freedom of expression
A group of human rights activists and organisations from Southeast Asia are calling to stop the attacks on democracy and media activists, as well as other individuals-at-risk, for their expression online. In the increasingly authoritarian region, we stand witness to bloggers, protestors, human rights defenders, journalists and everyday internet users being harassed, threatened, beaten, prosecuted and imprisoned for their legitimate use of online spaces. The many brave individua...
Update: On 10 October, Alaa was able to inform his lawyers, and put it officially on record, that he has been beaten, threatened and robbed at the Tora Prison. He was told if he spoke out it would become worse, and faces the risk of further beating and torture. In the words of his family, "Alaa decided, as always, not to be silent. We, now, must do our part." ------------------------------------------- At the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) we are al...
A brief observation of the analytical frameworks used by a great number of Kenyan social media users around the controversy surrounding the release of the Kenyan film Rafiki may make you more familiar with the rubrics of “artistic freedom” and “freedom of speech” than those of “queerness” and “precariousness” (here “queerness” accounts for those Kenyans who live outsid...
Since 11 April 2019, software developer, cybersecurity expert and digital rights activist Ola Bini, a Swedish national living for the past six years in Ecuador on a legal permit, has been illegitimately kept in detention as a political prisoner in Ecuador. Appeals for Ola’s release by his legal team have been stonewalled by the Ecuadorian authorities at every turn. His arrest is a serious vio...
In 2018 the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) affirmed that the “surveillance of digital communications must be consistent with international human rights obligations” and in accordance with a “publicly accessible, clear, precise, comprehensive and nondiscriminatory” legal framework, without any arbitrary or unlawful interference with the right to privacy. UNGA called on states and...
TikTok is a mobile platform for creating and sharing 15-second videos. Or as described by Wired, “a short-form monitised musical meme machine”. TikTok users lip sync, dance and perform to popular songs, dialogue or voiceovers from films and television shows and other audio clips from popular culture and edit the videos creatively using the templates and effects provided on the platform. It ...
If you are a designer, an artist, an illustrator or passionate about freedom of expression, internet rights and the power of tech, we invite you to take part in this contest! What is the contest about? APC invites artists, cartoonists, illustrators, designers, doodle enthusiasts and anyone passionate about human rights online, in particular social movements, freedom of religion, freedom of expr...
On 11 April, Julian Assange, founder and director of WikiLeaks, was arrested by the British police at Ecuador's embassy in London, where he has been for the past seven years. He was dragged out of the embassy right after his asylum was revoked, white-bearded and handcuffed, and forced into a police van, in images that have gone around the world. A few hours later, privacy and ope...
The internet was developed with the promise of democratising access to knowledge and enabling the exercise of freedom of expression. However, the emergence of corporations with enormous market power has affected freedom of expression and diversity. To discuss the implications of these trends, the Electronic Frontier Froundation (EFF), the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and APC...
Commissioner Lawrence Mute Office of the AU Special Rapporteur Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A version of this letter was also addressed to David Kaye, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression. Dear Sir, We, the undersigned organisations that work to promote freedom of expression offline and online across the globe, write to exp...
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2019
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