Promoting and protecting digital rights since 1994

EFA is an independent non-profit association that relies on membership subscriptions and donations. If you're concerned about digital rights in Australia, please join or donate today.
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Updates from EFA
Artificial Intelligence

Digital Fairness, AI Self-Regulation and the Limits of Voluntary Safety Framework

This post was written by EFA Vice Chair Julian Watchorn and EFA board member Kirsten Frederiksen. 1. The Limits of Corporate Self-Regulation A longstanding axiom in public policy is that corporate self-regulation is ineffective whenvast sums of money are at stake. This has been demonstrated repeatedly across sectors such as finance, environmental protection, tobacco, gambling, and digital platforms. Where commercial incentives strongly favour rapid growth, market dominance, or first-mover advantage, voluntary safeguards tend to weaken,

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General

Results of 2025 EFA Annual General Meeting

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) held its Annual General Meeting on 29 November 2025, with 16 candidates vying for 7 board positions.  We used Opavote to manage the election process and, after the processing of preferences, we welcome the re-appointment of our existing board members and the appointment of 5 new board members for 2025/2026. Thank you to those who participated in the nomination process but missed out on being selected. We appreciate your passion for

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Social media

5 Pieces of Advice for Teens Impacted by  the Social Media Ban 

1. Acknowledge and Validate Your Feelings 2. Prioritise and Maintain Your Key Connections 3. Preserve Your Memories and Content 4. Explore Alternative, Age-Appropriate Spaces 5. Remember: This is a Pause, Not a Permanent End If you’re feeling overwhelmed or need to talk to someone right now, please reach out to: Image credit: Vitaly Gariev

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Artificial Intelligence

EFA Condemns Government’s “Opportunity-First” AI Plan: Our Safety Sacrificed as Ex Ante Laws Are Bumped

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) condemned the Australian Government’s decision to abandon standalone, ex ante (proactive) AI legislation, warning the imminent National AI Plan prioritises “opportunity-first” adoption at the expense of citizen safety, fundamental digital rights and basic legal safeguards. “The early signals are clear,” said EFA Chair John Pane. “Many people are unaware that this Big Tech and Big Business friendly light touch approach to regulation was also used in the implementation of the National

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General

Notice of Annual General Meeting

The EFA Annual General Meeting is to be held on Saturday, 29 November 2025 at 13.00 AEDT.  The meeting will be held on Google Meet. Details at end of this email. The Constitution dictates that at least five positions are up for election each year and accordingly, there are seven Board positions open for election. All currently serving Board members are eligible to nominate again, should they choose to do so.  Meeting Agenda The meeting will consider

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Surveillance

Being Snooped On by your Boss? SafeTrac Case Should be a Wake Up Call for All

Disturbing revelations have emerged that compliance training company SafeTrac covertly activated the microphones on employees’ laptops while they were working from home and recorded conversations in the name of monitoring productivity. Ironically, SafeTrac’s core business is advising companies on how to adhere to the law. Yet, they may have broken the law themselves by covertly surveilling their employees through their use of an employee monitoring software called Teramind, a matter currently under investigation by the

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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.