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|  |  | » | Preparing the Internet Governance Forum Review process | | An open consultations
open to all stakeholders were held in Geneva on 23-24 February 2009 to discuss the 2009 Internet Governance Forum.
The transcript of the session of the Open Consultations are now available
online. A revised version of the synthesis paper summarizing the
contributions and questionnaire answers submitted by stakeholders is
also available online. A
Multistakeholder Advisory Group Meeting was held after the
consultations on 25-26 February 2009. A summary report of the meeting
is available here. | | » | ICANN Meeting in Mexico City, March 1-6, 2009 | | The upcoming ICANN meeting will be held in Mexico City on 1-6 March. The agenda is now published online. | | » | Internet Users At Large Summit - February 28, 2009 | | On February 28, 2009, the At Large (Internet Users) Summit will be held in Mexico City. The program will be published online at the ICANN´s Mexican Conference website. | | » | Civil Society Launches Campaign for Privacy Convention on January 28, 2009 | | On the ocassion of the International Privacy Day, The Public Voice is urging support for the
Council of Europe Privacy Convention. At present, forty-one countries
have ratified the Convention. The coalition is pushing for ratification
in the countries that have not adopted the convention. According to one source, the "Convention has withstood the test
of time by being adaptive and fairly rigorous. Today the principles of
this agreement are being examined for their applicability to the
collection and processing of biometric data." | | » | International Privacy Day - January 28, 2009 | | On
January 28, 2009 many countries in Europe will be celebrating
International Privacy Day. The Council of Europe, with the support of
the European Commission, created this important day three years ago.
The Day featured events across Europe, including meetings and
educational programs. The day was also aimed at making citizens
“aware of the risks inherent and associated with the illegal
mishandling and unfair processing of their personal data”. Due
to its significance, governments from the United States and Canada, as
well as private sector organizations from different countries, have
joined this effort.
We would like to propose to the privacy,
civil liberties, not for profit and consumer community as well as all
Internet users from Latin America, Asia, Australia, North America and
Europe to join together to promote January 28 - International Privacy
Day - as an important date, and to focus the debate on “real
problems” and “real solutions”.
The reality is
that there is very little what consumers can do today to protect their
personal information and, if we are to develop meaningful solutions
that address the real problems associated with the collection and use
of personal information, the focus must necessarily be on those
organization - industry and governments - in control of the data
concerning our private lives. The key point is to motivate people to
action - not just checking their privacy settings, shredding old bank
statements or installing a browser extension, but to raise awareness of
why meaningful regulation of privacy and enforcement of *privacy
rights* are key for the protection of our ability to control our own
personal information.
Each of us also needs to raise awareness
through our own channels of communications. We would like to hear your
opinions and we hope each of you will TAKE ACTION and raise awareness
about International Privacy Day.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Article 12 http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html#a12
Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data. Signed on January 28, 1981 http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/108.htm
OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data http://www.oecd.org/document/18/0,3343,en_2649_34255_1815186_1_1_1_1,00.html
| | » | Día Internacional de la Privacidad - 28 de Enero, 2009
| | El
28 de Enero del 2009, muchos países de Europa van a celebrar el
día International de la protección de datos personales.
El Consejo de Europa, con el apoyo de la Comisión Europea
crearon esta importante fecha hace tres años. En este día
se realizaran varios eventos, en varias ciudades, incluyendo reuniones
presenciales y programas educativos. El día también fue
creado para concientizar a los ciudadanos "de los riesgos inherentes y
asociados con el manejo ilegal de nuestros datos personales".
Debido
a su importancia, distintas entidades en Estados Unidos y
Canadá, así como las organizaciones del sector privado de
diferentes países se han sumado a este esfuerzo. Nos
gustaría proponer a las distintas comunidades que trabajan en
temas de privacidad/habeasdata/protección de datos, ONG,
asociación de consumidores así como todos los usuarios de
Internet de América Latina, Asia, Australia, América del
Norte y Europa trabajemos juntos para promover el 28 de enero -
Día Internacional de la Privacidad- como una fecha importante, y
para centrar el debate sobre "problemas reales" y "soluciones reales".
La
realidad es que los usuarios de Internet pueden hacer muy poco para
proteger su información personal y, si hemos de desarrollar
soluciones significativas que aborden los problemas reales asociados a
la recolección y uso de nuestra información personal, el
enfoque debe ser necesariamente en aquellas organizaciones - la
industria y los gobiernos - que colectan nuestros datos personales. El
punto clave es motivar a la gente a la acción - no sólo
es configurar nuestras opciones de privacidad, ni destrozar los estados
de cuenta bancarios ni instalar una extensión en nuestro
navegador, sino concientizar al usuario final de por qué es
necesaria una ley de protección de datos personales y más
aún, la observancia de nuestro derecho a la privacidad para que
podamos tener capacidad de controlar nuestra propia información
personal y que aquellos que controlan nuestros datos personales no
venda, transfieran o usen nuestros datos sin nuestro consentimiento
informado ni mucho menos para propósitos que totalmente
desconocemos.
