[…] In this inaugural edition of In Focus I talk to the Association For Progressive Communications‘ Lisa Cyr, Communications, Media and Promotions Associate and Grady Johnson, the communications associate for the Connect Your Rights! Campaign and Internet rights project on the evolving mission of APC, Internet Access as a human right and the intertwining issues of Internet Censorship and Internet Surveillance.
APC in the media and selected publications
[…] USIP’s New Media and Peacebuilding Resource Center provides peacebuilders with various tools that will help them integrate new media tools – mobile phones, social networking websites, and crisis mapping tools – into their work more effectively. New media tools change the way peacebuilders do their work in country, but they also bring with them a growing body of knowledge around security concerns, infrastructure needs, and best practices. This Resource Center aggregates this body of knowledge in one place, making it an ideal, one-stop-shop for NGOs, trainers, and peacebuilding professionals who are trying to expand their toolset to include new technology innovations.
[…] A growing number of nongovernmental organizations are also dedicating themselves to Internet policy advocacy: informing the public about complicated issues that the news media often doesn’t cover well and lobbying governments to change or improve laws so the Internet can remain as open and free as possible. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology are just two of many such groups in the United States. Counterparts exist all over the world: the Open Rights Group in the UK, Bit of Freedom in the Netherlands, Netzpolitik in Germany, La Quadrature du Net in France, Jinbonet in South Korea, and many others. Other more globally focused organizations such as the South Africa-based Associated for Progressive Communications are working to coordinate policy strategy on a global level lobbying the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Internet Governance Forum, ICANN, the OECD, and other regional and international organizations.
[…] Anriette Esterhuysen, director of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), adds that TV white spaces technology is ideally suited to the provision of Internet services in rural Africa. Not only do television broadcast frequencies cover enormous geographic areas, but in Africa, there are very few broadcasters and therefore fewer opportunities for interference between different transmissions, she says. APC’s call for the deregulation of the TV white spaces spectrum is part of its wider campaign aimed at ensuring free and open Internet access for all people in SA.
[…] Take Back The Tech! is one example of this. A global collaborative campaign of the APC’s Women’s Networking and Support Programme, it takes place during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence and is a useful resource for women. The campaign is a call to everyone, especially women and girls, to take control of technology to end violence against women. Its website (www.takebackthetech.net) has a wealth of information and tips for women on how to be safer online.
[…] “What we have seen in the last three years is that no longer do governments shy away from attempting to regulate Internet content,” said Joy Liddicoat, project co-ordinator at New Zealand-based Association for Progressive Communications, which seeks to protect people’s rights on and to the Internet.
[…] “Take Back The Tech!”, is one example of this. A South African collaborative campaign, it takes place during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence (25 November to 10 December) and is a useful resource for women.
[…] The Global Information Society Watch reported last year that ICTs could help to cut total production of greenhouse gases by as much as fifteen percent by twenty twenty. Alan Finlay is with the Association for Progressive Communications. He also helped to prepare the GISWatch report. He says the effect of using ICTs to build cleaner environments is far more powerful than their harmful effects
[…] “Without a doubt information and communication technologies (ICTs) are changing the way we carry out our activism – in our neighbourhoods or globally – and women´s rights activists are in the thick of it.” AWID interviewed Erika Smith of the Association for Progressive Communications Women’s Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) on women using ICTs to mobilize.
[…] APC is strongly opposed to holding intermediaries liable in this way for what users do on their network. Intermediaries are neither appropriate nor qualified actors to enforce copyright policy. There are many legitimate uses of copyright material such as fair use for news reporting, political satire, and research.
“[…] As the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) points out, the petition appeals to moral and ethical concerns but cites examples that aren’t backed up by facts. Coupled with the alarming citation of Saudi Arabia and China as effective models for internet governance, Pakistan’s approach to the internet has taken a dramatic turn unfitting of a democracy.”
[…] Moawad is part of a women’s collective called Nasawiya which runs programs in various fields from politics to writing. It has an ongoing program called Take Back the Tech aimed mainly at women in their 20s.
As the country with the highest amount of Facebook users in the world, the Philippines are becoming increasingly tech savvy. But cases of cyber-harassment and cyber-stalking are now on the rise in the country and in the entire world. Kara Santos lists tips that women and girls can use to stay safe online.
The Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court has ruled in favour of a petition to ban several
social networking websites including Facebook Yahoo, MSN and Wikipedia. The ruling released on 13 May 13 found that Facebook and other websites were in violation of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, and should be banned. Clea Caulcutt of RFI interviews APC’s Grady Johnson to find out more.
[…] Through grants given by the Association for Progressive Communications and the Foundation for Media Alternatives, various NGOs have launched projects that seek to empower women and children using ICTs. The grant winners were announced last December.
[…] Activists like Fariha Akhtar are working to curb violence against women through Information and Communication Technology. Akhtar is associated with a global campaign called “Take Back the Tech” whose aim is to make women worldwide aware of their rights and responsibilities on the web. A common response from women who have been bullied online is to withdraw from using technology. Fariha strongly advocates against such an approach, instead encouraging women to take ownership of technology and use it to speak out against abuse.
[…] Take Back the Tech (TBTT), a global campaign to end gender-based violence against women by reclaiming the use of ICTs (Information and Communication Technology), is about using technology to empower women (read more about TBTT in the archives on newslinemagazine.com) – and the digital storytelling format does that. In a digital story, the storyteller makes use of, and mixes “words, pictures, music” for impact, to narrate his/her story. Currently up for viewing is one such story titled ‘My body, My country.’ Blogs, which almost seem to be a traditional medium in comparison to the digital format, use the good old-fashioned tool – writing – for storytelling.
[ … ] The Open Institute Organisation in cooperation with the Ministries of Women’s Affairs and Education and other NGOs has launched a campaign to use information communications technology to reach women through radio shows, cell phones and the internet.
…While modern innovations have made lives easier for millions of women worldwide, they have also led to a rise in cases of electronic violence against women or ‘eVAW’… “Violence against women is mutating because of technology,” says Cheekay Cinco of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). “The Internet has opened up private lives into new avenues of potential violence.”

