Policy Observatory

Does ICANN violate Human Rights? The Council of Europe report

Mon 22 Sep 2014, 16:40

The Council of Europe has released an important report on how human rights apply to ICANN. The findings? Not only do ICANN policies intersect in important ways with free expression and privacy rights, but many ICANN policies and procedures are obviously inconsistent with those rights.

Tags: Council of Europe, report, privacy, freedom of expression, policies, ICANN, human rights, Internet Governance

Spotting terrorist behaviour online is harder than finding child abuse images

Thu 4 Dec 2014, 16:20

Why are we outraged by the suggestion that Facebook users’ messages should be screened for potential terrorist threats yet we accept that airline passengers are screened for terrorist threats before boarding a plane? What’s the difference between moving people or information around the world? This is the question raised by the UK parliament’s intelligence and security committee when it suggests Facebook and other internet platforms should “take responsibility” for detecting terrorist activity online.

Tags: copyright, freedom of expression, online surveillance, law enforcement, child abuse, terrorist, Internet, intelligence, security, UK Parliament, Facebook, privacy

Twitter should reconsider the reports of abuse

Fri 12 Dec 2014, 12:20

California-based journalist Darwin BondGraham tweeted a document he had obtained under the state’s public records act. It showed an email exchange between an employee and a customer of the law enforcement contractor, PredPol. Shortly afterwards, the employee responded on Twitter by asking BondGraham not to publish personal information publicly. The request apparently referred to the fact that the office phone number was visible in the emails. After BondGraham refused to remove the Tweet, he received a notification from Twitter that his account had been suspended.

Tags: Twitter, personal data, freedom of expression, Internet, censorship

PEN report reveals concerns about the impact of mass surveillance

Wed 14 Jan 2015, 20:00

On 5 January 2015, PEN American Center published a report “Global chilling: The impact of mass surveillance on international writers”. The report introduces the results of a survey of writers, to investigate how mass surveillance influences their thinking, research and writing, as well as their views of government surveillance by the US and its impact around the world.

Tags: free speech, EDRi, freedom of expression, censorship, report, surveillance

Sir Tim Berners-Lee: Recognise the Internet as a human right

Sat 13 Dec 2014, 20:40

Sir Tim Berners-Lee called for the Internet to be recognised as a basic human right. Sir Tim noted that in our increasingly unequal world, the Web has the potential to be a great equalizer, but only “if we hardwire the rights to privacy, freedom of expression, affordable access and net neutrality into the rules of the game.”

The 2014-15 edition of the Web Foundation’s annual Web Index examines key Web issues — including privacy, censorship, gender-based violence, equality and, for the first time ever, net neutrality — across 86 countries. The findings from this year’s Index point to a Web that is becoming less free and more unequal.

Tags: Web Foundation, Internet, affordable access, freedom of expression, net neutrality, human rights, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, web index, censorship, equal, free, privacy, report, statistics

India's Supreme Court strikes down law against offensive online content

Tue 24 Mar 2015, 09:20

India’s Supreme Court has struck down as unconstitutional an Internet law that provided for the arrest of people sending online messages considered offensive or menacing.

The court struck down on Tuesday section 66A of the Information Technology Act, describing it as vague, and said it did not fall under reasonable restrictions on free speech.

The decision by the Supreme Court follows a bunch of lawsuits that alleged that this section of India’s cyberlaw was a threat to free speech in the country, and had led to arbitrary arrests.

Tags: freedom of expression, offensive content, law, Internet, unconstitutional, cybersecurity