Two events were organised by the Information and Telecommunication Union (ITU) on the role of emerging technologies in promoting information and communication technology (ICT) for accessibility. The first event, Accessible America on 20-22 November 2019 in Quito, Ecuador. Focused on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) to provide persons with disabilities unbiased access to digital [...]

 The civil society group NOYB has filed three GDPR complaints with the CNIL, the French data protection authority. These complaints identify privacy violations from three companies (CDiscount, Allociné and Vanity Fair), for turning a rejection of cookies by users into a “fake consent”. Despite users rejecting” cookies, these webpages have sent digital signals to tracking [...]

One year after the French president Macron called for the Internet of Trust, the coalition of signatories is growing. Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, France’s Minister of State attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, announced that the Paris Call ‘has nearly tripled to more than 1,000 and now includes 74 nations; more than 350 international, [...]

On the occasion of the first meeting of the Group of Friends on Digital Technologies in New York, it was announced that the United Nations (UN) is preparing small groups of ‘champions’ who will be tasked with the implementation of the recommendations presented in ‘The Age of Digital Interdependence’ report. The small groups will provide [...]

Hosted and managed by Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government, the Pathways Commission launched a Digital Roadmap that lays out pragmatic recommendations for developing countries that want to seize the opportunities available in the digital age for positive economic and social change, that benefit everyone. The Digital Roadmap highlights five points to ensure that digital revolution [...]

The 10th International Conference “Personal Data Protection” of the Russian tech regulator Roskomnadzor takes place in Moscow on November 7th. This event gathers representatives from data protection authorities, governments, business and civil society. The Data Protection Unit of the Council of Europe will participate to this conference to deliver a presentation on the state of [...]

Whatsapp has announced having filed a complaint in federal court attributing a cyberattack on its platform to a company called NSO Group. In May, Whatsapp had detected and blocked a cyberattack involving a vulnerability in its video-calling feature. In an opinion piece in the Washington Post, Will Cathcart, the head of the company, indicated that [...]

The Third Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Specialized Committee (STC) on Communication and Information Technology (ICT) urged the AU and its member states to jointly address some of the challenges of the digital age. African countries and pan-African institutions were called upon to build a continental cybersecurity guard, reach consensus on an integrated [...]

The day before the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights presented his annual report to the UN General Assembly in New York on digital technology, social protection and human rights, Privacy International announced the launch of its own series on surveillance in the provision of social services. According to the privacy group, “corporate, [...]

A  report launched at the Annual Meeting of the World Bank Group has shown that Africa will need $100 billion investments in order to achieve universal, affordable and quality Internet access by 2030. The Broadband for All Working Group of the Broadband Commission that prepared the report which was communicated via a press release also gave [...]