Tag: David Kaye

Here’s what we’re prioritizing this week at the 32nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

U.N. Special Rapporteur David Kaye maps out the pathway for developing global business standards to defend free expression and privacy in the digital age.

Today Access recognizes the individuals and groups that have either been champions of the 13 internationally recognized principles for human rights in communications surveillance (“Heroes”), or have undermined or violated those principles (“Villains”). These principles, called the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance (or “the Principles”), have been endorsed by more than 400 civil society groups worldwide. They provide a framework for assessing whether government surveillance practices comply with international human rights obligations. Today marks the two-year anniversary of the Principles, which were publicly released on September 22, 2013.

Earlier this week, two foreign journalists for Vice working in southeastern Turkey were arrested, raising concerns about the journalists’ safety and security. In a dark reminder of the “Crypto Wars” of the 1990s, a Turkish official stated yesterday that the main reason that these journalists were detained is that they use encryption. This morning, the news surfaced that the journalists have been released and are free to leave the country, although the charges against them have not been dropped. A local translator who had been working with them remains in custody.

This incident raises serious issues for digital rights and digital security, and could cause a powerful chilling effect for freedom of expression — not just in Turkey, but in other conflict-prone regions around the world.

Access hails the new report by UN human rights expert David Kaye that defends the use of encryption as necessary for free expression, and that affirms digital security as essential for the broader advancement of human rights.

Major UN and international rights experts have just declared that internet kill switches are absolutely impermissible under international human rights law, even in times of conflict. This historic statement holds that governments can no longer justify ordering telecommunications companies to shut off mobile or internet services in the face of social unrest or protest. It is a critical decision that impacts the rights of people who are protesting from Burundi to Baltimore.

RightsCon Southeast Asia closed after another jam-packed day of events and demos of exciting tech tools. More than 500 participants joined together to learn, to contribute, and to achieve real world outcomes.