Nuestro objectivo es llegar a los miembros de la
blogósfera para unir esfuerzos y que cada miembro de la Red
difunda el día entre sus propios espacios, redes y amigos. El
slogan que hemos propuestos es "Privacidad: Problemas Reales,
Soluciones Reales".
ARTÍCULO 12, DECLARACIÓN UNIVERSAL DE DERECHOS HUMANOS http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html#a12
Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data. Signed on January 28, 1981 http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/108.htm
OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data http://www.oecd.org/document/18/0,3343,en_2649_34255_1815186_1_1_1_1,00.html | | » | India Hosts Third Internet Governance Forum - January 2, 2009 | | The Internet Governance Forum
(IGF) is a multi-stakeholder forum for policy dialogue on issues of
Internet governance. The establishment of the IGF was formally
announced by the United Nations Secretary General in July 2006 and
since then three annual forums have been organized.
With
the slogan "Internet for all", the third annual meeting of the IGF took
place in Hyderabad, India on December 3-6, 2008. The third IGF, which
was held in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, brought
together governments, the private sector, civil society, and the
academic and technical communities to debate Internet governance and
related public policy issues, exchange information, as well as share
good practices. In all, close to 1,300 participants from 94 countries
attended the meeting, which was webcast with video and audio streaming.
The proceedings of the main sessions were transcribed and displayed in
the main session hall in real time and streamed to the Web. Remote hubs held parallel meetings in Argentina, Brazil, India, Pakistan, Columbia, Serbia and Spain.
The
international meeting focused on 5 main sessions which were organized
in 3 thematic days under the following headings: "Reaching the Next
Billion", "Promoting Cyber-Security and Trust", "Managing Critical
Internet Resources". The last day covered "Emerging Issues - the
Internet of Tomorrow" and "Taking Stock and the Way Forward". Parallel
to the main sessions, 87 self-organized workshops were held, including
meetings of the IGF dynamic coalitions, best practices and open forums. Click here for a full report of The Public Voice Project at the Third Internet Governance Forum | | » | OECD Civil Society Information Society Advisory Council (CSISAC) - November 7, 2008 | | At
the OECD Ministerial Conference on the Future of the Internet Economy,
the OECD Secretary General expressed support for an effort to formalize
the participation of civil society in the work of the OECD concerning
the future of the Internet. This recommendation follows almost two
decades of civil society participation at the OECD and specific
proposals civil society contributed to the 1998 OECD Ministerial
Conference and to the Civil Society Declaration at the 2008
Ministerial Conference.
After a period of public discussion on the Public Voice mailing list, members of the Coalition sent the
civil society participants' consensus proposal for the establishment of
the Civil Society Information Society Advisory Committee (CSISAC)
to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on
November 07, 2008. This document will be submitted to the
Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy
(ICCP) for approval at its meeting on December 11-12, 2008.
If
you would like to join The Public Voice mailing list, or join The
Public Voice Wiki project, please send an email to thepublicvoice AT
datos-personales DOT org. | | » | OECD updates broadband portal - October 24, 2008 | | The
OECD broadband portal provides access to a range of broadband-related
statistics gathered by the OECD. The statistics has been updated until
June 2008. The data and charts are available at the OECD website.
| | » | 3rd Annual GigaNet Symposium - Hyderabad (India), - November 6, 2008 | | The
3rd Annual GigaNet Symposium will be held in Hyderabad (India)
on December 2, 2008, the day prior to the UN Internet Governance
Forum and in
the same premises. The Symposium Agenda and Registration Form are now
available online. Attendance at the Symposium is free and open to all
interested parties, but registration is required. More | | » | Civil Society Participation at the OECD - October 10, 2008 | | The next Public Voice conference call will take place on Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 12-1 pm Eastern Time. http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
The focus of the discussion will be the charter for the Information Society Advisory Committee.
If you need assistance with the wiki, please send an email to Katitza
(at) datos-personales (dot) org. For those who are joining our list for
the first time, the Public Voice's monthly civil society calls provide
the opportunity for civil society to discuss international activities
concerning a wide range of Internet policy matters. As a reminder,
several folks are having good success with Skype. We have included
details on the Public Voice page if you would like to try Skype.
PUBLIC VOICE TELECONFERENCE: Date: Thursday, October 30, 2008
Preliminary Agenda:
- OECD project on counterfeiting and piracy. Copyright Enforcement and ACTA
- OECD Cross Border Privacy Enforcement
- OECD Civil Society Proposal: "Information Society Advisory Committee
RSVP
and Additions to the Agenda: If you'll be joining the call, please
email to the publicvoice AT datos-personales DOT org. Additions to the agenda are welcome.
| | » | ACTION: Support Freedom not Fear - International Action Day - October 11, 2008 | | On October 11, 2008 a
broad movement of campaigners and organizations including the German
Work Group on Data Retention ("Arbeitskreis
Vorratsdatenspeicherung")
is calling on everybody
to join action against excessive surveillance by governments and
businesses. In recognition of October 11, Freedom not Fear Day,
many organizations in the United States including the Electronic
Privacy Information Center, The Electronic Frontier Foundation, IP
Justice, among others set out several recommendations. Individual organizations could send their endorsement to the following email: thepublicvoice (AT) datos-personales (DOT) org. More information | | » | Privacy at the Internet Governance Forum Consultation September 2008 | | On
September 16, 2008, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) held its open
consultation at Geneva in preparation for the third forum that will be
held in Hyderabad, India from December 3-6, 2008. Comments on
the Substantive Program Agenda was one of the main topics of
discussion. In the 2007 IGF meeting, privacy was subsumed under the
main session of "security" and other controversial topics including
human rights were avoided. This year, the right of privacy will be
discussed under the main title "Promoting cyber-security and trust."
