Issue papers
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was established in 1998 by the USA to run the root-servers that control the internet among other things. This new paper investigates ICANN’s processes, the role of civil society within decision-making, and highlights lessons learned from this multi-stakeholderism experiment as well as recommendations for future similar initiatives.
This Connect your Rights! policy issue paper from the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) outlines the state of human rights online and the major challenges that activists and human rights defenders are facing. As levels of censorship and surveillance are increasing worldwide – even in democratic countries – the work and lives of human rights defenders are being threatened. APC calls for the theme of the 2012 IGF to focus exclusively on human rights.
A new analysis of multi-stakeholder participation in internet governance processes, including international experiences like the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) as well as the national level process in Brazil.
When talking about affordable, ubiquitous access to communication in developing countries, wireless technologies offer the most hope for effectively bridging the digital divide. This paper examines its challenges and opportunities.
These papers provide detailed background information about some of the principal issues to be covered during the Sixth Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Produced for the Southern African IGF, they contain a wealth of examples pertinent to developing country environments. The papers were produced by APC in partnership with SANGONeT for the Southern African Internet Governance Forum and were writt...
This paper is part of a series of policy briefs on the mobile internet from a human rights perspective A contested terrain User-generated content played an important role in the recent protests and uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), collectively referred to as the “Arab spring” or “Arab awakening”. The recent protests and uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have both been ...
This paper is part of a series of policy briefs on the mobile internet from a human rights perspective The mobile internet as new media The mobile phone is rapidly becoming media, both as a primary source for content and as a platform for delivery of content. With rapid changes in what a mobile phone can actually do, millions of people are using it to access the internet and to upload and distr...
Whilst an increasing number of countries have ICT development strategies in place, these often focus on expanding access to technology and do not pay adequate consideration to issues around usability, active citizenship, culture and rights.
This paper is part of a series of policy briefs on the mobile internet from a human rights perspective The evolution and spread of the mobile internet presents exciting new opportunities for the effective implementation of human rights. It can expand people’s capacities to create and share information and ideas and is allowing to improve access to the internet for people who cannot afford...
Almost one million adults are the victims of cyberstalkers every year. APC’s new tip sheet gives concrete advice on precautions you can take and what to do if a cyberstalker targets you.

Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
Unless otherwise stated, content on the APC website is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
