Welcome to the 15th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks.
The 40th session of the HRC is taking place 25 February-22 March in Geneva. A number of reports, resolutions and side events will address the online dimension of human rights issues, in addition to Universal Periodic Review reports that touch on specific governments’ records on internet rights.
Challenging hate narratives and violations of freedom of religion and expression online in Asia
This project seeks to protect and promote respect for freedom of religion and expression on the internet, particularly by countering hate speech online on the basis of religion, and generating narratives and discourse that defend secular and diverse opinions touching upon religion. The three-year project focuses on five countries in South and Southeast Asia: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Pakistan.
FIRN: Feminist Internet Research Network
The Feminist Internet Research Network is a three-and-a-half-year collaborative and multidisciplinary research project led by APC, funded by the International Development Research Centre. The project draws on the study “Mapping research in gender and digital technology”, and the Feminist Principles of the Internet collectively crafted by feminists and activists, primarily located in the global South.
Local Access Networks: Can the unconnected connect themselves?
This project aims to address the following questions: Are local access infrastructure models a viable alternative to connecting the unconnected, and if so, what are the circumstances that make them successful? What are the benefits to the local community in terms of well-being, gender equity and social or economic development where connectivity infrastructure is locally owned?
Take Back the Tech!
Take Back the Tech! is a call to everyone, especially women and girls, to take control of technology to end violence against women. It is a global, collaborative campaign project that highlights the problem of tech-related violence against women, together with research and solutions from around the world. Take Back the Tech! leads several campaigns at various points in the year, but our biggest annual campaign takes place during 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (25 Nov - 10 Dec).
In this article we explore what uses women make of the internet in urban and rural parts of Manipur, India. Is this use limited to social media? What about the generation gap, and the rampant spread of election propaganda?
Civil disobedience is a tool that some governments on the African continent are increasingly realising can be fuelled and sustained by the internet, and this has seen more governments impose an internet shutdown.
Each year, Take Back the Tech! brings together activists and organisations from around the world for 16 days to discuss, raise awareness and develop strategies to address the issue of online gender-based violence. We caught up with participants from four different regions about the 2018 campaign!
Columns
Inside the Information Society
David Souter writes a column for APC twice a month, looking at different aspects of the information society, development and rights. David’s pieces take a fresh look at many of the issues that concern APC and its members, with the aim of provoking discussion and debate. Issues covered include internet governance and sustainable development, human rights and the environment, policy, practice and the use of ICTs by individuals and communities.
The internet of memory: Stories from the APC community
What were information and communication technologies like in the 1980s and 1990s? What are the stories of the genesis and evolution of non-profit computer networks working for social change? Twice a month, this section will take a historical look at the APC community's journey of internet activism and make links to where we are now. Join Jennifer Radloff in this retrospective trip exploring the connections between the past and the present.
The #KeepItOn Coalition, made up by more than 180 organisations from over 68 countries, including APC, calls on the Nigerian authorities to keep the internet open during the upcoming elections in the country.
SEAPA and other organisations, including APC, express concern over the unwarranted arrest of Rappler’s chief executive officer Maria Ressa on 13 February 2019 based on libel charges arising from a story published almost seven years ago by the online news site.
Launched in English and Arabic, this new report from 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media details the Israeli control over the Palestinian ICT infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza and its impact on the digital rights of the Palestinian people.
Submission to the IGF Community Public Consultation, January 2019.
In response to reports that the government has shut down the internet, this joint open letter calls on the ICT minister of Zimbabwe to ensure the stability and openness of the internet.
This report highlights the different aspects of tech-related violence against women in Uganda, their implications and solutions proposed, with the aim of addressing this growing concern.
This report is a thematic exploration of tech-based, women-led startups, aiming to map the growing nature of women’s interventions in the tech-based business industry and the overall impact on other women in the workforce.
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 company’s 2010 commitment that it won’t provide censored search services in the country.
Other APC sites
