EFA : Electronic Frontiers Australia in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory | Non-profit organisation

EFA : Electronic Frontiers Australia

Locality: Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Address: GPO Box 1235 2601 Canberra, ACT, Australia

Website: https://efa.org.au

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24.01.2022 They are pushing this through as fast as they can. Over 420 submissions weren't published because the senate office didn't have enough time to ask people. Do you trust this committee to look past scare mongering? To hold the government to the powers they already have? And to not ruin privacy and the Australian tech industry? ... If you don't, pick up the phone this week and call a Labor senator. Saying "I object to the assistance and access bill and the speed you are pushing it through" is enough. "The Labor senator Jenny McAllister noted that cutting short the inquiry would come with some costs including the greater likelihood of unforeseen consequences without proper scrutiny and amendments."

23.01.2022 The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) could be allowed to directly access telecommunications metadata and other records such as those held by banks under a proposal aired by Treasury late last week.

22.01.2022 Can you spare some time and knowledge to help us shape the future of digital rights in Australia? Are you passionate about protecting civil liberties and free speech? EFA is currently seeking members’ expressions of interest in joining the policy team. Or if you know someone that would be excellent, or could use the career building opportunity tap them on the shoulder and tell them about EFA and to join. EFA’s policy team develops EFA policy, informs recommendations to gover...Continue reading

21.01.2022 InnovationAus.com wrote about our election fundraising to coordinate efforts to get tech issues into the mainstream and lobby politicians on existing and potential legislation for digital rights in Australia.

20.01.2022 We've teamed up with Digital Rights Watch to raise $20,000 (matched dollar for dollar) to make our politicians in Canberra notice & take digital rights seriously. Add your voice to the roar: https://chuffed.org/project/efa-election-2019

18.01.2022 Media Release: EFA says there is no justification for rushing Assistance & Access Bill Civil society and the technology industry have serious concerns about the proposed Assistance and Access Bill and Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) is extremely concerned that the Australian government is rushing the review of the proposed Assistance and Access Bill. Despite comments made by the Minister for Home Affairs that the Bill needs to be passed quickly and before Christmas, ASIO...Continue reading

18.01.2022 Meh, they didn't need the role anyway... The Government's attitude of, "if we don't listen, it's not a threat", looks to be at play here. But even optics aren't important to Home Affairs. They don't want to listen to cyber security experts, or to have them at the table, that doesn't mean the risks and issues go away. Rewriting the laws of maths, reality, and the Internet. It's not pretty.

17.01.2022 Digital and Internet policy features heavily in this wrap up. Is a government that can computer too much for Australian's to ask for....

17.01.2022 We’ve reached 70% of our Easter fundraising $10,000 goal. Will you help us reach 100%? https://chuffed.org/project/efa-election-2019

16.01.2022 The EFA board is pleased to welcome Eliza Sorenson, Steve King, and Michelle Meares to the board. Eliza Sorensen works in infrastructure and security, and they are an advocate for digital rights and a co-founder of Assembly Four. Eliza believes in education rather than abstinence and the power that an engaged community can bring. They run digital security and privacy workshops for minority communities and speaking about the impact internet policy can have. Steve King is a sel...f-proclaimed ‘hacker’ of things who spends his time looking at the systems and processes businesses, government, and people use to keep their information safe, and what they can do to improve it. His real-world experience with modern IT systems helps him to advise how digital rights can be protected today, and in the future. Michelle Meares ran a web development business for over ten years and is now a lawyer with privacy experience including working on the Australian Law Reform Commission Inquiry into Serious Invasions of Privacy in Digital Age and she currently sits on the Law Society of New South Wales Privacy and Data Law Committee. The new board members will hold office until the next Annual General Meeting. The board would also like to thank outgoing board member Dr Liam Pomfret for his vital contribution to the board over the past year and a half. His active involvement was instrumental in helping to revitalise the organisation. While his other commitments unfortunately mean he has decided to leave the board at this time, he will remain an active member of the organisation, and EFA hopes that he will once again seek election to the board at some point in the future.

