Access to information

Governments surveillance and filtration on the internet is increasing. The free-flow of information and the possibilities brought on by new information and communication technologies have become threats to the authoritarian regimes of the world. In these countries, internet users must learn to bypass the control mechanisms that have been implemented by their governments. In response to this n...

The eG8 Forum came to a close yesterday as prominent web leaders met in Paris to discuss the future of the internet. Among the participants was Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia, executive chairman of Google Eric Schmidt, and Mark Zuckerberg of White Plains, New York. The idea behind the forum was to foster communication between lawmakers and industry leaders, in the hopes that this will lead to more c...

Frank La Rue — the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression — is presenting his annual report at the Human Rights Council’s 17th session in Geneva. The report, available here, breaks ground in a number of important areas. It makes clear that States are obliged to allow their citizens access to the internet and that denial of such access due to intellectual property law...

As part of APC’s Connect your rights! campaign, with the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs at the Human Rights Council’s 17th session in Geneva on 3 June, 13:00 to 15:00, room XXV, Palais des Nations. Watch the recording of the event Activists in a demonstration in EgyptIssues addressed include the criminalisation of online expression, the blocking and manipulating of internet cont...

Muhammad Azhar Siddique, the lawyer behind the most recent push to ban social networking sites in Pakistan, told reporters that he spends up to 14 hours a day logged onto Facebook. In his defense the Pakistani lawyer, who succeeded last year in getting Facebook and other sites banned for hosting “blasphemous content”, claims that he uses the site only to “make it mend its wa...