Tag: Business & Human Rights

Even George A. Romero, visionary creator of zombie movies, would scarcely believe this script. After public outcry, policy turnarounds, and regulatory scrutiny, tracking headers live on in Verizon’s networks. The company just announced a new program combining AOL’s online advertising and tracking capabilities with Verizon’s UIDH mobile tracking headers, to track users across the fixed and mobile web. We have fought to expose the use of mobile tracking headers, and made some progress in holding companies to account. The nonprofit Business and Human Rights Resource Centre invited formal responses from the companies named in our report. Let’s go through the responses, one by one.

Today Access joined a coalition of international organizations to launch a campaign demanding essential changes to Facebook’s “real name” policy.

Today Facebook announced several changes to Internet.org in response to growing international complaints about the program. While some of the changes are positive, our core concerns remain — the program now known as Free Basics violates Net Neutrality and establishes Facebook as a global gatekeeper for internet connectivity, affecting billions of peoples’ ability to connect to the free and open internet.

Rights groups won a major victory for free expression in Malaysia as a High Court lifted a three-month ban on The Edge Media Group. The decision follows months of sustained pressure by local advocacy groups in Malaysia and international organizations including Access Now. Sarawak Report, another major media organization in Malaysia, remains blocked.