Digital Rights Watch is an Australian charity organisation founded in 2016 that aims to educate and uphold the

digital rights Digital rights are those human rights and legal rights that allow individuals to access, use, create, and publish digital media or to access and use computers, other electronic devices, and telecommunications networks. The concept is partic ...

of Australian citizens.

History

In 2016, largely in response to the introduction of Australia's mandatory metadata retention scheme, Digital Rights Watch was created at a meeting of representatives from Australian human rights organisations, activists, political advisers, technology consultants and academics. To coordinate a civil society response to the metadata retention scheme as well as other key digital rights violations, a new organisation was founded with the aim of aligning and supporting existing efforts.

Focus

Digital Rights Watch's mission is to ensure that Australian citizens are equipped, empowered and enabled to uphold their digital rights. The organisation works on advocacy, policy reform and public-facing campaigns that push for ethical data use by corporations, good digital government practices and policies, a rights-based legal system, and empowered and informed citizens.

Structure

Digital Rights Watch is an incorporated Association, registered as a national

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

with the

Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) is the regulatory authority for charities and not-for-profit organisations within Australia. The Commission was established in December 2012 as part of the ''Australian Chariti ...

. It is a member-run organisation, with a board of directors elected once a year at its Annual General Meeting. The organisation also operates an Advisory Council, which informs and advises on policy and strategy. Digital Rights Watch is a member of the

CIVICUS CIVICUS is an international non-profit organisation, which describes itself as “a global alliance dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world." Founded in 1993, the organisation today counts more than 8500 memb ...

World Alliance for Citizen Participation, the Australian Digital Inclusion Alliance, and the global Keep It On campaign. In October 2017, Digital Rights Watch's Chair Tim Singleton Norton received a special mention in the

Access Now Access Now is a non-profit organization founded in 2009 with a mission to defend and extend the digital civil rights of people around the world. Access Now supports programs including an annual conference on Human Rights (RightsCon), an index ...

br>Global Heroes and Villains of Human Rights Awards
Digital Rights Watch often works in partnerships with other Australian digital or human rights organisations such as the Human Rights Law Centre,

Amnesty International Australia Amnesty International Australia is a section of the Amnesty International network, and is part of the global movement promoting and defending human rights and dignity. Concerns and campaigns Human rights in the Asia-Pacific region is a key co ...

Electronic Frontiers Australia Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. (EFA) is a non-profit Australian national non-government organisation representing Internet users concerned with online liberties and rights. It has been vocal on the issue of Internet censorship in Australia. ...

, the Australian Privacy Foundation,

ACFID The Australian Council For International Development (ACFID) is an independent national association of Australian non-government organisations (NGOs) working in the field of international aid and development. ACFID was founded in 1965, with Syd E ...

and others. Digital Rights Watch also works with international groups such as

, Electronic Frontiers Foundation,

Open Media Open Media is a British television production company, best known for the discussion series '' After Dark'', described in the national press as "the most original programme on television". The company was founded in 1987 and has produced more t ...

EDRi European Digital Rights (EDRi) is an international advocacy group headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. EDRi is a network collective of non-profit organizations (NGO), experts, advocates and academics working to defend and advance digital rights ...

Privacy International Privacy International (PI) is a UK-based registered charity that defends and promotes the right to privacy across the world. First formed in 1990, registered as a non-profit company in 2002 and as a charity in 2012, PI is based in London. Its cu ...

and others.

Campaigns

In August 2016, Digital Rights Watch coordinated a campaign, including media coverage, expressing concern over privacy issues raised in the Australian national census. On 13 April 2017, Digital Rights Watch declared a national day of action against mandatory data retention, calling for all Australians to 'Get a

VPN A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. The be ...

'. In August 2017, Digital Rights Watch hosted an event as part of the

Melbourne Writers Festival Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) is an annual literary festival held in the Australian city of Melbourne, a UNESCO City of Literature. The Festival runs during early September each year. Melbourne Writers Festival is part of the Word Alliance, a ...

in which they profiled the personal metadata footprint of Professor

Gillian Triggs Gillian Doreen Triggs (born 30 October 1945) is an Australian academic specialising in public international law. In 2019, she was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, A ...

, former President of the

Australian Human Rights Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but oper ...

. In September 2017, Digital Rights Watch partnered with

to push fo
greater transparency over intelligence sharing operations
between governments. In May 2018, Digital Rights Watch launched th
State of Digital Rights report
outlining several ways that Australian citizen's digital rights are being eroded. Between October and December 2018, Digital Rights Watch coordinated a public campaign ''The Alliance for a Safe and Secure Internet'' against proposed legislation that gave increased powers to law enforcement to break encryption protocols. In May 2019, Digital Rights Watch partnered with

to launch th
Save Australian Technology
campaign.

References

{{reflist

External links

Digital Rights Watch website

Digital Rights Watch ACNC register
Political organisations based in Australia Privacy organizations Human rights organisations based in Australia Advocacy groups in Australia Digital rights organizations