Tag: Telcos

Joining a growing number of governments proposing regulations that mandate pervasive surveillance, Peru recently introduced a draconian bill that accelerates the review of evidence related to criminal investigations in a way that contravenes the due process rights of Peruvians.

As Burma solicits bids from telcos to build out its telecommunications infrastructure, the country is making it clear that they’re open for business.

After two weeks of voting, the “winner” of our Telco Hall of Shame is AT&T, who was nominated for being BFF’s with the NSA. The US-based telecommunications company won with nearly a quarter of the the vote, followed by another American telco, Verizon, with 17%.

The Industry, Research, and Energy (ITRE) Committee of the European Parliament recently voted through its Opinion on the Data Protection Regulation, sending a clear message to European citizens that a majority of the Committee believes the interests of large corporations should trump the protection of their fundamental right to privacy.

As the European Parliament debates new data protection reforms,US technology companies have arrived in Brussels to commence an unprecedented lobbying effort aimed at preventing strong regulation and weakening existing standards. Most troublingly, some of the draft legislative proposals have been copied and pasted directly from lobbying documents, evidence of the immense influence of US giants like Google and Amazon on European policy.

Access and 20 civil society organizations have published an open letter to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), pushing the UN body to ensure meaningful and sustainable civil society participation at the upcoming World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF).

CISPA, the ill-conceived piece of US legislation on information sharing and cybersecurity, is back. Yesterday, the Intelligence Committee of the US House of Representatives held a hearing on cybersecurity, under the banner of “Advanced Threats Facing Our Nation.” The committee, chaired by Republican congressman Mike Rogers, heard testimony from representatives of the financial, energy, corporate, and security industries. No representative of the civil liberties or privacy community was invited to testify.

Roundup of the final meeting of the Information Experts Group for the World Telecommunications Policy Group, an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) forum for discussing key policy issues in today’s telecommunications and information and communication technology (ICT) environment.

The Russian government has blocked access to a blog-hosting site that publishes reports from at least two prominent independent journalists often critical of the Kremlin. The site has been added to the country’s recently established official “internet blacklist.”