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| » | 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
the
OECD 2008 Ministerial Meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy,
which took place in Seoul on
June 2008. This document raises a number
of issues of major importance to the civil society community and makes
a number of recommendations to move us towards the future of the
Internet that meets the essential needs of all the world's citizens. We
urge all Internet users and potential Internet users to support the
Civil Society Seoul Declaration as this document will be submitted as a
"room document" in the next OECD Committee for Information, Computer
and Communications Policy (ICCP) meeting on 11-12 December 2008. We
would like to keep pushing for the implementation of the Civil Society
Seoul Declaration within the OECD ICCP work.
The
declaration is
open for sign on by civil society organizations and individuals until
October 10, 2008 (Human Rights Day). The declaration
has been
signed by (so far) 86
organizations and 99 individuals. Read
more. | | » | ICANN: Privacy enhancing
registration of WHOIS Services August 2008 | | On
June 18, 2008, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN) published draft proposed changes to the Registrar Accreditation
Agreement (RAA) in order to endorse privacy and data protection
enhancing registration services. This amendment helps protect the
personal data of the TLD registrants that is stored in the WHOIS
Database. The ICANN Board of Directors passed a resolution in San
Juan to solicit community input related to RAA amendments and open the
call for public comment until August 4, 2008. On August 1,
the US
Department of Commerce criticized the proposed language arguing that
ICANN should study the legitimate uses of WHOIS data and that those
changes are contrary of what was suggested by the Government Advisory
Committee (GAC).
The WHOIS database, originally
intended to
allow network administrators to find and fix problems with minimal
hassle to maintain the stability of the Internet, now exposes domain
name registrants' personal data to spammers, stalkers, criminal
investigators, and copyright enforcers. Proxy and privacy services
could help protect individuals from the indiscriminate use of their
personal information available openly in the WHOIS online database. More
information
Draft Proposed Changes to
Registrar Accreditation Agreement:
http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-18jun08-en.htm
US
Department of Commerce Comments on the Draft proposed Changes to RAA:
http://forum.icann.org/lists/raa-consultation/pdfGM3wWulYzz.pdf | | » | International Action Day: Freedom
not Fear August 2008 | | A
broad movement of campaigners and organizations including the German
Work Group on Data Retention ("Arbeitskreis
Vorratsdatenspeicherung"), the Electronic
Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is calling on everybody
to join action against excessive surveillance by governments and
businesses. On 11 October 2008, concerned people in many
countries will
take to the streets, the motto being "Freedom not fear 2008". Peaceful
and creative action, from protest marches to parties, will take place
in many capital cities. More
information. | | » | President Carter disseminates
Atlanta Declaration. August 2008 | | In
July, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter forwarded the Atlanta
Declaration and Plan of Action for the Advancement of the Right to
Information to all heads of state and leaders of the major
international organizations and financial institutions. President
Carter urged these leaders to ensure the right of access to information
and its implementation and enforcement. The Atlanta
Declaration
and Plan of Action was the product of the Carter
Center’s International Conference on the Right to Public
Information, held February 27-29, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Marc
Rotenberg, Executive Director of EPIC joined the more than 125
participants, representing governments, civil society, international
organizations and financial institutions, private sector, donors and
scholars, from 40 countries whomet to discuss the successes and future
challenges to the establishment of a right of access to information.
The
Atlanta Declaration and Plan of Action, serving as a
framework for
advancing this human right, finds that access to information is
fundamental to dignity, equity and peace with justice, and that a lack
of access to information disproportionately affects the poor, women and
other vulnerable and marginalized societies. The Declaration
calls on all states and intergovernmental organizations to enact
legislation and instruments for the exercise, full implementation and
effective enforcement of this right. It further encourages all
stakeholders to take concrete steps to establish, develop, protect and
promote the right of access to information. The Declaration is
available in Spanish, French, and Chinese.
