Tag: Internet Governance

The internet affects every individual in this world whether directly or indirectly. For example, a medical professional somewhere in Goma, Congo might access the internet to read and post reviews to current medication available and this might have an impact on the kind of medication that he/she recommends to the patient, whether the patient has access to affordable internet or not. Since the internet affects everyone, Africans citizens who are aware of internet governance discussions, expect African stakeholders to engage in these discussions.

Last October, in the aftermath of the revelations of mass government surveillance, the government of Brazil and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced a joint initiative that would bring together government, industry, civil society, and academia in a meeting in Brazil in April 2014 to discuss the future of internet governance. This evolved to become the Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance, better known as NetMundial, an initiative of 12 governments — Argentina, France, Ghana, Germany, India, Indonesia, South Africa, South Korea, Tunisia, Turkey, and the United States have since joined Brazil– with representatives of civil society, academia, and the technical community participating in various planning committees.

Yesterday, the Open Technology Institute at New America Foundation, Public Knowledge, Access, Center for Democracy & Technology, Freedom House, and Human Rights Watch, ahead of the April 10th hearing “Should The Department Of Commerce Relinquish Direct Oversight Over ICANN?”, sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee restating their support of the NTIA’s decision to transition key Internet domain name functions to the global multi-stakeholder community and the organizations’ concerns regarding the DOTCOM Act. The DOTCOM Act is a piece of legislation that was introduced this past March that would require a Government Accountability Office review and report prior to the NTIA transition, a process that could take up to a year.

Access, an international organization committed to extending and defending the rights of internet users worldwide, is encouraged by recent votes that will help secure an open internet. Yesterday, the European Union voted 534-23 in favor of network neutrality, and just last week the Brazilian Congress also voted to protect the internet as part of a larger “internet bill of rights.”

Today the European Parliament voted on the European Telecoms Single Market proposal, a major legislative achievement protecting net neutrality that will have a crucial impact on how European users experience the internet for generations.

Access calls on the White House to bolster data protection standards, promote data security, and continue to foster a robust discussion on best practices.

Today marks the first in what is likely to be a series of congressional hearings called in response to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) historic announcement of its intent to transition key Internet domain name functions (DNS) to the global multistakeholder community. In advance of today’s hearing, Access, along with the Center for Democracy & Technology, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, The Open Technology Institute at New America Foundation, and Public Knowledge have sent a letter to Congress expressing our support for the proposed transition.

Last Thursday, the U.N. Human Rights Committee released a report criticizing NSA surveillance, for among things, failing to protect rights of non-U.S. persons. The Committee’s report comes in the context of its overall review of civil and political rights in the U.S. in accordance with its treaty obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

After six months of negotiations, the European Parliament will finally vote on the proposal for a Telecoms Single Market in one week. This proposal was initially designed to deliver the promise of enshrining net neutrality as law across Europe. Yet unless the European Parliament rises to the challenge next week, they may actually end up undermining net neutrality net through unclear and confusing legislation.