Tag: Internet Governance

Next week the Internet Governance Forum will kick off in Bali, Indonesia. Access staff will be there, participating in a variety of pre-events, workshops, and high-level meetings — and we want you to join us.

The IGF is the annual meeting that brings everyone interested in internet policymaking together on an equal footing. Members of civil society, the technical community, governments and more can share their new ideas, test out their theories or agendas, and challenge conventional wisdom — all in the company of some of the most influential and experienced people involved in internet governance today.

In the 6th hearing held by the committee, the MEPs focused on the all-important Safe Harbour provisions, investigating whether personal data of E.U. citizens transferred to U.S. under the arrangements had received adequate legal protection.

On September 12th, the infamous cybercrime law project known as “Ley Beingolea” appeared at the top of the National Congress of Peru’s list of projects to debate, despite many criticisms and requests from civil society for open dialogue. What followed next was even more incredible: after some debate on the floor, at 11 a.m. all Congress members went into recess. Five hours later, a completely new text entered into discussion and was passed by the Congress, without any public review.

Among the many revelations to come out of this summer, The New York Times recently announced that the NSA has been conducting a systematic and well-funded effort to install “backdoors” in consumer electronic devices, known as “Project Bullrun.” To better understand their history, how they can work, and the risks associated, here are three things you ought to know about backdoors.

More disappointing news from the Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes is spreading around Brussels. Contrary to previous statements made by the Commissioner, there are no clear network neutrality provisions contained in forthcoming Regulation for the Telecom Single Market, according to a leaked draft recently published by European Digital Rights (EDRi).

Recent revelations of sweeping government surveillance demonstrate the urgent need to update outdated privacy laws to reflect modern surveillance technologies in a way that is consistent with international human rights. To move toward that goal, Access is excited to announce the release of the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance.

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) is the government oversight body principally charged with protecting privacy and civil liberties in the United States. However, in the eight years since it was established, the PCLOB has met only infrequently. But with the recent revelations of unconstitutional massive data collection by the NSA, it seems the PCLOB’s long run of applied irrelevance may have finally come to an end – and not a moment too soon.

Update: After members of civil society, including Access, submitted a proposal to the governing body of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the ITU Council, calling for more steps to be taken “to meet the goal of an open, transparent, and multistakeholder debate,” the ITU Council has rejected proposals to open up the Council Working Group on Internet Related Public Policy Issues (CWG-Internet) at its most recent session.

Access has partnered with ARTICLE 19, PEN International, and English PEN on a joint submission on Vietnam to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which focuses on the lack of improvement of human rights, specifically freedom of expression, in Vietnam and highlights the Vietnamese government’s troubling response to the recent increase in cyber attacks against civil society.