Issue papers

Failure and Promise: Anecdotes from the field on updating Universal Service Funds policies
Failure and Promise: Anecdotes from the field on updating Universal Service Funds policies 23 May 2023 Senka Hadzic and Jane Coffin

Many governments have established funds dedicated to expanding connectivity to underserved communities, so-called Universal Service Funds (USFs) or Universal Service and Access Funds (USAFs).  The purpose of the paper is to examine advocacy efforts led by civil society in selected countries that have led to systemic changes in local policies and regulations, with a specific focus on the use of USFs for funding community networks.

Feminist frontiers in freedom of expression online
Feminist frontiers in freedom of expression online 28 April 2023 Sachini Perera

This issue brief explores questions related to online expression for feminist and women’s rights activists, and draws upon the emerging trends and challenges. It also provides an introduction to useful emerging language and advocacy for the UN Commission on the Status of Women and beyond.

Online content: To regulate or not to regulate – is that the question?
Online content: To regulate or not to regulate – is that the question? 01 November 2019 Dr. Mathias Vermeulen

Recently there have been a flurry of proposals to “regulate the internet”, which in practice boils down to more narrowly regulating online content. In order to suggest a principles-based approach to regulation, this issue paper highlights positive and negative aspects of some recent initiatives.

Human rights impacts of taxing popular internet services: The cases of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda
Human rights impacts of taxing popular internet services: The cases of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda 02 January 2019 Justine Limpitlaw

This paper focuses on the human rights impacts of recent initiatives in three countries (Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania) to “tax” the internet through introducing excise duties on, essentially, internet access and/or use.

Network infrastructures: The commons model for local participation, governance and sustainability
Network infrastructures: The commons model for local participation, governance and sustainability 20 February 2018 Leandro Navarro

In this paper, Leandro Navarro describes a model to develop network infrastructure as common property, governed under the principles of common-pool resources.

Perspectives on universal free access to online information in South Africa: Free public Wi-Fi and zero-rated content
Perspectives on universal free access to online information in South Africa: Free public Wi-Fi and zero-rated content 27 September 2017 This paper was prepared for APC by Applied Law & Technology Ltd, in collaboration with the South African National Editors’ Forum, Media Monitoring Africa, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau of South Africa

The purpose of this issue paper is to examine the background and legal framework that support a right to universal free access to online information, with a specific focus on the South African context.

Due diligence and accountability for online violence against women
Due diligence and accountability for online violence against women 31 July 2017 Zarizana Abdul Aziz

This paper explores what online violence against women is; what can be done to stem and ultimately eliminate it; and whose responsibility it is to do so.

A feminist action framework on development and digital technologies
A feminist action framework on development and digital technologies 29 May 2017 Anita Gurumurthy and Nandini Chami

Through a feminist lens that brings together economic justice and gender justice concerns, this paper traces the key elements of the right to access, right to knowledge and right to development in the network society, and chalks out strategic directions for feminist advocacy in relation to ICTs.

A history of feminist engagement with development and digital technologies
A history of feminist engagement with development and digital technologies 29 May 2017 Anita Gurumurthy

This paper historicises gender justice struggles and feminist engagement with ICT policies, tracing the idea of development put forward by women from the global South through the years leading to the Beijing Conference on Women and later, the WSIS process.

Big data and sexual surveillance
Big data and sexual surveillance 09 December 2016 Nicole Shephard

This paper highlights the gendered and racialised effects of data practices; outlines the overlapping nature of state, commercial and peer surveillance; and maps the challenges and opportunities women and queers encounter on the nexus between data, surveillance, gender and sexuality.

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