Internet Democracy Project

The Internet Democracy Project has joined a coalition of anti-harassment initiatives and digital rights organisations to fight a proposal from ICANN that would force a wide range of website owners to reveal significant personal information. An initiative of the Online Abuse Prevention Initiative, the group has written to ICANN in protest. Like others in the coalition, the Internet Democracy Project believes that ICANN’s proposed changes to the WHOIS records put already vulnerable Internet users at further risk, and that they significantly reduce the empowering potential that Internet access has for these groups. The text of the letter that the coalition wrote to ICANN can be found below.   More

On 2 July 2015, an Informal Stakeholder Consultation on the WSIS+10 Review took place at the UN General Assembly in New York. Unfortunately, the Internet Democracy Project was not able to accept an invitation to speak at the event. However, Valeria Betancourt from the Association for Progressive Communications did speak, on the session on ​‘The way forward: Harnessing information and communications technologies for development’. Her statement further built on joint statements about the WSIS+10 Review made by APC, the International Federation for Library Associations and the Internet Democracy Project earlier, and was supported by all three organisations. The full text of Valeria’s statement can be found below.   More

Between 4 and 8 May, the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) discussed, in Geneva, the overall review of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The WSIS outcome documents are considered a cornerstone of international norms and discourse on internet policy and governance. As civil society organisations committed to the goal of a ​‘people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, the Internet Democracy Project, the Association for Progressive Communications and the International Federation of Library Associations released the following statement at the meeting to highlight this central WSIS goal (the statement can also be found on the CSTD website.   More

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) invited comments on their consultation paper No. 2/2015 on regulatory framework for Over-The-Top (OTT) services. The Internet Democracy Project submitted comments to TRAI, outlining the importance of an unadulterated understanding of network neutrality as a necessary precondition for an open and free Internet.    More

If India has supported economic, social and cultural rights far more vocally at global fora than civil and political rights, this is a result of both domestic security compulsions and historical foreign policy positions. Internet rights advocates’ strategies will need to take into account India’s preoccupation with sovereignty and an improved international stature to gain the country’s full support. This article was co-authored by Anja Kovacs and Saikat Datta, and first published in Lettinga, Doutje and Lars van Troost (eds.) (2015), Shifting Power and Human Rights Diplomacy: India. Amsterdam: Amnesty International Netherlands.   More

The Internet Democracy Project was one of more than ninety organisations supporting an NGO oral statement at the UN Human Rights Council calling for a UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy. The statement was delivered to the UN HRC’s 28^th ordinary sesion by Article 19.   More

At the recently concluded ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, India proposed a controversial new resolution that sought to contribute to realising a more secure information society. But while some criticisms of the draft resolution were justified, much of the discussion at the ITU Plenipot overlooked the considerable merit that India’s proposed new resolution has when considered against the backdrop of the larger politics of global Internet governance. For its attempt to find solutions to long-standing concerns of developing countries while at the same time recognising the value of existing internet governance institutions, India’s proposal deserves a second reading, argues Anja Kovacs.   More

Together with a group of civil society organisations from India, the Internet Democracy Project has issued the following statement, a copy of which has been sent to the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, and to the Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Dr. Rahul Khullar.   More

The Internet Democracy Project joined forces with partner civil society organisations from around the world, to comment on the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) Secretariat’s draft report on the ​‘Ten-year Review of Progress Made in the Implementation of the Outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society’. The report is expected to be an important input into the overall review of the World Summit on the Information Society outcomes that will be conducted by the UN General Assembly next year. A shorter version of the statement was read out by Matthew Shears from the Center for Democracy and Technology during the recently concluded CSTD 2014 – 2015 Intersessional Panel in Geneva, which discussed the draft report. The full text of our statement, which has been shared with the CSTD Secretariat, can be found below.   More

Last week, a large group of civil society organisations wrote to the ITU’s leadership, requesting them to ensure greater transparency and openness of the upcoming ITU Plenipotentiary Conference. Today, we received the below response from ITU’s Secretary-General Dr. Hamadoun Touré to our call. Though our request to allow members of the public to participate as observers in all aspects of the conference has still not been granted, we are grateful to Dr. Touré for the support he has expressed in his letter for our demands. Will the ITU Member States now, too, display such support at the ITU Plenipot when they discuss the openness and transparency that the ITU can and will display in the longer term? We will keep you updated as more details on the discussions emerge. The text of Dr. Touré’s letter below can also be found on the ITU website.   More