Posts Tagged ‘internet’
October 12, 2014
(ASL19, founded by Iranian-Canadian Ali Karimzadeh Bangi, develops ways for Iranians to counter the country’s “Great Firewall” of censorship – COLIN MCCONNELL / TORONTO STAR)
The prize aims to reward groups that use innovation to promote human rights. Of the 30 shortlisted candidates, ASL19, founded by Iranian-Canadian Ali Karimzadeh Bangi, is running fourth.
The remainder of the article sets out how the group helps Iranians to evade censorship.
Canadian web defenders up for top human rights award | Toronto Star.
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Ali Karimzadeh Bangi, ASL19, Canada, censorship, digest of human rights awards, human rights awards, Information security, information technology, innovation, internet, Iran, Netherlands, on-line, The Tulip Award, Toronto Star
October 3, 2014
Reminder: Martin Ennals Award 2014 to be announced at Ceremony in Geneva on 18:00, 7 October, at Uni Dufour. Watch live on: www.martinennalsaward.org
for more detail on the nominees: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/06/22/announcement-ceremony-of-the-martin-ennals-award-2014-on-7-october/
Posted in awards, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Adilur Rahman Khan, Alejandra Ancheita, awards, Cao Shunli, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, internet, Martin Ennals Award, MEA, MEA 2014, MEA ceremony, Prince Zeid Raad Zeid al-Hussein, streaming, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
September 30, 2014
On 6 October 2014 Front Line Defenders will be hosting US computer privacy expert and “digital security guru” Bruce Schneier as the key-note speaker for their second Annual Lecture [for those in Ireland: at 6.30 pm in the Trinity Biomedical Science Institute – tickets are available at: https://bruceschneierdublin2014.eventbrite.ie].
This talk, entitled “Is it Possible to be Safe Online? Human Rights Defenders and the Internet”, will explore the issues faced by human rights defenders and everyday people on the ground as the use of computers and the Internet in their work is becoming increasingly commonplace and the threats posed by governments manipulating, monitoring and subverting electronic information, increased surveillance and censorship and the lack of security for digitally communicated and stored information is on the rise. Called a “security guru” by The Economist, Schneier has authored 12 books – including Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust Society Needs to Thrive – as well as hundred of article, essays and academic papers. His influential newsletter Crypto-Gram and his blog Schneier on Security are read by over 250,000 worldwide.
via Is it Possible to be Safe Online? Human Rights Defenders & the Internet – lecture by Bruce Schneier – 06/10.
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Bruce Schneier, censorship, digital security, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, internet, Ireland, lecture, mass surveillance, monitoring, privacy, Protection on Line
June 5, 2014
This week, Global Partners have published the first in their series of “Travel Guides” to the digital world: Internet Policy and Governance for Human Rights Defenders which Becky Hogge authored under contract to them last year.
The aim of the guide is to entice human rights defenders from the Global South to participate in the discussions happening now around our rights online. But it should also serve as a useful introduction to the technologies that underpin the ‘net and the people who can affect our lives online, from governments to corporations, hackers, hacktivists and everything in between.
Global Partners introduces the book as follows: How the internet operates and is governed affects the rights of users – a new field from which human rights expertise is currently absent. Civil society groups at the table are fighting an unequal fight, and urgently need the strength and depth that the human rights community can bring. It is time for human rights defenders to familiarise themselves with the internet, and prepare to defend human rights online. The typesetting and illustrations are by Tactical Studios.
The volume is released Creative Commons and you can download a free .pdf version: https://barefoottechie.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/travel-guide-to-the-digital-worlds.pdf.
Posted in books, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Becky Hogge, book, creative commons, digital security, documentation, global Partners, Human Rights Defenders, information technology, internet, Internet Policy and Governance for Human Rights Defenders
May 30, 2014
The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, organised an expert meeting on The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age‘ (hosted by the Permanent Missions of Austria, Brazil, Germany, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Norway, and Switzerland) in Geneva on 24-25 February 2014. The right to privacy is of great practical importance to human rights defenders who are often in the firing line of (mass) surveillance. The report is short and very readable and makes an excellent long read for the weekend. To help those pressed for time, here is the Summary of conclusions:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in books, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: big data, communication, corporate accountability, digital security, freedom of expression, Geneva, Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, Human Rights Committee, internet, mass surveillance, meta data, privacy, self censorship, Special Rapporteur, Surveillance, the right to privacy, UN Human Rights Council
May 29, 2014
(Photograph: Dave Thompson/PA)
The Guardian reports that eight people have been jailed in Iran on charges including blasphemy and insulting the country’s supreme leader on Facebook. The opposition website Kaleme reported that two of the eight, identified as Roya Saberinejad Nobakht, 47, from Stockport (Iranian/UK national), and Amir Golestani, each received 20 years in prison and the remaining six – Masoud Ghasemkhani, Fariborz Kardarfar, Seyed Masoud Seyed Talebi, Amin Akramipour, Mehdi Reyshahri and Naghmeh Shahisavandi Shirazi – between seven and 19 years. They were variously found guilty of blasphemy, propaganda against the ruling system, spreading lies and insulting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
[The relevant backdrop is that there is a growing row between President Hassan Rouhani’s administration, which favours internet freedom, and hardliners wary of relaxing online censorship. Last week, Iran’s national TV paraded six young Iranians arrested for performing a version of Pharrell William’s hit song Happy and posting a video of it on the internet. The arrests caused global outrage and prompted Rouhani to react in their support. The performers were soon released, but the video’s director, Sassan Soleimani, remains in jail. The arrests highlighted the challenges Rouhani faces in delivering his promise of allowing people greater access to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, which remain blocked in Iran….In recent weeks Rouhani has stepped up his rhetoric in support of internet freedom. “The era of the one-sided pulpit is over,” he said recently at a conference in Tehran, endorsing social networks and asking his communications minister to improve bandwidth in the country. He intervened when the authorities blocked access to the mobile messaging service WhatsApp, ordering the ban to be lifted. Iran’s judiciary, which is a political institution independent of the government, has since moved to challenge Rouhani’s intervention and orderered WhatsApp to be banned. Until two years ago, Iran’s ministry of information and communications technology was in charge of policing the country’s online community, but in 2012 Khamenei ordered officials to set up the supreme council of virtual space, a body that is closer to the supreme leader than to the government. This means Rouhani is not the sole decision-maker in the future of Iranian web. With help from Iran’s cyberpolice, the judiciary and the Revolutionary Guards have identified and arrested Iranians because of web-related issues, including several employees of the Iranian gadget news website Narenji, who have been in jail since December.]
