On this episode of Pretty Good Podcast, EngageMedia chats with Simon Harmon and Sam de Silva from the Loki Foundation, makers of private messaging app Session, on the benefits of and challenges to using secure tools for communications.
Family members and lawyers have a right to communicate with their loved ones and clients at all times, but particularly during a pandemic. The public also has a right to information on measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 inside prisons. These are the reasons behind the #IWantALetter campaign.
On 28-30 September 2020, the seventh edition of the annual Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa will be co-hosted by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa and Paradigm Initiative, with a hybrid approach that blends online and physical interactions.
This project will contribute to an enabling ecosystem for the emergence and growth of community networks and other community-based connectivity initiatives in developing countries. It is part of a multi-year, multi-donor strategy envisaged to address the human capacity and sustainability challenges, along with the policy and regulatory obstacles, that limit the growth of community-based connectivity initiatives.
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.
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.
Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) is an annual report co-produced by the APC network and partners, which looks at the progress being made in creating an inclusive information society worldwide (particularly in implementing WSIS goals), encourages critical debate, and strengthens networking and advocacy for a just, inclusive information society.
In the second part of their article, Loreto Bravo and Peter Bloom alert us to the dangers of a romanticisation of technologies and develop a psychosocial and feminist approach as a tool to face the new wave of hyperconnectivity that is announced with 5G.
More than 45,000 people have registered to return to their home state Manipur, and many are women nurses who faced discrimination and harassment while they were doing their jobs in mainland India. Returnees now face a precarious future regarding where they live, their jobs and their future.
APC member organisation Rudi International, based in the DRC, asks how civil society organisations can involve legislators and policy makers in digital rights advocacy.
Columns
David Souter writes a weekly column for APC, 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.
Temporary internet disruptions and shutdowns pose serious challenges to the exercise of a wide range of rights and cannot be justified under any pretext. We therefore call on the Lebanese authorities to lift all restrictions on internet access and restore telecommunications to full capacity.
The MFI Africa convening was made up of multiple facets of connection and conversation between a participant group of African feminists, diverse in geographical origin and field of work. This report presents a perspective of those conversations, drawn from materials created throughout the meeting.
The repeated instances of internet shutdowns and degradation of network services are causing immense harm to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. We urge the government of the Union Territory and associate government authorities to restore high speed internet access in the region.
The case of photographer Alexandro Wagner Oliveira da Silveira, hit by a rubber bullet in his left eye during a protest in May 2000, is on the agenda at the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court, to be tried on 14 August. It is seen as an emblematic episode of violence against journalists in Brazil.
APC joined with other civil society organisations to congratulate and welcome Irene Khan to her new role as Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and to highlight some broad priority themes that require particular attention.
APC and 14 other organisations have joined together to send a public letter to the newly appointed Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) Executive Director Nicholas Rasmussen to apprise him of threats to human rights posed by GIFCT.
This joint statement welcomes the resolution on elimination of discrimination against women and girls adopted at this HRC session, which focuses on multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination faced by women and girls and the measures states should take to address the same issues.
The #HoldTheLine Coalition demands the Philippines authorities drop a barrage of bogus tax and foreign ownership cases against internationally celebrated journalist Maria Ressa and Rappler – the news organisation she founded.