In a session with European Digital Rights at RightsCon, we will explore how surveillance technology can make your workplace function like a prison: a privatised panopticon that threatens labour movements and undermines human rights.…
4 June 2021
In the context of COVID-19 and a wave of protests across the globe, the U.N. Human Rights Council held its 44th session. Here’s our read-out on the reports and resolutions that are key for defending digital rights around the world.…
26 August 2020
Civil society is standing together to defend security researchers and trainers who act to protect and promote human rights. Join us to demand strong protection of their work and recognition as human rights defenders. …
18 December 2019
The impact that surveillance technology has had on vulnerable individuals and members of at-risk communities demonstrates why comprehensive, systemic regulation of this industry is both necessary and urgent.…
18 November 2019
Today Access recognizes the individuals and groups that have either been champions of the 13 internationally recognized principles for human rights in communications surveillance (“Heroes”), or have undermined or violated those principles (“Villains”). These principles, called the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance (or “the Principles”), have been endorsed by more than 400 civil society groups worldwide. They provide a framework for assessing whether government surveillance practices comply with international human rights obligations. Today marks the two-year anniversary of the Principles, which were publicly released on September 22, 2013.
…22 September 2015
Earlier this week, two foreign journalists for Vice working in southeastern Turkey were arrested, raising concerns about the journalists’ safety and security. In a dark reminder of the “Crypto Wars” of the 1990s, a Turkish official stated yesterday that the main reason that these journalists were detained is that they use encryption. This morning, the news surfaced that the journalists have been released and are free to leave the country, although the charges against them have not been dropped. A local translator who had been working with them remains in custody.
This incident raises serious issues for digital rights and digital security, and could cause a powerful chilling effect for freedom of expression — not just in Turkey, but in other conflict-prone regions around the world.
…3 September 2015