Global Information Society Watch
Regulations pertaining to online spaces have taken many forms. Information and communication technology (ICT) laws throughout Asia have provisions that seek to censor and criminalise speech online. These regulations pose a significant challenge to people’s freedom of expression and their ability to participate in democratic processes such as elections. Media and journalists along with human rights defenders are finding it increasingly difficult to engage in online spaces with the threat of ...
National and Regional Internet Governance Forum Initiatives (NRIs) are now widely recognised as a vital element of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) process. In fact, they are seen to be the key to the sustainability and ongoing evolution of collaborative, inclusive and multistakeholder approaches to internet policy development and implementation. A total of 54 reports on NRIs are gathered in this year's Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch). These include 40 country reports from cont...
National and Regional Internet Governance Forum Initiatives (NRIs) emerged in response to the success of the first two global Internet Governance Forums (IGFs). The Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, the outcome document of the final phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), alongside the call for the creation of the IGF, served as the foundations for the model of bott...
Freedom of expression and opinion online is increasingly criminalised with the aid of penal and internet-specific legislation. With this report, we hope to bring to light the problematic trends in the use of laws against freedom of expression in online spaces in Asia. In this special edition of GISWatch, APC brings together analysis on the criminalisation of online expression from six Asian st...
Together with a special companion edition: "Internet governance from the edges: NRIs in their own words". A groundbreaking report analysing National and Regional Internet Governance Forums will be released at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Geneva, Switzerland, on 20 December 2017. The latest edition of the Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) report will look at local Internet G...
APC has taken initiative to compile two editions of Global Information Society Watch focused on National and Regional IGFs (NRIs). While one will consist of independent and analytical perspectives on the role of NRIs in internet governance, this questionnaire is linked to the second volume, which intends to give voice and visibility to the stories of each NRI, to present their undertakings and ...
The 46 country reports gathered here illustrate the link between the internet and economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs). Some of the topics will be familiar to information and communications technology for development (ICT4D) activists: the right to health, education and culture; the socioeconomic empowerment of women using the internet; the inclusion of rural and indigenous communities ...
Does the internet make the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRS) a stronger possibility, especially for women and gender nonconforming people? This is the question that our edition on ESCRs and the internet seeks to answer. The Global Information Society Watch report on ESCRs looks at various contexts around the world to explore how the internet has acted largely as an ena...
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) has teamed up with members and partners in India, Pakistan and Malaysia to protect and promote human rights on the internet. Our partners Advocacy for Change through Technology in India, Malaysia and Pakistan, abbreviated as APC-IMPACT, is a joint initiative between Digital Empowerment Foundation (India), EMPOWER (Malaysia) and Bytes for All,...
This edition of GISWatch presents stories from around the world on how the politics of sex and sexual rights activism takes place online. We want to research how generally accepted sexual identities, as well as marginalised sexualities, are expressed, regulated and moralised on the internet. We also want to show how this relates to the threats of surveillance, censorship and online violence. Th...

Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2017
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