Digital security
While emergency measures like these are adopted with the aim of slowing the spread of the virus in order to protect public health, it is crucial to ensure that any use of surveillance technology for these purposes strictly adheres to the criteria of necessity and proportionality.
The undersigned organisations express their concern over the announcement of the use of satellite monitoring and georeferencing systems to track individuals as part of the disease containment measures established in Ecuador to confront the COVID-19 epidemic.
APC’s priorities at this HRC session include gender and privacy online, freedom of religion or belief, and the criminalisation of human rights defenders, journalists and digital security and tech expertise, as well as highlighting violations of internet rights in countries like India and Myanmar.
Ola Bini is a computer expert and human rights defender recognised worldwide, who is facing a political-judicial process in Ecuador since April 2019. In regards to this, Ecuadorian and international civil society organisations have decided to attend, as observers, the preparatory hearing and trial evaluation of 5 March 2020.
APC outlines positions on some of the areas covered in the digital strategies presented by the European Commission that will undoubtedly set a key precedent for global discussions on issues such as regulating platforms, data governance and artificial intelligence.
In response to the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) call for expressions of interest to join its Independent Advisory Committee (IAC), APC and other NGOs expressed their concerns about the IAC specifically, and the growing role of GIFCT more broadly in regulating content online.
APC welcomes this opportunity to address the United Nations Open-ended Working Group and to participate in this informal dialogue with stakeholders. We urge a rights-based and inclusive approach to understanding threats in cyberspace.
APC joins over 40 organisations in an open letter to Brazilian authorities condemning the charges against investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald. The letter denounces Brazilian authorities’ criminal investigation and the charges brought against Greenwald.
Feminist Learning Circle sessions took place in English, Spanish and French before and during the 2019 Take Back the Tech! 16 day campaign, and focused on creative discourse and expression, assessing risk, and digital safety.
Privacy International issued an open letter to the CEO of Google parent company Alphabet Inc., asking Google to “take action against exploitative pre-installed software on Android devices.” The letter is both a caution and a call to action and has been endorsed by over 50 other organisations.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
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