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
Facial Recognition

EFA condemns WA Police deployment of live facial recognition — an Australian first

23 June 2026 – Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) has strongly condemned the Western Australia Police Force’s deployment of live facial recognition technology in public spaces. In this Australian first, a marked police van will be used outside major events and in crowded areas to scan the faces of people walking past in real time. “This is an outrageous act of police overreach and a fundamental breach of our individual and collective human and digital rights.”

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Privacy

2026 Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey: Insights from a Digital Rights Perspective

This post was written by John Pane, board chair of Electronic Frontiers Australia. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s latest Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey, released on 28 May, provides a comprehensive overview of privacy attitudes and experiences among people in Australia and how they have been impacted by recent events. ACAPS is a longstanding study commissioned by the OAIC, published approximately every three years to evaluate individuals’ awareness, understanding, behaviour and concerns

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Internet Governance

No Press Freedom Without Digital Freedom

World Press Freedom Day reminds us that democracy depends on people being able to speak, report, and scrutinise power without fear. Journalists expose corruption, inform the public, and hold institutions to account. In 2026, many of the most serious threats to press freedom are digital. Today, press freedom depends not only on whether journalists can legally publish, but also on whether they can investigate safely, protect confidential sources, communicate securely, and operate without disproportionate surveillance.

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Copyright

World IP Day 2026: Copyright, Creativity, and the Future of AI in Australia

Written by Julian Watchorn, Vice-Chair, Electronic Frontiers Australia. On World Intellectual Property Day, we are reminded that copyright is not a barrier to innovation: it is one of the systems that helps make innovation possible. In 2026, that system is under pressure. As governments accelerate investment in artificial intelligence, there is a growing push to weaken or sidestep copyright protections in favour of training large language models (LLMs). At its core is a familiar but

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Freedom of Information

FOI Documents Reveal OAIC Echoes EFA’s Critique of the Government’s Age Assurance Technology Trial

Newly released documents seen by EFA and obtained by Cam Wilson (a journalist for Crikey and friend of EFA) —read the full Crikey article here — under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that internal assessments by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) align substantially with the early warnings and independent observations made by Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) regarding inaccurate claims around privacy compliance by participating vendors in the Australian Government’s Age Assurance Technology

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Freedom of Information

Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2026 Withdrawn

Written by John Pane, EFA Chair. Following some very spirited debate today in the Senate, EFA is quite happy to announce that the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill has been withdrawn. In respect of Senator Gallagher’s (LAB) comments in the Senate today that “….the intention of the bill was to modernise the FOI process, reduce hours and dollars spent on processing requests and protect public servants from abuse”, EFA considers these comments to be quite

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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.