The Australian government has new laws on the books to hack your computer, your online accounts, and just about any piece of technology and networks you come into contact with. …
90+ digital rights organisations ask Apple to drop image surveillance plans
Digital Rights Watch joins a coalition of more than 90 U.S. and international organizations dedicated to civil rights, digital rights, and human rights, in an open letter to Apple CEO …
Submission: Right to Repair
The Productivity Commission is conducting an inquiry into the ‘Right to Repair’. In June 2021 the draft report was released for public consultation. Digital Rights Watch teamed up with Electronic …
July 2021 Roundup
We’re well past the halfway mark of 2021 now and just when we think we’re going to have a quiet month, the world keeps turning… Government spyware named Pegasus You …
Submission: Digital Identity – Position Paper
In July, the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) wrapped up a public consultation on the Digital Identity Legislation Position Paper. Needless to say, we are concerned about the way that an …
June 2021 Roundup
Ironside and the International Productions Orders (IPO) Bill Operation Ironside, where an encrypted communications application was used to trick and track criminals, gave us a media storm of discussions around …
Rebalance the Internet Economy: EXHIBIT
What is art? What is pornography? A contested distinction that was once made by adult stores, galleries, and the classification board, now falls to digital platforms and their automated content …
May 2021 Roundup
Greetings from… inside our homes. With the majority of our team back in lockdown in Victoria, we have been keeping an eye on coronavirus updates. If you registered to attend …
Policy grounded in surveillance won’t protect women
All this talk of protecting women online reminds me of a quote from renowned feminist and author Mona Eltahawy: “I don’t want to be protected. I want patriarchy to stop …
Our top picks for RightsCon 2021
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not the holidays, it’s RightsCon season! RightsCon is the world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age, hosted by …
Submission to the UN: the right to privacy in the digital age
As the digital ecosystem grows all around us, consuming cities, workplaces, and our places of leisure and even governance, the protection of privacy has been an active frontier between human …
April 2021 Roundup
As the year crawls forward, we’re busy working across a number of different fronts to advance digital rights in Australia. This month we’re looking back at government inquiries, new legislation, …
Anonymity online is important
Imagine if we walked around the real world with a small screen floating above our heads. That screen would update with a different set of information depending on who looked …
Guided Walking Tour – Melbourne Knowledge Week
As our world becomes more digitally dependent, how can we take an active role in shaping the kind of ‘smart city’ we want to live in? At Digital Rights Watch, …
March 2021 Roundup
Can you believe it’s April already? As 2021 zooms along, so too does the digital rights space. Here’s our take on the past month… Techno solutionism strikes again You may …
Techno solutionism—very few things actually need to be an app.
Last week the Twittersphere and news outlets lit up, reporting that the NSW Police Commissioner suggested a mobile application should be created to verify consent between two adults before engaging …
February 2021 Roundup
What a wild few weeks in the digital rights space! Have you been reading the news? As the government, news media, and tech companies fight it out, we’ve been working …
Facebook removed news—what now?
In the latest move of the flexing competition between the Australian government and Big Tech over the News Media Bargaining Code, Facebook has blocked anyone in Australia from sharing or …
Submission: The Online Safety Bill
Digital Rights Watch provided a submission to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communication on the proposed Online Safety Bill 2020. While we welcome the objectives of the …
Explainer: The Online Safety Bill
The Online Safety Bill was introduced in December with the aim to “improve and promote Australia’s online safety.” The Bill contains six key priority areas: A cyber-bullying scheme, to remove …