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During the 110th session, the Human Rights Committee conducted its review of US human obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The shadow reported used the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance to address the US government’s failures to protect the rights to privacy and expression. It also examined the US government’s failure to comply with the Committee’s interpretation of the extraterritorial application of the ICCPR.

The 25th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) will take place in Geneva from March 3rd to 28th. This briefing note provides information on internet related human rights issues in the upcoming session of the HRC. Overall, we can see the continuing trend of the HRC addressing internet and human rights issues in increasingly diverse aspects of its work. This is the Council’s 25th session and will see internet issues considered across a broad range of topics, including in the context of peaceful protest, good governance, freedom of region and belief, the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, human rights defenders, cultural rights, and the rights of persons with disabilities to education. The right to privacy in age of mass government surveillance is also increasingly on the Council’s agenda. This briefing note was prepared by Deborah Brown (Access), Joy Liddicoat and Shawna Finnegan (Association for Progressive Communications)

Last September 2013, the European Commission tabled a Regulation aimed at completing a European single market for electronic communications and to achieve a Connected Continent (also known as the Telecoms proposal), in which she proposed to include provisions on “network neutrality.” While we welcome any proposal that would enshrine the guiding principles of the open internet into European law, we regret that the proposed text contains several loopholes that, if not properly addressed, could constitute a serious threat to fundamental rights and innovation in Europe. The following analysis, divided by themes, will focus on the provisions contained in the proposed Regulation that relate to net neutrality (Articles 2, 19, 23, 24, 25 & 26).

Access broadly welcomes the Commission proposal for a Regulation on a single market for electronic communications achieving a Connected Continent (2013/0309), particularly the aspects which have the potential to enshrine the guiding principles of the internet – network neutrality -­?-­? into law. However, we regret that the proposed text contains several loopholes that, if not properly addressed, could constitute a serious threat to fundamental rights and innovation in Europe. This document contains Access’ proposed amendments to the Commission’s text which aim to address these loopholes and to ensure that the internet remains an open and dynamic platform for innovation, competition and the flourishing of human rights in Europe.

UN draft resolution A/C.2/68/L.40 with modalities for the WSIS+10 review was released in the General Assembly’s Second Committee on November 14, 2013. The draft resolution clearly calls for a WSIS Summit to be held in 2015, and for the preparatory process to be led by inter-governmental committee. Access worked with the Center for Technology & Democracy, Centro de Tecnologia e Sociedade (CTS | FGV), and Global Partners Digital on initial analysis of the draft resolution.

Already a pressing global issue, internet governance is growing in importance in international debates. With internet governance debates taking place across a range of forums, this visual timeline was developed in an effort to better focus civil society advocacy efforts by understanding where main discussions about global internet governance are taking place. This timeline aims to: 1) identify forums where internet governance is being discussed/decided over the next few years; and 2) identify avenues for participation for civil society to influence those processes.

The internet’s continuing success rests on its three foundational principles: 1) that all points in
the network should be able to connect to all other points in the network (the end to end principle);
2) that all providers of the internet should make their best effort to deliver traf?c from point to
point as expeditiously as possible (the best effort principle); and 3) that everyone should be able to
innovate without permission from anyone or any entity (the innovation without permission principle).
Collectively, these principles are the foundation of the openness and neutrality of the internet.

Access, together with the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), Reporters Without Borders (RWB), the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and Privacy International have submitted a written statement to the UN Human Rights Council’s 24th session. The statement highlights the need to bring surveillance practices in line with international human rights norms, in a manner consistent with the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance, and makes specific recommendations to the HRC.

Access and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) have prepared a short briefing on the internet related human rights items that will be addressed at Human Rights Council 24, as well as some background on the Council’s work on the internet and human rights.

Access’ response to the questionnaire of the United Nations Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation.