Tag: Business & Human Rights

Today at the 29th session of the UN’s Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, Access joined a group of more than 25 civil society organizations in a joint statement that calls on all governments to promote the use of strong encryption technologies, and to protect the right to seek, receive, and impart information anonymously online.

The Delfi AS v. Estonia case, which has profound implications for freedom of expression online, today reached its conclusion with a ruling by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. Unfortunately, this long-awaited decision was not the right one. The Grand Chamber, the highest human rights court in Europe, ruled in favor of Estonia, embracing the idea that websites should be held liable for certain types of anonymous comments posted by users.

Multinational telcos Orange and Telenor have published transparency reports shedding light on surveillance across the globe.

This year’s RightsCon, held in Manila, was a sold-out event bringing together 660 attendees from 56 different countries to explore real-world strategies for keeping the internet open and free. It was an extraordinarily productive conference. To participate, the leader of each session was asked a simple question: How would your engagement create real-world change? The newly released RightsCon Southeast Asia Outcomes Report shows how the participants — representing civil society, the private sector, government, tech, and academia — answered that question.

The island nation of Nauru may be tiny — it’s only 21 square kilometers (8.5 square miles) — but what is happening there matters to people around the world. Today, Access and a coalition of international organizations sent a letter calling for the government to stop blocking internet services and to repeal a dangerous new criminal law that restricts free expression.

Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Trade, presented on May 6th a handful of cosmetic proposals to the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. ISDS has been a central point of the ongoing discussions about the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement, currently being negotiated between the U.S. and the EU. Malmström’s “new” ISDS reminds us of a Thai turn of phrase, “same same but different.”

In a major step forward for free expression and human rights in Crimea, the United States today lifted some of its previous restrictions on the export of vital communications technology to the region. Journalists, human rights defenders, and ordinary people in Crimea can now freely use key communications technologies, software, and services to make their voices heard.

On May 6, the European Union’s Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Günther Oettinger, and the Vice President for the Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip, presented the EU Commission’s strategic plan to establish the Digital Single Market, or DSM.