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).
On 11 January, while researching the current wave of internet shutdowns in Africa, we contacted our Harare-based colleague Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha, coordinator of the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms project, to get his insights. He responded three days later: "Sorry for the delay, I was experiencing outages myself. Zimbabwe is on shutdown." Throughout the African continent, where many APC members and partners are based, recent weeks have seen a fresh spate of internet sh...
Re: Internet shutdown in Zimbabwe Your Excellency Minister Kazembe Kazembe, Minister of Information and Communication Technology and Cyber Security We are writing to urgently request that you ensure the stability and openness of the internet in Zimbabwe. We have received reports that your government has shut down the internet. On behalf of the more than 170 organizations from over 60 countries that make up the #KeepitOn Coalition, we implore you to keep the internet on. Internet shutdowns har...
To: Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer, Google Inc cc: Ben Gomes, Vice President of Search; Kent Walker, Senior Vice President of Global Affairs; Scott Beaumont, Vice President, Greater China and Korea 11 December 2018 Dear Mr. Pichai, We are writing to ask you to ensure that Google drops Project Dragonfly and any plans to launch a censored search app in China, and to re-affirm the compan...
Delivered by: Wafa Ben-Hassine on 18 September 2018 Thank you Mr. President. I represent Access Now and the Association for Progressive Communications, as well as over 40 other global human rights organisations that are ringing the alarm bell on the latest oppressive measures imposed on Egyptians online. I wish to bring to the Council’s attention the Cybercrime Law and the Media Regulation La...
NGOs call for full repeal of Egypt’s “cybercrime” law and block of dangerous law regulating media. We, the undersigned, call for the immediate repeal of the Anti-Cyber and Information Technology Crimes Law (“The Cybercrime Law”), as well as the review and reform of articles on internet surveillance and blocking of websites in the law on the regulation of the press and media (“T...
This is a joint submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review on its 2018 Cycle for Cameroon, by Access Now, ADISI-Cameroun, APC and Internet Sans Frontières. The organisations submitting this report consider that Cameroon can improve its human rights record and treatment of digital rights in several areas and make recommendations to the government of Cameroon...
The African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG), an initiative founded by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), is a multistakeholder training initiative that aims to give Africans from diverse sectors and stakeholder groups the opportunity to gain knowledge and confidence to participate effectively in internet gover...
APC has joined with other civil society organisations to send a letter calling on the government of The Gambia to ensure the stability and openness of the internet during the forthcoming elections on 1 December. "Elections represent the most critical moment in a democracy, and the internet enables free expression and the fulfillment of all human rights," the letter stresses. "However, we have r...
