Latest Articles

Fair copyright

Australia’s copyright law is hopelessly out of date. Things that we all take for granted – forwarding emails; quoting; making and sharing memes; cloud storage – are often illegal in Australia. Fair use would fix this.

Meta data retention laws and the surveillance society

Who’s watching you? And what are they doing with what they’re seeing… and hearing?

Last month the Abbott/Turnbull government metadata retention laws kicked in. The implications for us as citizens, in what we like to think of, as a democracy, are massive, and disturbing.

Budget 2017 – a missed opportunity to act on digital rights

Budget 2017 initiatives relevant to digital rights, surveillance and privacy:

“This Budget could not have been more out of step with what the public are demanding in terms of their digital rights. It’s disappointing to see such a huge opportunity lost in favour of a draconian approach to privacy and the rights of Australian citizens,” said Digital Rights Watch Chair Tim Singleton Norton.

Digital privacy advocates declare 13 April national day of action against data retention

As Australia’s mandatory data retention scheme comes into effect, Digital Rights Watch is urging citizens to protect themselves from unwarranted mass surveillance, declaring Thursday 13 April as ‘National Get A VPN Day’.

Get a VPN

From 13 April 2017, all Australian telecommunication providers are required to collect your metadata and provide it to your Government. Many interactions we have in the digital world are being collected and stored by our communications providers, all without adequate safeguards. This program requires no warrants, has very little oversight and has received condemnation from human rights experts worldwide.