Civil Society Participants objected to the title and said that some
governments use the focus on security fear to diminish the right to
privacy. Instead, civil society participants argued for discussions
about the opportunities that the Internet offers to enrich fundamental
rights and freedoms. At the Latin America Regional Consultation of the
Internet Governance Forum in August, 2008, civil society participants
pointed out that the right to privacy and data protection should be a
main topic in the Internet Governance debate. 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. According to Paragraph 72 of the World Summit of the
Information Society Tunis Agenda, the IGF's mandate sought to discuss
public policy issues related to key elements of Internet
governancein order to foster the sustainability, robustness,
security, stability and development of the Internet. More
information | | » | Telecoms package: Privacy Implications September 2008 | | On
September 24, 2008, the European Parliament voted (in first reading) in
favor of reforms of telecommunications laws, including amendments to
the European Union Directive for Privacy in Electronic Communications.
Those amendments makes clear that "Data protection rules must cover
private and not just public networks, so data stored on social
networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace will be covered by the
rules." It also includes the obligation of the companies operating on
the Internet to notify the public about security breaches. "A security
violation such as the theft of a client list must be notified to the
regulator by the operator. Users must be warned of any infringement of
their personal data if the case is serious enough to warrant it, and
the perpetrator could be prosecuted by the Member State." Other
provisions address topics such as spam, cookies, viruses, trojans and
spyware. More
information | | » | Reveal The Anti-Counterfeiting
Trade Agreement (ACTA) August 2008 | | The
governments of Australia, Canada, the European Commission, Japan,
Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland, South Korea,
and United
States are negotiating a new intellectual property enforcement treaty
called the "Anti-Counterfeiting
Trade Agrement (ACTA)". A coalition of organizations from all over the
world are urging the negotiators
of ACTA to publish
immediately
the
draft text of the agreement as well as pre-draft discussion papers before
continuing further discussions over the treaty. Based on news
reports from various business associations, civil society is
concerned that the pre-draft text "require Internet Service Providers to
monitor all consumers' Internet communications, to terminate their
customers' Internet connections based on rights holders' repeat
allegation of copyright infringement, and to divulge the identity of
alleged copyright infringers possibly without judicial process,
threatening Internet users' due process and privacy rights; and
potentially make ISPs liable for their end users' alleged infringing
activity; interfere with fair use of copyrighted materials" among
others provisions. The OECD
Civil Society Seoul Declaration,
signed by more than 87 organizations and 100 individuals, pointed out
that Civil Society is also concerned about the secrecy of ACTA and the
possibility of policies that may limit legitimate business activity,
the participative web, and e-government service delivery. For
more on ACTA, see:
| | » | Data Retention on the Internet:
Challenges for small, alternative and citizen-based Internet Service
Providers August 2008 | | On
Friday 19 September, the Center for Media and Communication Studies
(CMCS) at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, in
collaboration with the Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
and European Digital Rights (EDRI), will bring together scholars,
lawyers, policy experts, communication rights advocates, media
professionals and ICT activists from all over Europe to analyze the new
regulation and to develop strategies for maintaining and enhancing
privacy and free communication.
The workshop "Data
Retention on the Internet: Challenges for small, alternative and
citizen-based Internet Service Providers"
will focus on the implications for non-commercial and civil
society-based ISPs, for whom data retention requirements pose
existential problems. They would be forced to compromise on their most
fundamental objective - protecting their users' privacy from state and
corporate data gathering - and become an integral part of surveillance
operations. The workshop will be the first to bring together members of
non-commercial ISPs from different countries and backgrounds to learn
about the new policy environment and discuss their concerns.
The
meeting comes at a time when most EU member states are finalizing the
implementation of the EU Directive, but also resistance is spreading.
In several states civil rights groups have launched legal complaints
and law suits, demonstrations have taken place and coordinated protest
actions are planned for 11 October all over Europe. The Budapest
workshop will serve to discuss the prospects of legal challenges with
protagonists of lawsuits in different countries, to review campaigns
against surveillance and to explore the technological options of
safeguarding privacy and anonymity. More
information | | » | ACTION ITEM: Signon - Civil
Society Seoul Declaration August 2008 | | A
diverse group of civil society organizations and individuals from the
Public Voice Coalition worked on a joint Civil Society Declaration to |
|