16.01.2022 What's worse than coping grief for a crappy decision in your portfolio? Having to cop it for someone elses. 1000x if there is complicated tech that you sure as shit can't explain. So when you are putting together your email on the Assistance and Access Bill to Home Affairs [email protected] (by midnight Monday) and telling them what you think drop in a cc to other Ministers whose jobs will be affected by this bill. Think that it's going to impact... Industry, Science and Technology? There's a Minister for that Karen Andrews - [email protected] Think bad encyption will hurt companies and mean job loss? Email Minister for Jobs and Industrial Relations Kelly O’Dwyer - [email protected] Is it a Foreign Affairs issue if Australia's encyption is weakened? Ask Foreign Affairs Marise Payne for a response [email protected] We wrote a blog post with some more ministers and some links too https://www.efa.org.au//the-proposed-home-affairs-assista/

15.01.2022 Not quite sure what the Assistance & Access Bill means? You're not alone - here is a good thread with smart people chatting

11.01.2022 "Beneath the anger and memes of the election campaign is another lesson: no Australian is safe online thanks to the government’s broken approach to digital righ...ts. And, just as we hold politicians to account for what they say online, we should really hold them to account for what they’re doing to us online." - Lyndsey Jackson from EFA : Electronic Frontiers Australia writing in Right Now See more

10.01.2022 ITWire’s story - EFA urges Australians to take steps to protect online privacy https://itwire.com//efa-urges-australians-to-take-steps-to

09.01.2022 Lots of people on big salaries spent a lot of hours to come up with ideas that will hurt many, good to see it's not so easy. Tax payers dollars spent experimenting with people's lives "The problem is the rest of the economy - particularly bank transaction, card processing and retail stock keeping systems - don't seem prepared to rebuild functional national systems for Centrelink's specific needs."

08.01.2022 Media Release: EFA Condemns Federal Police Raid of the ABC Australia, 5 June 2019: Electronic Frontiers Australia, the premier digital rights body promoting and protecting digital rights since 1994, condemns second raid of journalists by the Australian Federal Police in as many days. Just yesterday we were calling out the disgraceful authoritarian behaviour of the AFP in raiding journalist Annika Smethurst, said EFA Chair Lyndsey Jackson. Now we have the AFP conducting a r...aid on our national broadcaster over a story from two years ago that revealed allegations of unlawful killings and misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan. It is intimidation, plain and simple, she said. It is obviously in the public interest for journalists to write stories about misdeeds conducted in our name by our governments. Those who have the courage to blow the whistle on illegal activities by government bodies risk a great deal to hold the powerful to account for their actions. They deserve to be protected from retaliation. The AFP’s actionsyesterday and todayillustrates that here in Australia we do not enjoy the freedoms available in other nations, and it is well past due for Australia to have a national Bill of Rights that enshrines basic freedoms at the highest level of the law. For far too long major parties have conspired to pass laws that undermine Australians’ basic rights, and the past couple of days are the direct result. These powers must be removed before they can be abused any further.

07.01.2022 Our Policy Lead, Angus Murray, speaks about The Weakest Link: Australia providing assistance and access to the Five Eyes https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au//the-weakest-lin/

07.01.2022 EFA condemns the actions today of the Australian Federal Police in executing a raid of journalist Annika Smethurst in apparent retaliation for her story exposing plans for unprecedented levels of government spying on Australians. This is an obvious attempt to bully and intimidate journalists reporting on the latest attempted power grab by the already over-powerful Department of Home Affairs. This kind of authoritarian posturing has no place in Australian society. It should be... condemned by everyone who values a free society. A transparent and public discussion about human rights, privacy, and security in the online era is badly overdue. If the government is serious about respecting Australians’ right to privacy and security then it should be prepared to discuss its plans on their merits and in the open.

05.01.2022 Clicking like on a facebook post does not set the expectation that you will go into a parties Nation Builder system. If you click the angry face you are unhappy, therefore should that be non consent? Time for political parties to stop being exempt from Privacy Law. Though this may give insight into why the Palmer Party has your phone number... maybe it was that awful inspirational quote or meme you liked that one time...

02.01.2022 The last day of hearings into the Assistance and Access Bill is on today. The Government want to rush this before Christmas - but Labor are realising that this bill won't technically achieve it's aims. And the damage it will do to the Australian tech industry and people's privacy is becoming clear to them. Can you pick up the phone today and phone a Labor Senator or MP? ... Just telling them you oppose the bill is enough. https://digitalrights.good.do/aabill_say_no_efa/phone

02.01.2022 Doctors, Lawyers, and Privacy Experts Denounce Sharing Patient Health Data for Secondary Use https://www.efa.org.au//media-release-doctors-lawyers-and/