material on the Internet.

According to a Press Release issued in April by the NSW Attorney-General, Mr. Jeff Shaw, "the provisions will cover all transmissions which use a public communications system. They will apply to all on-line services, such as the Internet, bulletin boards and e-mail."

Offenders would face fines as high as $25,000, or even jail sentences of up to a year.

The aim of the legislation, according to Mr Shaw, is to "protect children and others from intentionally or accidentally accessing abhorrent and objectionable material".

However, the types of material covered will include all material that is unsuitable for minors under 15, i.e. MA+ material.

The new laws cannot affect criminals who use the Internet, because such criminals will easily and undetectably protect their activities via steganography and anonymity. The new laws cannot protect children from pornographic content, because 99% of content providers live in jurisdictions outside of NSW, and in fact outside of Australia.

These laws threaten the existence of the online service industry in NSW. They threaten the livelihoods of thousands of people across the state. They peddle to technological illiteracy and broadcast media sensationalism. They can bring no benefit to the people of NSW, but they will cost the state many hundreds of millions of dollars in lost growth and services. They are an affront to freedoms of communication similar to the practices of book-burners and totalitarians.

The Protest March

The EFA is supporting a protest march, which is being co-ordinated by Sydney EFA members Danny Yee and Peter Merel. EFA encourages all who are concerned about freedom of speech on the Internet to join this march if possible.

On Monday May 27, at 12 noon, protestors will gather in Hyde Park, and at 1pm a march to the NSW Parliament will commence. This will be a peaceful protest and we will follow police instructions - smiles, food and music are welcome. Please encourage your friends and colleagues to come along. Many people are going to wear blue ribbons, the international symbol of free speech. But the main thing is to turn up and get the message across to the NSW Government.

Don't let it happen here!

For More Information

Further information on the March, (including contacts for car pooling etc.) is being updated daily on the following Web sites:

Join the March Mailing List

EFA has established a public mailing list for discussion on the march. This mailing list is open to people who want to discuss the march and associated events.

To be added to the list send a mail message to:

march-request@efa.org.au
with the word subscribe in the body of the email.

Darken Your Web Pages

The EFA is also encouraging all Internet users to darken their Web pages in the lead-up to the March.

To show that it is different from the American darkening, the EFA has chosen to use a dark blue rather than black for the darkening. The links have been set to green and gold to help show the Australian colours.

Anyone wanting to update their pages can change their page to include the following lines: 

<BODY BGCOLOR="#000050" TEXT="#FFFFFF" LINK="#FFFF00" VLINK="#00CC00">
<P> 
My page has been darkened to protest against Internet censorship in the
lead up to the <a href="http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/NSWMarch.html">
March Against NSW Proposed Legislation.<BR>
<IMG SRC="http://www.efa.org.au/Images/efm_rw.gif"></a>
<P>

NEWS

EFA on IRC Tuesday Nights

EFA welcomes you to participate in our regular weekly on-line discussion with the board of EFA and other interested Internet users.

Details are as follows:

Servers:

Channel: #efa
Date: Every Tuesday evening
Time: 9.00 pm (EST)

Board members will be in attendance throughout the night on the channel and will welcome any questions, comments or feedback you may have. Board Members can be identified by the "\" in front of their nicknames.

The topic of the current discussion will be posted as part of the channel title.

At times the channel may become moderated (depending on the number of participants). If this is the case details on how to ask questions and comment will be posted on the channel, or ask one of the board members.

EFA Submission to ABA Enquiry

Earlier this year, EFA submitted a detailed response to proposals outlined in the Australian Broadcasting Authority's Issues Paper. A copy of the EFA submission is available on the EFA Web site

The ABA has received in excess of 200 submissions and has published a large number of these on the ABA Enquiry page.

EFA Chairman Kimberley Heitman had the opportunity to discuss the enquiry with ABA staff in Perth on 8th March 1996. In summary, ABA don't wish to recommend regulations. They do wish to censor newsgroups, to have uniform State laws, want a code of practice written by Canberra and a national industry association to be developed by the industry over time.

