Access Now
Access Now defends and extends the digital rights of users at risk around the world. By combining innovative policy, global advocacy, and direct technical support, it fights for open and secure communications for all. Access Now is a supporter of APC's African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG).
In this letter, APC and a diverse range of organisations from around the world reiterate what they consider the key characteristics of the UN Tech Envoy profile based on their experience and mandates as civil society groups working to improve inclusive internet governance and digital cooperation.
In 2020, Facebook (now Meta) commissioned the law firm Foley Hoag to conduct a Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) to evaluate its role in spreading hate speech and incitement to violence on its services in India. A year and a half later, the HRIA has not yet been released.
The undersigned organisations condemn the use of NSO Group’s Pegasus technology in El Salvador for the surveillance of journalists and civil society, as initially flagged by local independent media and confirmed through a joint investigation by global and regional civil society organisations.
A joint letter urges members of the UN Ad Hoc Committee drafting a potential Cybercrime Treaty to ensure that human rights protections are included at every step and global civil society is provided opportunities to participate in the development process.
Following revelations that Israeli NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware was used to hack the devices of six Palestinian human rights activists, we urge the EU to take serious and effective measures against NSO Group, including its designation under the EU’s global human rights sanctions regime.
APC joins other organisations and individuals to express concern over Digital Platforms Regulation Bill Nº 14.561-19, which is being discussed in the Chilean congress. The bill establishes rules that end up being dangerous for the exercise of fundamental rights on the internet.
APC and other civil society organisations marked the conclusion of the UN General Assembly's 76th Third Committee session with these observations on both thematic and country-specific resolutions. We urge all states to implement the commitments made in these resolutions to their full extent.
On Global Encryption Day, APC joined with over 150 other organisations to call on governments and the private sector to reject efforts to undermine encryption and instead pursue policies that enhance, strengthen and promote use of strong encryption to protect people everywhere.
Our courageous friend and colleague, Egyptian activist and technologist Alaa Abdel Fattah, must be released from his arbitrary detention immediately.
APC and other civil society organisations call on UN Human Rights Council (HRC) member states to take urgent action at the ongoing 48th HRC session to denounce the unfolding and unprecedented scale of human rights violations by states facilitated by the use of the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
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