Stories about: EFA

Federal senators are prevented from researching online because of repressive Internet content filters which have been installed within the offices of parliament.

James Fallows, national correspondent for US publication The Atlantic Monthly, has experienced "The Great Firewall of China" firsthand, an experience people from around the world will share this summer when the Olympics comes to that country. Based in Beijing, Fallows has researched the underlying technology that the Chinese use for Internet censorship, and he explained it in a recent article titled "The Connection Has Been Reset." We e-mailed Fallows questions about how the Chinese government controls Internet content available to its citizens, and here's what he had to say (Check out our slideshow on the 10 ways the Chinese Internet is different from yours).

It will be easier for law enforcement to install wiretaps in public telephones, cafe computers and mobile phones under proposed amendments to the Telecommunications (Interception) Act (TIA) discussed in a Senate hearing last week.

Sweeping reforms will make it easier than ever for law enforcement to intercept communications if amendments to the Telecommunications (Interceptions) Act are agreed upon by a Senate standing committee.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs), IT managers and the Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) have slammed the federal government's national content filtering scheme and dubbed it a technically impossible token gesture.

The lawsuit filed by 2Clix against Whirlpool forum creator, Simon Wright, could have a "chilling effect" on reasonable and factual comments people may make on Internet forums, according to David Vaile, executive director of the Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre at UNSW.

It's common practice. A message arrives in your inbox. You read it, realize that it may interest a friend, and pass it on accordingly. But be warned -- that simple, seemingly innocuous push of the forward button could be sending out more information than you think.

The three largest groups in the European Parliament have decided to conditionally show their approval of a controversial patent agreement, in a move that is likely to have a significant effect on the future of European software patent policy.

When they're under pressure from Australian government agencies, don't think your Internet Service Provider (ISP) will protect your privacy.

A scrap has broken out between two Australian online watchdogs over the country's proposed anti-spam legislation.

Electronic Frontiers Australia has trenchantly criticised the Australian federal “anti-spam” bill, a phrase EFA insists on putting in quotation marks. The proposed legislation is not really an anti-spam measure, says the online freedoms and rights lobby. In its present form, it both permits some messages most people would classify as spam and prohibits some “unsolicited commercial emails” such as job offers in response to a published CV, which the recipient would no doubt wish to receive.