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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Bangladesh: Focus on climate change means that e-waste has been ignored
Bangladesh has committed to becoming “Digital Bangladesh” by 2021. But fifteen years after liberalising the telecommunications industry, the country faces a significant e-waste problem. And because e-waste belongs to no specific sector but rather, crosses over into several, it is a challenge to create any policies for its management and disposal, says a new report commissioned by APC and written by Partha Sarker and Munir Hassan.
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.
APC in Qatar for an interfaith dialogue on social networking
Followers turned to Twitter to receive words of guidance from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Chief Rabbi and Muslim leaders during the London riots in August. APC’s Dafne Plou was in Qatar to follow how today’s religious progressives are using social networking to spread their messages.
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.
APC to push for internet rights in UN human rights reviews
The human rights records of forty-eight countries are under review this year as part of the Universal Periodic Review process. APC’s Joy Liddicoat and Henrik Almstrom explain the significance of the UPR and how APC is working for it to protect rights online.
Sneak preview of GISWatch 2011
The new edition of Global Information Society Watch 2011 focuses on internet rights and democracy. It features stories from almost 60 countries including on internet in prisons in Argentina and the role of social media during the Arab uprisings. GISW 2011 is out in December but you can read some chapters now online. 
90% of India's e-waste is recycled informally – when will gov't policy recognise this?
According to the GISWatch 2010 report, electronics is the fastest growing sector in India and are purchased by about 52 million people. From 1993 to 2000 the number of PCs owned by Indians grew 604% and one can only imagine how many computers have been bought since then.
APC welcomes the passing of the Swedish resolution to investigate human rights on the internet
The Swedish proposal to establish an expert panel on human rights and the internet passes by consensus at the Human Rights Council. APC welcomes this as a crucial step to having internet rights be the theme of the 2012 IGF.
Can we have internet governance without internet rights?
APC’s pre-event on access as a right helps bring human rights issues to the forefront at the Internet Governance Forum in Nairobi
Op-Ed: Colombian Law Sets Dangerous Precedent says APC
Colombian lawmakers are studying the “Lleras law”, the latest effort by that country to secure a free trade agreement with the United States by submitting to U.S. demands to comply with U.S. intellectual property laws. The bill is currently being fast-tracked with little input or consultation from Colombian citizens.
