Tag: Business & Human Rights

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.

The White House issued a veto threat to congress, saying if CISPA doesn’t include privacy safeguards and civilian oversight, President Obama won’t sign the bill.

The Dutch hosting provider Leaseweb releases first transparency report, joining growing ranks of internet companies proactively disclosing their human rights impacts. The Leaseweb report provides insight into both the type of requests faced by hosting companies and provides a model for hosting companies seeking to undertake similar disclosure efforts.

From May 14-16, the World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF) will bring together representatives from government, industry, and the global regulatory community to exchange views on key policy issues related to the internet. The meeting is hosted by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the same UN agency that hosted the controversial World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) last December in Dubai. We break down the key issues to watch and ways to participate.

Marie Ehrlin, newly-elected Chairman of the Board, told reporters at TeliaSonera’s annual shareholder meeting that the company would bring in outside help to review their operations “country by country, transaction by transaction, and deal by deal” after a year of bruising human rights and corruption allegations. For some, this response is not enough.

It’s not just a style thing: you may have good reason to avoid the geek at the bar or in the park wearing Google’s latest invention, the wearable interface known as Glass. Despite its innocuous intent, the life-logging feature ‘Life Bits’ logs everyone who comes into direct contact with the Glass wearer, transforming them into a mobile recording device.

The Access team has reviewed Microsoft’s transparency report and analyzed what it does–and does not–tell us about law enforcement requests for Skype data, as well as how it measures up to the demands in the January open letter from civil society.