Access Now
Access Now defends and extends the digital rights of users at risk around the world. By combining innovative policy, global advocacy, and direct technical support, it fights for open and secure communications for all. Access Now is a supporter of APC's African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG).
The undersigning civil society organisations express concern over the global trend of persecuting digital rights defenders, including security researchers and trainers who act to protect and promote human rights, and demand protection of their work and their recognition as human rights defenders.
Countering cybercrime is a key challenge that requires international cooperation. However, the approach taken in the draft resolution “Countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes” is fundamentally flawed and would restrict the use of the internet for human rights, and social and economic development.
The 14 civil society organisations supporting this statement, including APC, stress that cybersecurity includes the protection of human rights, and cybersecurity-related laws, policies and practices should not be used as a pretext to violate human rights.
APC joined over a hundred civil society organisations, including over 20 members, in supporting an open letter to Facebook encouraging the company "in no uncertain terms, to continue increasing the end-to-end security across Facebook’s messaging services."
Civil society organizations write to encourage Facebook, in no uncertain terms, to continue increasing the end-to-end security across its messaging services. Given the remarkable reach of Facebook’s messaging services, ensuring default end-to-end security will provide a substantial boon to worldwide communications freedom, to public safety, and to democratic values.
Created in late 2018 by the UN General Assembly, the Open Ended Working Group on developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security aims to broaden the dialogue on cybersecurity among member states, and to a certain extent, other stakeholders.
Human rights norms and standards integrate gender and development, and are respected and promoted in internet and ICT policy, governance, development and practice. This is a compendium of the highlights from APC's Annual Report for 2018.
APC welcomes this opportunity to address the OEWG and participate in this informal dialogue with stakeholders. APC and its members are increasingly concerned about state security-centric approaches to cybersecurity policy and the exclusion of civil society from cybersecurity efforts.
A coalition of organisations, including APC, call on the Hong Kong authorities to refrain from the invocation of laws that would authorise the restriction or disruption of the internet and other means of communication and to ensure that the internet, including social media, remains open and secure.
In the wake of violence in Sudan, MTN Sudan and other telecommunications companies blocked access to the internet through disruption of various local and roaming cellular data networks, as well as some fixed-line services.

Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
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