via Briton among eight jailed in Iran for web insults | World news | The Guardian.
Posted in films, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Amir Golestani, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, blasphemy, facebook, freedom of expression, Hassan Rouhani, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, internet, Iran, islamic fundamentalists, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kaleme, Pharrell William's Happy, Saberinejad Nobakht, Sassan Soleimani, the Guardian, video clips
April 23, 2014
HURIDOCS General Assembly has recently elected a new board, adopted considerably revised statutes and reflected on five years of growth.
Current Board members Eddie Halpin (Chair) Hannah Forster (Treasurer), Agnethe Olesen and Rosario Narvaez Vargas, will be joined by the following new board members:
Gisella Reina (Italy, Netherlands) is an expert in institutional development. Currently, Gisella is Director Development and Donor Relations at the International Commission of Jurists. Before joining the ICJ in 2007, she was in charge of donor relations and development for ten years for NGOs specialized in emergency aid and food security. Prior to that, Gisella worked as an Economic advisor for various consulting and engineering firms, and as expert in evaluation of development programmes, and development of project planning capabilities. She holds a Master in Agricultural Economics and Planning from Reading University (UK), and has 25 years of work experience in project management and programming in various profit and non-profit organizations. She has lived in Italy, the Netherlands, UK, Pakistan and India and speaks Italian, Dutch, English and French.
Douglas Arellanes (United States of America) is a technology entrepreneur. One of the founders of Sourcefabric, Douglas is an American expatriate who has lived in the Czech Republic since 1992 (though he claims Dakar has the best music anywhere in the world and Cape Town the best scenery). Previous roles have included new media consultant for the Media Development Loan Fund, special projects director at Contactel, (a subsidiary of TeleDanmark) and co-founder of First Tuesday Praha, an organisation devoted to helping internet start-ups. When Doug is not translating some of the Czech Prime Minister’s speeches into English, he’s making households dance as a Saturday morning DJ on Prague’s Radio 1.
Alix Dunn (United States of America) is the co-founder and Creative Lead at The Engine Room where she designs programs and supports advocacy partners to integrate technology into their work. In the past she has acted as a program advisor and consultant for Tactical Technology Collective’s Evidence & Action and Privacy & Expression programs, the lead for trainings and partnerships at the SaferMobile program of MobileActive, and as a digital security trainer. Prior to this, she worked as program development officer at Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies working to incorporate technology strategies into advocacy programs, and as a media studies researcher. She has a master’s degree in media studies from the University of Oslo and a BA from Colorado College.
New board elected, statutes updated and looking back at five years of growth | HURIDOCS.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, HURIDOCS | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alix Dunn, Douglas Arellanes, Gisella Reina, governance, HURIDOCS, HURIDOCS General Assembly, information technology, internet, network, NGO
April 15, 2014
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has started a most interesting campaign using social media to free human rights defenders. I strongly advise readers of this blog to take action by subscribing to the idea and retweeting or reblogging it on their own platforms. Let us see what can be achieved by 27 April when the campaign finishes!
https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/9969-forfreedom
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: campaign, FIDH, free human rights defenders, Human Rights Defenders, International Federation for Human Rights, internet, social media, twitter
March 18, 2014
The Association for Progressive Communications [APC] is partnering with a number of member organisations to build a culture of online human rights and digital security through capacity building and networking of human rights defenders in the Maghreb-Machrek region. The project aims to make regulatory frameworks governing the internet in the region more rights-oriented and to empower human rights defenders, women’s rights groups and others in civil society to use the internet effectively, safely and securely. 
As part of this project, APC is hiring an Internet rights outreach and capacity-building coordinator. Information on the job is available at:
https://www.apc.org/en/news/job-opportunity-internet-rights-outreach-and-capac
The deadline for application is 24 March 2014!
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: APC, Association for Progressive Communications, capacity building, digital security, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, internet, Internet rights, job opportunity, Maghreb, north africa, The Association for Progressive Communications, vacancy
February 14, 2014
The Geneva-based International Service for Human Rights organises an important side event during the upcoming UN Human Rights Council. Under the title “Creating a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders” the event will take place on 11 March 2014, from 12h00 – 14h00 in the Palais des Nations, Geneva (exact room to be determined later). Those who cannot attend in person, can follow the event through a live webcast and ask questions or share comments via Twitter using #HRDs before and during the event. Photos and further details will also be available on Facebook following the event, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in books, human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | 5 Comments »
Tags: criminalization, Daniel Joloy, Danna Ingleton, enabling environment, Geneva, Hassan Shire Sheikh, Human Rights Defenders, International Service for Human Rights, internet, ISHR, Journal of Human Rights Practice, journalists, lawyers, Margaret Sekaggya, Sabrina Dallafior, side event, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, streaming, trade unionists, UN Human Rights Council, webcast, York university
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 