In view of the moves by the State and Commonwealth Attorneys-General to introduce legislation in the near future, the EFA Board is currently considering plans to put further information before the respective authorities.

Women's Committee

The Women's Committee has now set up a moderated mailing list for the discussion of issues affecting women online. To subscribe to this forum, send an e-mail message to majordomo@efa.org.au containing the words "subscribe efa-women" in the body of the message. To post a message to the list, send it to efa-women@efa.org.au . Contact Brenda Aynsley (bpa@iss.net.au) or Val Thomson (vthomson@pcug.org.au) for more information.

Cryptography Committee

EFA's Cryptography Committee is working towards preventing unnecessary regulation of encryption technologies and promoting the benefits of strong encryption for the online community. Contact Michael Baker (mbaker@pobox.com) if you would like to become involved. The Committee is currently developing a response to Draft Australian Standard DR 96078 entitled Strategies for the Implementation of a Public Key Authentication Framework in Australia. The Committee is also monitoring the situation in the USA where the Clinton Administration is proposing a key escrow system which has become known as Clipper III.

Membership Renewals

Membership renewals for 1995/96 were due as of 1 November 1995. EFA membership is only $20. If your dues remain unpaid, please forward your subscription as soon as possible to support the cause of Net freedom.

You can renew your membership in any of the following ways:

If any of your details have changed, please let membership@efa.org.au know so as to update your record.

Lost members - if you are a member and did not receive email notification of this newsletter, you are among the few members for whom we do not have a valid email address. Please contact membership@efa.org.au with your preferred email address(es).

If you can take a more active role please do contact volunteer@efa.org.au to offer your services. We can really use you!

Stay in Touch with EFA

How to join

Membership of EFA costs just $20 per year and for that you get to belong to the premier electronic communications organisation in Australia; you get issues of the Newsletter on line or in the mail if you have no electronic address, you have the opportunity to contribute to the growth of Electronic Frontiers Australia and volunteer your time and talents in this endeavour. Please consider joining us -- it only costs $20 and the form to complete is available online at http://www.efa.org.au/ and ftp://ftp.efa.org.au/pub/efa. The membership form is also mailed automatically to anyone who sends email to efa-info@efa.org.au or netmail to efa-info at 3:800/846.

How to follow EFA activities

EFA Board Members

Chairman
Kimberley Heitman kheitman@it.com.au
Vice Chair
Michael Malone pariah@iinet.net.au
Secretary
Brenda Aynsley bpa@iss.net.au
Treasurer
James Nunn jnunn@pobox.com
General Board Members:
Irene Graham rene@pobox.com
Jonathon Coombes jon@valhalla.newcastle.edu.au
Simon Vandore simon@magna.com.au
Kerrin Pine kerrinp@bns.com.au
Michael Baker mbaker@pobox.com
Philip Thornton

What is EFA

ELECTRONIC FRONTIERS AUSTRALIA Inc. is an association of Net.residents and people with a common interest in the digital community, computer based communication systems, online information services, and "cyberspace", whatever that means. Modelled on the USA's Electronic Frontiers Foundation, its objectives are: Policymakers and media representatives are encouraged to contact EFA for input and comment where relevant.

On the Internet, you can find more information about EFA at our World Wide Web site, http://www.efa.org.au/, or by sending email to efa-info@efa.org.au.

Ways to get EFA information via Fidonet:

Membership Form

The EFA Membership Form is online at membership and ftp://ftp.efa.org.au/pub/efa. The membership form is also mailed automatically to anyone who sends email to efa-info@efa.org.au or netmail to efa-info at 3:800/846.
Submissions to this newsletter are strongly encouraged. Ideas and brief articles for future issues should be sent to editor@efa.org.au or EFA Editor at 632/522. Keep the ideas coming!
© Copyright 1996 Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc.
Permission is hereby given for redistribution on networks, but distribution via other media is subject to the written permission of the EFA Board. Views expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors only, and not necessarily those of Electronic Frontiers Australia.