PROTECTING OUR DATA
Access Now fights for stronger, more effective laws and policies around the world to protect people’s personal information online. Here you will find resources to understand what data protection is, why it matters, and how to protect your information. Whether you are an internet user, lawmaker, or data protection authority, there is something for you.
RESOURCES FOR INDIVIDUALS
What is data protection? Why does it matter? What can you do to protect your information?
RESOURCES FOR LAWMAKERS
Our guide will help you develop or update the data protection norms in your country.
Download the Policy Makers’ Guide
MORE RESOURCES
Why does data protection matter?
Protecting personal data means securing your information online and preventing any unauthorized access. It also means limiting data collection and tracking, which helps protect your identity online and reduce risks of discrimination, online manupilation, and online fraud.
Abuse of data in digital spaces can have very real consequences in our daily lives. Read more here.
What is data protection?
Governments all around the world are creating rules on how our personal data is collected, stored, analyzed and otherwise used by companies or government bodies. These rules uphold data protection rights, which empower individuals to make informed choices about what happens to their information, both before and after they share it, and require data collectors to treat people’s personal information with great care.
What is Access Now’s work on data protection?
We advocate for the passage of comprehensive data protection measures all around the world. We raise awareness about the importance of this right and how people can exercise it,provide expert comments and opinions to lawmakers, and support the work of data protection authorities in enforcing this right.
What is the EU General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR?
The GDPR — or General Data Protection Regulation — is the European Union data protection law in place since May 2018. The GDPR is considered to be one of the strongest frameworks currently in place to protect personal data and serves as a model for regulation around the world.
Learn more about the GDPR here and how to exercise your rights here.
Press Releases
Ooredoo’s plans to leave Myanmar hands military full control of nation’s telco sector — it must mitigate the human rights risks
As Ooredoo prepares to sell its Myanmar operations, Access Now calls on the telco to mitigate the human rights risks that will arise from the sale. …
14 August 2022
Press Releases
Post-Roe, civil society calls on data brokers to do no harm
Access Now, Amnesty International USA, and Fight for the Future called on four geolocation data brokers to ensure their practices are not harming the privacy and reproductive rights of people seeking abortions.…
12 August 2022
Press Releases
Victoria en La Victoria: Municipalidad de Perú sancionada por uso ilegítimo de datos personales
El pasado 14 de julio, la Autoridad de Protección de Datos Personales de Perú decidió sancionar a la Municipalidad de La Victoria, por el procesamiento de datos personales obtenidos por cámaras de vigilancia sin contar con las medidas de seguridad…
21 July 2022
Blog
Access Now’s statement on Myanmar during the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar’s Oral Progress Report
On Wednesday, June 29, 2022, Wai Phyo Myint, our Asia Pacific Policy Analyst, addressed the United Nations (U.N.) Human Rights Council regarding the escalating digital threats faced by the people in Myanmar during the Interactive Dialogue with the U.N. Special…
1 July 2022
