The Government of Canada and the Government of the French Republic issued a ‘Joint Declaration on Cultural Diversity and the Digital Space’. The Declaration reaffirms the sovereign right of States to adopt policies and measures to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions in the digital space, recalls protection and promotion of cultural diversity [...]

The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act was signed into law on 22 March by President Donald Trump. The new legislation amends the 1986 Stored Communications Act to allow federal law enforcement to compel U.S.-based technology companies via warrant or subpoena to provide requested data stored on servers regardless of where in the [...]

Following similar developments in Brazil and Paraguay last year, and Honduras, which was covered in our February update, the government of Nicaragua is now pushing forward legislative initiatives regarding the use of social networks in the country. Vice President Rosario Murillo, President Daniel Ortega’s wife, claimed that the use of the social networks is negatively [...]

Joseph Olaoluwa reports in The Nation Online that the Nigerian Senate passed the Digital Rights and Freedom Bill, following approval by the House of Representatives in December 2017. Olaoluwa notes that 'The bill provides progressive legislative backing to online speech in the country', and that the bill also supports freedom of expression and privacy. Nigeria's [...]

Amnesty International has released its The State of the World’s Human Rights 2017/18, which covers 159 countries. Amnesty's announcement reports that 'In 2017, the world witnessed a rollback of human rights', and that, among many other points, 'Internet controls were strengthened'. Among Internet issues in particular, the report notes (excerpts):  Cameroon and Togo blocked the internet to [...]

The Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, the Future of Humanity Institute, Open AI, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and several other academic and civil society organisations released a report on 'The malicious use of artificial intelligence: forecasting, prevention, and mitigation'. The report outlines security threats that could be generated by malicious use of artificial intelligence (AI) [...]

Netherlands' Authority for Consumers and Markets denied a request by the civil society group Bits of Freedoms to take action against T-Mobile, as the telecom operator was allegedly breaching net neutrality rules through its zero-rated music streaming offer. The authority decided that it had no reason to intervene, as T-Mobile was offering the service on [...]

On the occasion of Safer Internet Day, UNICEF called for renewed urgency and cooperation among governments, civil society, UN agencies and, the private sector, to put children at the centre of digital policy, and to protect them from sexual exploitation, cyberbullying and the misuse of their private information. Every half a second, every day, a [...]

Krzysztof Izdebski reports that the European Court of Human Rights ruled that user rights to anonymously share photos of ballot cards should be allowed as a manifestation of the freedom of expression. Complaints to the National Election Commission of Hungary alleged that this sharing violated the secrecy of the vote. The court based its decision on [...]

The Arab Centre for Social Media Advancement (7amleh) published a report on the Internet Freedoms in Palestine: Mapping of Digital Rights Violations and Threats, focusing on the challenges to the telecommunications infrastructure and the violations to digital rights by state and non-state actors in Palestine. The report argues that digital rights are curbed by the political and geographical [...]