Tag: Business & Human Rights

A month after the publication of its first Transparency Report mentioning National Security Letters (NSLs), Google filed a motion before the Northern District of California to “set aside”–or in plain language, defer–this controversial form of request. Google’s action follows in the courageous legal footsteps of a handful of service providers–including the ACLU’s defense of the Calyx Institute and EFF’s successful petition on behalf of an unnamed client–raising hopes that Google’s suit may finally expose the worldwide reach of NSLs.

Last week, we documented network interference in Malaysia: local internet service providers (ISPs) were obstructing the free flow of traffic from selected sites hosting opposition political content, right ahead of a critical election. We asked the Access community to demand accountability from the Malaysian government, and ensure the Malaysian internet stayed free and open. Thousands of members from more than 60 countries signed a petition telling the MCMC to keep Malaysia online–and we delivered that petition. On Sunday, May 5th, in the midst of the elections, we wrote to Sharil Tarmizi, head of the MCMC, to remind them that the world was watching: network interference is an unacceptable violation of Malaysians’ rights.

May 3 is World Press Freedom Day, a day to celebrate the fundamental principles of independent media. But WPFD is also an opportunity to pay attention to where press freedom is under attack around the world–and the increasing tendency of those attacks to occur online. Bloggers and citizen journalists are arrested, jailed, and murdered for the words they write and the images they share; citizens are cut off from each other and from the information they seek because of what governments or companies deem appropriate for society.

On Sunday, May 5th, Malaysia will go to the polls for a highly contested general election, potentially ending 56 years of single-party rule. But ever since the elections were announced in April, the internet has become become a target: opposition websites and independent media have experienced significant network interference–and with the election days away, pressure is intensifying.

The proposed Myanmar partnership with China Mobile is a chance for Vodafone to test and improve its policies, and train its partner in human rights best practices.

Google released its semi-annual transparency report today, indicating an increase in government requests for content removal worldwide–although more than half came from a handful of countries.

Today a coalition of civil rights groups warned that citizens could be stripped of their right to privacy by dangerous EU Parliament proposals. The coalition — including Access, EDRi, Privacy International, Bits of Freedom, Panoptykon, La Quadrature du Net, Open Rights Group and Digitale Gesellschaft — released a report detailing the most dangerous amendments to the Data Protection Regulation and a website, nakedcitizens.eu where citizens can take direct action to contact Members of the European Parliament to demand that they protect their fundamental rights.

The European Parliament took a stand for fundamental rights when the Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) rejected a privacy-invasive European Commission proposal to allow the use of air travel Passenger Name Record (PNR) data.

With the Kiobel decision, the Supreme Court missed an opportunity to send a coherent statement that the “law of nations” is still alive and kicking.

The House of Representatives passed the privacy-invading Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) by a vote of 288 – 127. The bill must still pass the Senate, and overcome a veto threat from Obama, before it becomes law.