Internet Society (ISOC)
The Internet Society is a global cause-driven organisation with offices around the world, governed by a diverse Board of Trustees that is dedicated to ensuring that the internet stays open, transparent and defined by users. While the Internet Society is not a membership-driven organisation, it has a growing number of members and chapters that have chosen to join the Internet Society to share its mission and to promote the open development, evolution and use of the internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world. In 2012, ISOC provided APC with travel funds to support the participation of African civil society in the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT). In 2013 and 2016 ISOC supported the African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG).
The first session of the Virtual Summit on Community Networks in Africa season 2021/2022, taking place on 28 July, will present tools and resources to navigate the stages and processes needed to set up and operate a sustainable community network. Find out more and register to join us.
Welcome to the 37th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks.
APC joins with other civil society organisations to denounce the escalating situation of digital authoritarianism in India, including the efforts to intimidate web platforms into compliance with the government's censorship measures.
In the Roadmap on Digital Cooperation launched in 2020, the UN Secretary General proposes reforms to promote the strengthening of the Internet Governance Forum, so that it could become "more responsive and relevant to current digital issues."
At the Virtual Summit on Community Networks in Africa, over 200 local connectivity network operators learned ways to bring affordable and reliable connectivity to underserved communities.
Community-owned networks provide alternative, locally driven and sustainable solutions that are critical in addressing connectivity gaps in Africa. To explore these solutions, the next session of the Virtual Summit on Community Networks in Africa is taking place on 25 November 2020.
The coalition of civil society groups undersigned are committed to supporting the implementation of the vision in which “all stakeholders play a role in advancing a safer, more equitable digital world, one which will lead to a brighter and more prosperous future for all.”
The fifth session of the African Internet Resilience webinar series took place on 30 July. The focus of the session was to foster a deeper understanding of complementary networks and address the need for internet services in rural and underserved areas across the continent.
How can complementary models promote access in underserved areas? Which policies and regulations should be implemented to enable them? The fifth webinar of the Internet Resilience in Africa series will take place on 30 July to address these issues.
On 17 June 2020, APC collaborated with other organisations to submit a contribution to the draft Telecommunications Licensing Directive No. 1/2020. In the contribution, we recommend the Ethiopian Communications Authority consider international recommendations, as well as best practices in other countries both regionally and globally.

Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
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