News: Freedom of expression
Indonesia bans website for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
The website for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission is the latest victim of censorship in Indonesia. It joins a number of other LGBT rights organisations which have been blocked by pornography filters.
Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM): new video and site launch
The APC has been refining its Gender Evaluation Metholodolgy (GEM) since it was first elaborated in 2001. GEM can help you determine whether your project or initiative is really improving the lives of women and promoting positive change in the community you are working in.
Make the Connection! First winner announced
The first winner of the Connect Your Rights: Make the Connection contest is Charlie Parra del Riego for his hilarious SOPA Guitar Solo. To learn how you can submit your own content, check out our call for submissions.
ICTs, climate change and development workshop
In partnership with the University of Manchester, APC co-hosted a workshop from January 22 – 24 in Johannesburg to discuss findings, challenges and key actions going forward on how ICTs can help mitigate climate change and help communities better adapt to the increasing changes in their local environments.
APC launches new GreeningIT site
While ICTs can help the environment, they can also be harmful. APC’s GreeningIT project takes a look at the green and not so green side of ICTs to find out how they can be used more sustainably by civil society, governments, service providers and users in general.
New gTLD Applicant Support Programme does not go far enough
APC welcomes the proposal, while noting that it does not go far enough in supporting developing country applicants. To be truly successful, the proposal must include provisions for greater capacity building, increased transparency and a more representative review panel which would include experts from developing countries.
Make the Connection
Where were you when you first “connected your rights”? The Connect your rights! campaign is calling for submissions of blogs, poems, digital stories, artwork and other visuals to help others make the connection. The top submissions will be featured on rights.apc.org
Take Back the Tech! campaign now a global movement
“A creative and revolutionary movement”, says APC’s women programme coordinator, Jac sm Kee, about the Take Back The Tech! campaign. In this editorial by GenderIT.org, it becomes evident that the campaign is already a global movement.
Campaign Take Back The Tech! registered more than 100 cases of gender violence through ICT
The Take Back The Tech! campaign, run by APC WNSP, launched an interactive mapping platform which collected more than one hundred stories about gender violence online or through mobile phones. In this article by GenderIT.org, Sonia Randhawa outlines some of the tendencies that stand out when analizing the collected information.
Why the Stop Online Piracy Act might pass -- and why it shouldn't
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is being debated in the US House of Representatives today. Wildly unpopular, this bill is the latest in a series of extreme and reactionary legislation that seek a heavy-handed approach to dealing with copyright infringement online. If passed, SOPA would grant broad powers to censor and restrict content on the Internet.
APC reviews the 2011 IGF
“There were very strong human rights themes across the main sessions, particularly around freedom of expression and freedom of association. However it is time for human rights to be the principal theme of the Seventh IGF,” says APC as the world’s oldest progressive network reflects on the progress of the UN conference on how the internet is run.
Join us in putting the internet on the human rights agenda
The Association for Progressive Communications, in coordination with local members and networks, successfully submitted UPR reports for India, Brazil, South Africa and Ecuador focused on internet-related human rights issues. We call on civil society groups and governments to lobby for internet-related rights issues to be on the agenda in their respective countries.
New report on internet and democracy is dedicated to the Arab revolutions
On Human Rights Day APC and Hivos launch Information Society Watch 2011. We investigate how governments and internet and mobile phone companies are restricting freedom online – and how citizens are responding to this using the very same technologies.
APC member Bytes for All condemns SMS keyword filtering in Pakistan
Bytes for All, APC’s member in Pakistan, has written an open letter to the Prime Minister and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority criticising the proposed plan to filter keywords in sms messages.
APC's UPR submissions set the stage for government accountability on internet rights
APC is pleased to announce the submission of country reports for India, Brazil, South Africa and Ecuador for the Universal Periodic Review process, which will convene at the UN in May 2012. These reports mark the first time that internet-related human rights issues have been raised as part of the UPR, and sets the stage for holding governments accountable.
APC's submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Ecuador
APC’s submission for Ecuador to the Universal Period Review process, with support from CIESPAL and Radialistas Apasionadas y Apasionados, highlights the critical importance of the Internet for human rights, as well as social and economic development.
APC member Bytes for All condemns Pakistan's new censorship policy
The Pakistan Telecommunications authority has issued a directive to all cellular providers to begin filtering SMS keywords, the latest in a series of restrictions to freedom of expression in the country.
Map it. End it. Take Back the Tech!
We call on campaigners to collectively gather evidence for transformation, strengthen our capacity for safer experiences online and amplify our rights in addressing technology-related violence against women. Take control of technology to end violence against women.
APC's Joy Liddicoat to advise on critical internet governance issues
APC is proud to announce that Joy Liddicoat has just been elected for a two-year term to the Generic Names Supporting Organisation (GNSO) Council. This council is one of the key venues through which civil society can voice its opinions and effect internet governance policy.
APC calls for the immediate release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah
APC condemns the imprisonment of Alaa Abd El-Fattah, an influential Egyptian activist and blogger and long-time APC collaborator, for his conscientious objection to the use of military courts to try civilians in Egypt.
