Promoting and protecting digital rights since 1994

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Updates from EFA
Infrastructure

What OpenClaw, OpenAI, and a Node.js Hack Tell Us About the Future of AI Agents

 By Warren McHugh, EFA Board Member. AI is being sold as a friendly assistant that quietly makes life easier: it writes emails, fixes code, books meetings, drafts legal notes, summarises research. The new wave of “AI agents” goes further than just suggesting things, they’re designed to act on your behalf. The OpenClaw story shows how quickly that can slide from “helpful assistant” to “powerful tool that attackers love”, and how big AI companies seem more

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General

International Day of Women and Girls in Science: EFA Profiles A/Prof Vanessa Teague

In celebration of International Day of Women and Girls in Science on the 11th of February, Electronic Frontiers Australia is proud to feature A/Prof Vanessa Teague, a leading voice in Australian cryptography and is a former EFA board member. Her work is at the forefront of protecting our digital rights, including uncovering vulnerabilities in e-voting systems and co-designing protocols for improved election integrity. She was also part of the research team which uncovered that supposedly

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Online Safety

Social Media, Big Tech, and Big Tobacco: Is There a Connection?

Written by John Pane, EFA Chair. For years, concerns about children, smartphones, and social media have occupied a grey zone — intuitively alarming, politically contentious, and legally elusive. Fast forward to 2025 and Australia passes the social media ban that we had to have. Problem solved, right? Well, the government seems to think so. But I don’t. Meanwhile in the US, a Los Angeles courtroom became the site of what could be the first jury

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Privacy

EFA Challenges Australians to Fix the “Privacy Paradox” This World Data Privacy Day

Written by John Pane, Chair of Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. If you’re reading this on January 26, it’s Australia Day. As a public holiday, odds are you’re at a BBQ, enjoying the company of friends and family, and the familiar mix of conversations and banter that BBQs usually bring. Perhaps you have a delicious lamb chop (or a vegetarian-friendly alternative) in one hand, and your favourite beverage in the other. This year, why not turn

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Artificial Intelligence

Open Letter from Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc to the ACCC

This open letter was written by Gillian Dempsey, a barrister and board member of the Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA). Currently the e-Safety Commissioner has attempted to only protect minors from predatory algorithms from particular scheduled Social Media applications pursuant to the Online Safety Rules 2025. These rules only apply to children under the age of 16, but, as a barrister I see several considerable problems that arise from the restriction of access for under 16’s

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Online Safety

Regulate the system, not the child

This post was written by EFA Vice Chair Julian Watchorn. The lessons emerging from AI governance debates are directly relevant to online safety, where reliance on voluntary compliance and identity-based controls threatens privacy and rights while leaving harmful platform design largely unregulated.  Much of the current debate about children’s online safety has narrowed to age verification and age-based bans. While age limits have a place, they risk diverting attention from the underlying problem. The central

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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.