For
additional
information related to the conference and materials, please visit the
Carter
Center’s Access to Information project website
or contact
Laura Neuman, Access to Information Project Manager, The Carter Center,
at (404) 420-5146 or lneuman at emory dot edu. | | » | OECD Secretary General Seeks to
Formalize Civil Society. Participation, Expresses Support for
International Privacy Standard
June
2008
| | At the OECD Ministerial
conference on the Future of the Internet Economy,
the Secretary General of the Paris-based research and policy-making
organization recommended that the OECD begin
the process of formalising the participation of civil society and the
technical community in the work of the OECD on the Internet economy.
The OECD also reaffirmed support for the 1980 OECD Privacy Guidelines,
which are the foundation for most countries privacy standards. Civil
Society groups gathered in Seoul for a Public Voice Forum and to
participate in the Ministerial conference. More than 81 organizations endorsed
the Civil Society-TUAC Seoul Declaration. | | » | OECD
and Korea Host Ministerial Conference on Future of the
Internet June 2008 | | With
the slogan "Shaping Policies for Creativity, Confidence and Convergence
in the Digital World", the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) held the 2008 Ministerial Meeting on the Future of
the Internet Economy in Seoul, South Korea on June 17 and 18. The
Meeting, which was the first OECD Ministerial Meeting held in Asia,
brought together Ministers, senior government officials, the heads of
major intergovernmental organisations, industry leaders and
representatives of the Internet technical community, civil society and
organised labour. In all, close to 2,200 participants from 68 economies
attended the Meeting, which was webcast. In addition to the
participants, many more contributed to the Meeting via the
Internet. More
information. | | » | Civil
Society Seoul Declaration Sets Out Broad Policy Framework June
2008 |
|
On June 16, 2008, more than 150
participants from 15 countries gathered in Seoul, South Korea, for the
Civil Society - Labor Forum "Making the Future of the Internet Economy
Work for Citizens, Consumers, and Workers. The event
was organized by the Public Voice coalition, the Trade Union Advisory
Committee, and the OECD Civil Society Reference group, which includes the
Association for Progressive Communications, the Canadian Internet Policy
and Public interest Clinic, Consumers Korea, the European Digital
Rights Initiative, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the
Internet Governance Project, and the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue.
This Forum addressed the issues
of utmost importance for the internet economy. Prominent advocates
from the academic, consumer, development, digital rights, labour, and
privacy communities engaged government delegates on topics of
relevance to the Ministerial, as well as issues of fundamental concern to civil
society and organized labor. More
information. |
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UNESCO launched
a comparative legal survey on open government April 2008 |
| |
The
United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) recently published the second edition, entirely
revised
and updated, of Freedom
of Information: A Comparative Legal Survey
written by Toby Mendel, Senior Director of Law of Article 19. The
survey analyses the open governement laws of 14 countries including
Azerbaijan,
Bulgaria, India, Jamaica, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Peru, South
Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Uganda, United Kingdom and the United States.
More information. |
| TACD Charter of Consumer Rights in the Digital World April 2008 | | The
Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue released the Charter for Consumer
Rights in the Digital World. The charter sets outs the core rights that
TACD´s members consider as indispensable to meeting
the
challenges presented by the digital world and the utilization of its
potentials. These core rights are based on a wide range of TACD
resolutions that have previously established the interests of consumers
in the digital world. The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue is a forum of
US and EU consumer organizations which develops and agrees joint
consumer policy recommendations to the US government and European Union
to promote the consumer interest in EU and US policy making. More information. | | ENISA
Position Paper on Security Issues and Recommendations for Online Social
Networks January 2008 | | The
European Network and Information
Security Agency has issued a position paper on Security Issues and
Recommendations for Online Social Networks. The paper is part of a
series of position papers on emerging risks. The aim is to raise
awareness among policy-makers and providers of the threats Social
Networking poses to users and providers and what can be done to address
these threats. The authors hope that by following our recommendations,
Social Networking can become a safer environment for users and that
large-scale security problems which also affect network-providers and
governments can be reduced. ENISA invites public comments to get
feedback on our recommendations and to start a dialogue on Social
Networking Security. Deadline for comments is February 28, 2008. More information. |
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