Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group to the UN IGF Meet in Geneva
The fifth Annual Meeting of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 14-17 September 2010. The IGF was formed to support the United Nations Secretary-General in carrying out the mandate from the World Summit on the Information Society with regard to convening a new multi-stakeholder policy dialogue forum to discuss issues related to key elements of Internet governance. The IGF was established in July 2006 and since then four annual forums have been organized.
A first round of open consultations will be held in Geneva on 9 February 2010 to take stock of the Sharm El Sheikh meeting and will discuss the agenda and the format of the Vilnius meeting. On February 10-11, a Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group to the Internet Governance Secretariat will meet in Geneva also to discuss the preparation of the Vilnius meeting. Comments on the Substantive Program Agenda had been submitted and published online. The Remote Participation Working Group (RPWG) in cooperation with the IGF Secretariat will make available a moderated chat function for online interaction; the link is available here. The hashtag will be #IGF10. Katitza Rodriguez, The Public Voice Coordinator will be twittering from @thepublicvoice and @txitua. The Webcast of the open consultations will be available through this link.
Network of Networks Project Launched
The Association for Progressive Communications has recently launched the “Network of Networks” project. It aims is to build a cross-issue network of organizations working in Internet public policy and with diverse campaigning experiences to ensure that the internet is free and open. The Association for Progressive Communications has created a first advisory group whose role will be to help identify initial strategic opportunities and potential partners and alliances. Katitza Rodriguez, Coordinator of The Public Voice Coalition has been invited to join the Advisory Group. A first planning meeting will be held in Geneva on February 8, one day before the first round of consultations for the 2010 United Nations Internet Governance Forum.
EU Parliamentary Group Rejected US Deal on Data Sharing
Members of the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee recommended rejecting the data sharing agreement between the United States and Europe. "Parliament should withhold its consent to the EU's interim agreement on banking data transfers to the USA via the SWIFT network", the Civil Liberties Committee suggested. The United States authorities have argued that access to that information is key to counter terrorism efforts. In 2006 Article 29 concluded that "SWIFT and the financial institutions in the EU have failed to respect the provisions of the EU Data Protection Directive." The deal will be put to a plenary vote in Strasbourg on February 11, 2010.
The SWIFT deal allows the United States to access information collected by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). In 2009, the Brussels-based banking consortium "set up a storage center for its European data in Switzerland, which meant that intra-European data was stored only in Europe. Until then, the data had also been kept on a server in the United States. This new structure required the negotiation of a new agreement between the Commission and Council on the one hand and the United States on the other." For more information: SWIFT interim agreement: Civil liberties Committee to vote on 4 February.
EU Information Society Commissioner Speech Makes Personal Data Protection a Foreign Policy Priority
Viviane Reding, European Information Society Commissioner in a Keynote Speech at the European Parliament on International Privacy Day affirmed that the protection of the right of personal data should be respected at any time, even when performing simple operations like transferring money, booking a flight ticket or passing a security check at the airport. "The demand for personal data continues to grow massively, and so should our determination to reinforce the rights of individuals over the use of their personal data," Commissioner Reding added.
Commissioner Reding rejects the installation of body scanners without studying whether the devices are effective, do not harm health, and do not violate privacy. "I am convinced that body scanners have a considerable privacy-invasive potential. Their usefulness is still to be proven. Their impact on health has not yet been fully assessed. Therefore I cannot imagine this privacy-intrusive technique being imposed on us without full consideration of its impact," she noted. The European position in the current dispute is strengthened by the recent adoption of the Lisbon Treaty and the entry into force of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. For more information: The Public Voice: Stop Digital Strip Searches in Airports
European Commissioner Makes a Call to Defend Privacy on the Information Society
Making a strong call to protect personal data against any unauthorized use, and emphasizing that citizens have the right to decide how their data will be processed, EU Information Society Commissioner, Viviane Reding, delivered a Keynote Speech at the European Parliament on January 28, Data Protection Day. "It is my firm belief that we cannot expect citizens to trust Europe if we are not serious in defending the right to privacy," she said. While recognizing the power of innovation of new products and services, Commissioner Reding highlighted that privacy and personal data were not always a key ingredient at the early development stage of those products and services.
The European Commission is currently analyzing over 160 responses to the public consultation on the reform of the General Data Protection Directive. Several challenges have been identified such as the need to (1) "clarify the application of some key rules and principles (such as consent and transparency) in practice; (2) ensure that personal data are protected regardless of the location of the data controller; (3) promote Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs), by introducing new evolving principles (such as ‘privacy by design, (4) strengthen enforcement, and (5) incorporate the fundamental principles of data protection to cover all areas of EU competence, including police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters and the EU's external relations."
