human rights

See the following -

How The UN's 'Game-Changing' Internet Treaty Failed

Megan Garber | The Atlantic | December 14, 2012

Did you know that, for the past two weeks, the future of the Internet has been at stake? Yes, it has. Those two weeks hosted the World Conference on International Telecommunications [...]. And they hosted, as well, a fairly dramatic face-off -- often between blocs led by Iran, Russia, and China and blocs led by the United States, the UK, and Canada. Read More »

News At IDS - October 2013

Staff Writer | Institute of Development Studies (IDS) | October 23, 2013

During Open Access week 2013, IDS is pleased to announce that we are in the process of digitising onto OpenDocs (our open access repository) our entire back catalogue of almost 2000 research reports, working papers, practice papers, and other series... Read More »

Obama Ignores User Rights With African Investment Plan

Ephraim Percy Kenyanito, Peter Micek | Access | August 7, 2014

The White House hosted a summit this week with nearly 50 African heads of state to strengthen trade and investment ties. The Summit highlighted a multibillion dollar new investment program, and put President Obama on stage to answer questions from young entrepreneurs...

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Open Source Product Development Most Effective When Social

Benetech started out in the 90s without even understanding the meaning of the term open source. They just "needed an easy way to interface with different voice synthesizers" to develop readers for people who are blind and "shared the code to be helpful." Sound familiar? Opensource.com started covering stories like in 2010 and they recur more often than you might think. Stories of people sharing the code to help others—but sharing code to get help developing better code. When code is open, a community has the opportunity to form around it...

Polish NGO To Obama: Mass Surveillance Is Not Freedom

Katitza Rodriguez | Electronic Frontier Foundation | June 3, 2014

...Since October 2013, the Panoptykon Foundation, a Polish NGO, has tried to understand the relationship between the Polish and United States’ secret service organizations. Panoptykon believes that the Polish government, by accepting mass and pre-emptive surveillance, is reverting back to the much contested practices of the former, authoritarian regime—practices that triggered the revolution 25 years ago...

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Revealed: Asian Slave Labour Producing Prawns For Supermarkets In US, UK

Kate Hodal, Chris Kelly, and Felicity Lawrence | The Guardian | June 10, 2014

Thai 'ghost ships' that enslave and even kill workers are linked to global shrimp supply chain, Guardian investigation discovers Read More »

Slavery In Supermarket Supply Chains Can And Must Be Eliminated

Steve Trent | The Guardian | June 10, 2014

The continued enslavement of migrants working in the Thai fishing industry highlights flaws in the monitoring of suppliers Read More »

Social Change And New Media In Africa

Cathal Gilbert | International Business Times | November 2, 2012

Cathal Gilbert looks at technologies being used by activists and discovers that many of most innovative ideas have come out of Africa. Read More »

Stallman: How Much Surveillance Can Democracy Withstand?

Richard Stallman | Wired | October 14, 2013

The current level of general surveillance in society is incompatible with human rights. To recover our freedom and restore democracy, we must reduce surveillance to the point where it is possible for whistleblowers of all kinds to talk with journalists without being spotted. To do this reliably, we must reduce the surveillance capacity of the systems we use. Read More »

Taking On The Overpopulation Myth

Joseph A. D'Agnostino | Washington Times | July 27, 2008

[...] This one quote from Steven W. Mosher’s “Population Control: Real Costs, Illusory Benefits,” from the former secretary of the Kenyan Medical Association, summarizes the state of Western-funded population control programs in the Third World... Read More »

Ten Steps You Can Take Right Now Against Internet Surveillance

Danny O'Brien | Electronic Frontier Foundation | October 25, 2013

One of the trends we've seen is how, as the word of the NSA's spying has spread, more and more ordinary people want to know how (or if) they can defend themselves from surveillance online. But where to start?

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Thailand's Seafood Industry: A Case Of State-Sanctioned Slavery?

Felicity Lawrence | The Guardian | June 10, 2014

Slavery is illegal, yet it is driving Thailand's growth – so why are retailers, producers and governments alike turning a blind eye? Read More »

The Day We Fought Back

Rainey Reitman | Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | February 11, 2014

[...] The groups that organized this action have long been pushing hard for real surveillance reform. But we knew that the time was ripe—that the Snowden leaks, unrelenting media pressure, grassroots activism, and even pressure from within Congress—were creating a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give the public—worldwide—the chance to voice its opposition to mass spying. [...] Read More »

Uganda Speaks: Technology and the Right to Reply

Ken Banks, Olivia O'Sullivan | National Geographic | May 2, 2012

The developing world often gets poor representation in the western media. From well-meaning but simplistic representations by charities and advocates to enduring stereotypes of dark continents and poverty, developing countries are frequently denied the right to be seen as the complex, varied and human places they are. Read More »

Unnecessary And Disproportionate: How The NSA Violates International Human Rights Standards

David Greene and Katitza Rodriguez | Electronic Frontier Foundation | May 28, 2014

Even before Ed Snowden leaked his first document, human rights lawyers and activists were concerned about law enforcement and intelligence agencies spying on the digital world. One of the tools developed to tackle those concerns was the development of the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance (the “Necessary and Proportionate Principles”)...

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