Promoting and protecting digital rights since 1994
Updates from EFA
Click-to-Lie With a Password Manager
Sketchy marketers, surveillance capitalists, and all manner of dodgy dealers like to ask intrusive questions you shouldn’t have to answer. Unfortunately, the magic* of computers means the forms they make you use can require certain fields to be filled in. Unlike a paper form, you can’t just leave them blank, but there is something you can do that is both effective and fun. Lying. “But Justin, I’m a busy person,” I hear you say, “I
The democratic obligation to repeal authoritarian laws
A society’s norms can shift fast. In the last decade, compulsory metadata retention for broad surveillance purposes has gone from a controversy to a scandal, to a fact of Australian life, to an insufficient power that needs to be augmented by yet more invasive ones. Military control over cryptography and other exports has gone from a joke to a harsh reality to, again, an insufficient power that supposedly needs to be expanded. Australia urgently needs
EFA Complains to OAIC About Retailers Use of Facial Surveillance
EFA joins DRW and APF to file a joint complaint with the OAIC regarding Bunnings, Kmart, and The Good Guys use of facial surveillance.
Poor ABC coverage of facial surveillance
EFA and DRW complained to the ABC about an article on facial surveillance that was we are concerned that we believe is actively harmful, misleading, and overlooks essential legal and ethical points.
Australian Retailers Using Face Surveillance
Customers were shocked to learn that major Australian retailers are using face surveillance. EFA demands that they stop.
The Senate Assurance Bill plugs a critical gap in Australian Election security
By Vanessa Teague In all the attention given to voter ID, a bill that really does improve the security of Australian Elections has gone mostly unremarked: The Electoral Legislation Amendment (Assurance of Senate Counting) Bill. The bill proposes—for the first time in Australian history—an open, statistical audit of the paper Senate ballots against the digitised preferences to verify that they have been accurately digitised before they are counted. Transparent processes that provide evidence of an
Help fight for our digital rights
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Australia’s copyright laws are outdated, inflexible and not fit for the digital age.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.