The 2010 European Civil Society Award Results
The European Association for the Defense of Human Rights and EDRI presented the first European Civil Society Data Protection Award to "PER.SONN.ES (in French), or FAKEFRIENDS.ME (in English). "Per.sonn.es / Fakefriends.me [is] an original and positive initiative contributing to the visibility and effectiveness of the right to privacy by raising awareness and helping to build conscious critical thinking," the Jury noted. The Jury was conformed by Pierre Barge (AEDH), Emilie Barrau (BEUC), Aleksejs Dimitrovs (AEDH), Serge Gutwirth (LSTS/VUB), Paul de Hert (LSTS/VUB), Andreas Krisch (EDRI), Meryem Marzouki (EDRI), Yves Poullet (CRID), and Daniel Retureau (EESC).
ACT NOW: Save the Independent Media in South Korea
MediAct is a communication media training and education center based in South Korea. MediAct has played a critical role to support the independent film and video production, the citizens' media monitoring movement, and the trade union movement in that country since the 1980s. However, in the past two years, the media landscape and culture sector has undergone some drastic changes under the Lee Myung-bak regime.
Now MediAct is facing the crisis of shut down with the massive and target-oriented budget cutting by Korean government. Support MediAct - Sign the Petition. For more information: MediAct Facebook Group, APC: Support for MediAct, Public Media Center in South Korea.
US Secretary of State Backs Internet Freedom
With a heightened support for the protection of Internet freedom and privacy, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a speech at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. affirming that the United States stands for a single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas. Endorsing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, she noted that terrorism and other threats “must not become an excuse for governments to systematically violate the rights and privacy of those who use the internet for peaceful political purposes”. She went a step further, noting that the US is “supporting the development of new tools that enable citizens to exercise their rights of free expression by circumventing politically motivated censorship."
UN Rapporteur Calls for International Privacy Agreement
The UN Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism has called for a global declaration on data protection and data privacy. In its Annual Report, the UN Rapporteur stressed the need of an analytical framework for ensuring that any restrictions on privacy rights are necessary, proportionate and adequately regulated.
The report assesses the developments that have adversely affected the right to privacy in various parts of the world using the justification of combating terrorism. These include racial or ethnic profiling, creation of privacy-intrusive databases and resorting to new technology, such as body scanners, without proper human rights assessment. The UN Special Rapporteur dismisses the perception that in an all-encompassing process of "balancing" counter-terrorism always outweighs privacy.
Google to Stop Filtering Search Results in China
Google has announced that it will no longer censor results on the Chinese version of its search engine, Google.cn, after discovering serious security breaches on its corporate cloud infrastructure. Chinese law requires Internet companies to install Internet filters, and up until now Google has complied. Civil society groups have widely opposed mandated filtering, censorship of Internet content, and surveillance of Internet users. In the Seoul Declaration (2008) and the Madrid Declaration, they urged governments and Internet firms to protect freedom of expression and privacy. An EPIC Report (1999) found that filters are imprecise and block access to constitutionally protected speech in the United States.
Israel and Andorra Ensures an Adequate Level of Privacy Protection
Article 29 Data Protection Working Party released two assessments that consider Andorra and Israel a country that offers an adequate level of protection. The European Commission has the final power to determine whether Andorra and Israel ensures that protection. The effect of such a decision means that personal data can flow among all those countries with an adequate level of protection.
Continue reading "Israel and Andorra Ensures an Adequate Level of Privacy Protection" »
Stop Digital Strip Searches in airports!
The supporters of the Madrid Declaration are calling on national governments to suspend the deployment of body scanners until a full evaluation of the technology is completed. The Madrid Privacy Declaration has been signed by more than 200 privacy and consumer experts and organizations around the globe. For more information, see The Public Voice: Stop Digital Strip Searches, The Public Voice: The Madrid Declaration, and FB Group: Stop Airport Strip Searches.
Privacy International responds to the EU Consultation on Personal Data Protection
From July 2009 until December 31, 2009, the European Commission held a consultation on the legal framework for the fundamental right to protection of personal data. The objective of the consultation was to obtain views on the new challenges for personal data protection in order to maintain an effective and comprehensive legal framework to protect individual’s personal data within the European Union. Privacy International has responded to the European Commission's consultation highlighting its vitally support to the Directive and how it has indeed provided Europe, and the world, with a benchmark for privacy protection. PI's responds is available here.
