Tag: Business & Human Rights

Today, Access released our new report “The Rise of Mobile Tracking Headers: How Telcos Around the World Are Threatening Your Privacy,” our in-depth investigation into the global use of so-called “supercookies” or “permacookies” to track your web browsing. The results were based on almost 200,000 tests taken on Amibeingtracked.com — a site developed by Access to allow people to test their devices to see if they were being tracked. We offer findings, collated over six months, about the use of tracking headers worldwide, and provide recommendations for governments, carriers, websites, intergovernmental bodies, and researchers.

Access responds to the Myanmar government’s call for comment on its Draft Telecommunications Masterplan, a document that lays out a plan for the country’s telecommunications regime.

Six lessons learned by a first-time attendee at DEF CON.

This year, major data breaches at corporations and within government have spurred officials to do something ?— anything at all ?— to fix online security. We’ve seen a raft of so-called cybersecurity legislation introduced around the world that creates more problems than it solves, trampling upon privacy and human rights in the name of “cyber.” Access has been involved in a number of those fights around the world.

This week Facebook announced a new phase for Internet.org, an initiative that seeks to “connect the two thirds of the world that doesn’t have internet access” — but which, in its current form, adversely impacts the security and privacy of people who use the program to go online. However, while Internet.org now welcomes more carriers, it remains a program with fundamental flaws that this expansion does not address. It continues to give users only a slice of the internet for free, undermines security and privacy, and raises serious questions about how the program will impact local innovation.

Last week, Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) confirmed it had blocked access to the news website Sarawak Report for publishing “unverified content.” We condemn attempts to restrict fundamental rights in Malaysia. Attempts to censor publications by blocking website access or filing bogus copyright claims violate users’ rights to freedom of opinion and expression, and access to information.

Access analyzes Vodafone’s most recent transparency report.

Today at Vodafone’s 31st Annual General Meeting, Access pushed the telco giant to keep its position as a leader on transparency in the industry, this time in the realm of digital security.

Access has published research, undertaken in partnership with the Instituto de Tecnologia e Sociedade de Brasil, to address the Brazilian Telecommunications Agency (Anatel)’s plan to block unregistered cell phones in Brazil.