Global civil society urges Gulf countries to unblock VoIP services

By |2020-04-07T00:00:00+02:00April00 7, 2020|

A joint statement was signed by 29 organisations to call upon the governments of the Gulf countries to permanently lift the ban on all Voice Over IP (VoIP) platforms used for voice and video Internet calls. The banned VoIP services, which have been blocked since 2017, have an adverse impact on the fundamental rights of [...]

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Broadband Commission pushes for action to extend Internet access and boost capacity to fight COVID-19

By |2020-04-03T00:00:00+02:00April00 3, 2020|

According to a press release, the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development has in an emergency virtual meeting adopted an Agenda of Action outlining how governments, industry, and civil society can pool network and infrastructure resources as an immediate measure to boost network access and inclusiveness in an effort to strengthen the global response to the [...]

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Disclosure of identity of individuals in self-isolation in Montenegro sparks privacy concerns

By |2020-03-25T00:00:00+01:00March00 25, 2020|

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Coordination Body for the Suppression of Infectious Disease, an entity founded by the government of Montenegro, has introduced new measures, one of them being to digitally publish the identity of persons who were ordered into obligatory 14-day self-isolation. After this public body started publishing names, surnames as [...]

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Austrian civil society organization launches complaint against Amazon for GDPR breach

By |2020-02-19T00:00:00+01:00February00 19, 2020|

NOYB, a civil society organization led by privacy activist Max Schrems, announced having filed a complaint against Amazon to the German data protection authority. The complaint argues that the emails sent via Amazon’s servers contain information such as users’ IP and email address, name, surname,  purchase  details as well as other metadata, and are not [...]

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London police launches live facial recognition technology

By |2020-02-11T00:00:00+01:00February00 11, 2020|

 According to Associated Press, London police has started using live facial recognition technology in London, to find individuals wanted for serious crimes. This launch follows a series of trials carried out in the city in 2019. The use of this technology raises strong concerns from civil society organizations, regarding privacy.  According to the Guardian, an [...]

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Kenya: High Court suspends biometric ID

By |2020-01-30T00:00:00+01:00January00 30, 2020|

The High Court has suspended Kenya’s biometric ID programme until a comprehensive legal framework on digital ID is developed.  This followed a petition by civil society groups and the national human rights institution on grounds that the programme violated the privacy of Kenyans. They also raised concerns that minorities and border communities who did not [...]

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French civil society groups call for facial recognition ban ahead of local elections

By |2020-01-28T00:00:00+01:00January00 28, 2020|

124 French civil society organisations, including la Quadrature du net, have released a joint letter calling for the ban of facial recognition for law enforcement. This letter invites political candidates to the upcoming local elections in France to join this cause and take into account the lack of proportionality of these techniques and their great [...]

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UN Secretary-General addresses the ‘dark side of the digital world’

By |2020-01-23T00:00:00+01:00January00 23, 2020|

In a speech before the UN General Assembly, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke about the “four horsemen in our midst’ that pose a threat to the global future. Amongst the ‘four horsemen’ is the ‘dark side of the digital world’ which includes job displacement provoked by automation, misuse of cyberspace by terrorists, cybercrime, and [...]

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5th edition of the Arab IGF takes place in Cairo

By |2020-01-22T00:00:00+01:00January00 22, 2020|

The 5th Arab Internet Governance Forum (ArabIGF-V) took place in Cairo on 22-23 January 2020. It was organised by ESCWA and the League of Arab States, in co-operation with the National Telecom Regulatory Authority of Egypt – the Arab IGF Secretariat since 2012, and was hosted by the Arab Administrative Development Organization (ARADO) at its [...]

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Queen Maxima to advocate for financial inclusion at World Economic Forum

By |2020-01-15T00:00:00+01:00January00 15, 2020|

The UN special advocate of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Inclusive Financing for Development, Queen Maxima will attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this month. She will hold meetings with various stakeholders from government and fintech providers to discuss improving access to financial services. Together with the Dutch Prime Minister, they [...]

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