Sign the Madrid Privacy Declaration
The Madrid Privacy Declaration is a substantial document that reaffirms international instruments for privacy protection, identifies new challenges, and recommends specific actions.Over 250 civil society organizations, bloggers, activists, privacy experts, geeks from more than 40 countries have signed the Madrid Privacy Declaration. The declaration urge countries around the world to safeguard privacy, a fundamental human right. Governments and corporations are gathering too much information on individuals, with too few protections. New systems of identification, tracking and surveillance threaten the rights of citizens and consumers.
Continue reading "Sign the Madrid Privacy Declaration" »
Call for Nominations: European Civil Society Data Protection Award
The European Civil Society Data Protection Award aims at rewarding positive initiatives contributing to the visibility and effectiveness of the right to privacy and to the protection of personal data in Europe. By yearly honoring outstanding achievements in the field, it wishes to enhance public awareness, stimulate creative and constructive input, and favor useful exchanges of information at the European level.
Association Européenne pour la défense des Droits de l'Homme and European Digital Rights invite all non-governmental organisations, trade unions, non-profitinstitutions and any other civil society actor to participate and to submit their applications. Deadline: 15 January 2010 - Send to: nominations@ecsdpa.org. All the information about the Award is available here.
Telecom Package entered into force
On December 18, 2009, the Telecom Package took effect with its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Package brings 12 reforms to pave way for stronger consumer rights, an open internet, a single European telecoms market. Under the ePrivacy directive, communications service providers will also be required to notify consumers of security breaches, persistent identifiers ("cookies") will become opt-in, there will be enhanced penalties for spammers, and national data protection agencies will receive new enforcement powers. Member states then have 18 months to transpose the Directive into national law.
Privacy Advocates Files Complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), joined by nine privacy and consumer organizations, today filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charging that Facebook's recent changes to user privacy settings violate federal consumer protection law.
The EPIC complaint urges the Trade Commission to open an investigation into the recent changes made by Facebook to the privacy settings of Facebook users and to require Facebook to restore privacy safeguards.
This is the most significant case now before the Federal Trade Commission, said Marc Rotenberg, EPIC Executive Director. More than 100 million people in the United States subscribe to the Facebook service. The company should not be allowed to turn down the privacy dial on so many American consumers.
Continue reading "Privacy Advocates Files Complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission" »
Act Now - Take the Survey: Say NO to Biometric Identifiers
The Consumer Travel Alliance is conducting a survey of travelers attitudes toward biometric screening. This includes fingerprinting, photographs and iris scans. It will mean more time passing through international borders and require visitors to share far more information than before with border control agents. Take the survey and say NO to biometric Identifiers!
The Civil Society Madrid Privacy Declaration signed by more than 300 non for profit organizations, individuals and expert around the world called for a moratorium on the development of the implementation of new systems of mass surveillance, like "biometric identifiers." Sign now the Madrid Privacy Declaration.
Latin America: Children's Online Privacy
On December 3, 2009, the Memorandum of Montevideo was presented in Mexico DF. The general objective of the document is to contribute to promote awareness of the risks that social networking can pose to children and adolescents. The presentation of the Memorandum of Montevideo in Mexico was an opportunity to bring together representatives from industry, media, legislators, judges, parents, civil society organizations and education authorities in order to promote and encourage the adoption of public policies aimed at protecting children's online privacy.
AEDH-EDRI: European Civil Society Data Protection Award
AEDH (European Association for the Defence of Human rights) and EDRI (European Digital Rights) launch the first edition of the European Civil Society Data Protection Award (ECSDPA). The prize aims at rewarding positive initiatives contributing to the visibility and effectiveness of right to privacy and to the protection of personal data in Europe. The ECSDPA prize will be awarded each year on 28 January, as a European Civil Society contribution to the Data Protection Day.
Continue reading "AEDH-EDRI: European Civil Society Data Protection Award" »
This is a listing of events which may be useful for civil society to participate, connect and network on issues relating to information and communication technologies and policies.
Madrid - Spain. The Public Voice: Global Privacy Standards in a Global World
November 3, 2009
Sharm El Sheikh - Egypt. United Nations. IV Internet Governance Forum November 15-18, 2009
OECD 2008 Ministerial Meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy
Civil Society Privacy Conference
Montreal
Sept. 25, 2007
OECD Participative Web Forum
Ottawa
Oct. 3, 2007
Participation in the World Summit on the Information Society Internet Governance Caucus »
Visit The Public Voice coalition on Ning!
IGF 2010 Open Consultation
February 9, 2009. Geneva - Switzerland
Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group Meeting
10-11 February 2010. Geneva - Switzerland
EuroDig 2010
29-30 April 2010. Madrid-Spain
