Human rights and ICTs
Together with Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and 70 human rights organisations, APC signed a joint letter to Google's CEO Sundar Pichai concerning Google's plans to launch a censored search engine in China ahead of his testimony before US Congress on 11 December. The project, code-named Dragonfly, is reportedly in development and would be designed to meet the censorship requirements of the Chinese government, including by censoring broad categories of information about human...
To: Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer, Google Inc cc: Ben Gomes, Vice President of Search; Kent Walker, Senior Vice President of Global Affairs; Scott Beaumont, Vice President, Greater China and Korea 11 December 2018 Dear Mr. Pichai, We are writing to ask you to ensure that Google drops Project Dragonfly and any plans to launch a censored search app in China, and to re-affirm the company’s 2010 commitment that it won’t provide censored search services in the country. We are disap...
3 December, 2018. Dear <<First Name>> <<Last Name>>, The Proposal for the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market has been analysed and criticised by many human rights and digital rights organisations. We point to Article 13 as one of the most problematic parts of the proposed Directive. In the last few months, there have been some positive developments regar...
This paper focuses on recent initiatives in three countries (Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania) to “tax” the internet through introducing excise duties on, essentially, internet access and/or use. The East African focus was not intentional, as these kinds of taxation initiatives are occurring in a number of regions in Africa. However, these are countries that have made actual legal enactments (whe...
“The project to develop Internet Universality Indicators is at the very heart of UNESCO’s mandate. It is one of the best examples of UNESCO supporting its Member States in addressing digital gaps and contributing to sustainable development,” commented the Representative of Sweden, one of the donors of the project, at the 31st session of the IPDC (International Programme for Development of...
“We welcome your critique regarding access to the internet and agree with most, if not all, of your criticisms,” stated South Africa’s Deputy Minister of International Relations Luwellyn Landers to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights during the country’s first review at the Committee, which took place on 2 and 3 October. The UN Committee on Economic, Soc...
The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) Awards celebrate individuals and organisations that have made extraordinary contributions to the development, use or study of the internet for the public good. The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) congratulates Karen Banks for being recognised with the OII Lifetime Achievement Award 2018 for her extraordinary, unique and long-lasting contribut...
Dear Mark Zuckerberg: What do the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a Danish member of parliament, and a news anchor from the Philippines have in common? They have all been subject to a misapplication of Facebook’s Community Standards. But unlike the average user, each of these individuals and entities received media attention, were able to reach Facebook staff and, in some cas...
This year’s Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) focuses on community networks. Community networks are “communication networks built, owned, operated, and used by citizens in a participatory and open manner.” This is a starting point. As the 43 country reports gathered here show, in practice, “community networks” can be hybrid systems, with different political and practical obj...
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is mobilising for the 13th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Paris, France, where it will be participating in activities from 11 to 14 November 2018. This page is your go-to resource, compiling: APC's priorities for the 13th Internet Governance Forum, Paris, 2018 A schedule of events that APC and its membe...
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2018
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