Strategic use of the internet

With the COVID-19 pandemic, people everywhere are asked to cease physical interactions and the internet has become the lifeline for the work of human rights defenders currently working from home. What does this mean in Uganda, a country with low internet access?

This is a compilation of articles and other resources and initiatives featured by the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), an APC member organisation, in their latest newsletter.

There is a need to balance the use of technology with human rights in response to the pandemic. Otherwise, we might risk losing the rights and freedoms we had steadily gained over many years.

While COVID-19 continues to ravage the world, there is growing concern that critical messages about the disease that are disseminated by health authorities, telecom companies, and broadcasters are not reaching persons with visual and hearing impairments.

Following consultation with its stakeholders, the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) prepared this submission to the Kenyan Senate COVID-19 Ad Hoc Committee, with a series of recommendations related to ICT solutions to confront the pandemic.

The research report "Bottom-up Connectivity Strategies: Community-led small-scale telecommunication infrastructure networks in the global South" explores the benefits of, and challenges facing, projects of this kind. This week we look at the various technical and operational strategies adopted.

This position paper outlines APC's current thinking on the pandemic. It identifies several key, interrelated issues that require attention by governments, the private sector and civil society.

The context of how artificial intelligence affects our rights as digital natives is worth unpacking, especially during political and public health crises, where online communication is a lifeline for many, and citizens are possibly being subjected to government surveillance and manipulation.