Tag: Regulation

Net neutrality gets at the heart of many of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose 65th anniversary we celebrate today. While freedom of expression and access to information are often mentioned in the same breath as net neutrality, net neutrality also has an important privacy component. Recently proposed legislation in the EU offers the opportunity to enshrine net neutrality into law, potentially adding important protections for user communications.

On the 65th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the celebration of UN Human Rights day, we would like to take this opportunity to reflect upon the importance of privacy and data protection as key pillars of healthy societies.

This morning eight major internet companies — AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, and Yahoo! — issued a broad and powerful call for surveillance reform. The joint statement represents the strongest stance yet by U.S. internet companies on government surveillance and has the potential to shift the debate in Washington.

Today, Access is joining a day of action in the United State calling for reform of the U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) — the law known for giving the U.S. government the ability to access your email and documents in the cloud without a warrant. ECPA is one of the internet’s most outdated laws: it was passed in 1986, before most people even had access to the internet.

Swedish telco TeliaSonera is taking further steps to remedy its involvement in corrupt business deals in Uzbekistan, most recently by Monday’s ousting of four senior executives.

Today the U.N. General Assembly took a critical first step in addressing mass surveillance as a human rights violations with the passage of a resolution recognizing the right to privacy in the digital age.

In the 10th and 11th hearings held by the committee for civil liberties (LIBE), Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) focussed on the IT security of the EU Institutions and a possible discussion between the European Commission and the Council of the EU on mass surveillance.

In the 7th, 8th and 9th hearings held by the LIBE committee, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) focussed on violation of law, IntCen and mass surveillance in EU member states and the Freedom act respectively.

Ecuador is set to finish a major revision to its Criminal Code on Friday, and it’s not looking good for user rights. Even as the country’s president, Rafael Correa, has been outspoken in criticizing NSA surveillance, the Ecuadorean Assembly is charging ahead with a requirement that all internet service providers spy on their customers, in violation of the country’s Constitution and international law.

The 8th annual U.N. Internet Governance Forum wrapped up late last month in Bali, Indonesia. This year’s official main theme was “Building Bridges – Enhancing Multi-stakeholder Cooperation for Growth and Sustainable Development”; however, mass online surveillance and a recently announced 2014 world summit on internet governance dominated many discussions at the IGF.