APC

In its 10th edition, the award is intended to recognise outstanding achievement in the area of participatory design of information and communications technologies.

This joint stakeholder report focuses on key issues relating to human rights online in India, including internet shutdowns, digital exclusion, freedom of speech and expression online, online harassment and hate speech, privacy, surveillance and data protection

Gendered disinformation has deepened the monkeypox crisis, targeting LGBTIQ+ people and evoking painful memories of the AIDS era. We parse fact from fiction, including disagreements among public health experts, and highlight strategies to fight such disinformation.

APC will be joining APrIGF with a focus on empowering new voices, responding to a changing digital rights environment and promoting community networks as an access solution. 

Meet APC's board of directors, who were finally able to meet in person in Sitges, Spain, in June 2022 after a gap of two years. Each director shared insights about some of the most pressing issues they are facing in their respective contexts and local realities.

Welcome to the 50th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks and community-based initiatives. This month, we look at innovative community-centred connectivity models that enable communication while strengthening self-determination, and much more.

The draft bill would have enabled surveillance abuse and privacy violations. The pressure that was brought to bear by various human and media rights organisations, and the international spotlight that it attracted, paid off and the bill was withdrawn and amended.

Since early 2021, the Kingdom of Eswatini has been gripped by waves of civil unrest, with reports of internet shutdowns implemented by the government in response to protests. It is in this climate of suspicion and unrest that cybercrime and data protection laws were gazetted in early 2022.

The push for digitisation during the pandemic – whether for health management or to keep daily activities going amid lockdowns – deepened the digital divide in India, since escalated digital adoption without adequate policy protections can exclude the already marginalised even more.

The Zalo Connect app in Vietnam connects users in need with private donors. But in doing so, it exemplifies a humanitarian trend that centres on extracting data from vulnerable communities as a precondition to receiving aid, protection and justice.

African internet users remain resilient in the face of all manner of state-sponsored and private tech-enabled cyber threats and obstacles, and civil society actors continue to raise and amplify their voices even as spaces for free expression, online and offline, are squeezed tighter and tighter.

The 2022 Generation Connect Global Youth Summit took place on the sidelines of the 2022 World Telecommunication Development Conference, organised by the International Telecommunication Union and held in Kigali, Rwanda.

APC's landmark publication Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. This inaugural piece by its long-time editor is the first in a series that will celebrate and examine how far we've come and where we need to head next. 

Imagine you are in the middle of the Amazon rain forest. There is no mobile coverage or internet access. The long distances and rugged landscapes make communication highly challenging. These communities are precisely the ones Rhizomatica aims to support when building new technologies that connect people.

The Sri Lankan government has capitalised on the COVID-19 pandemic to further its authoritarian agenda, using digital technologies to reinforce a climate of fear and censorship.

APC is looking for a Women’s Rights Policy Advocacy Coordinator to contribute towards ensuring that policy discussions and processes related to digital rights integrate the perspectives of women and people of diverse genders and sexualities. The deadline for applications is 15 August.

In Indonesia, the PeduliLindungi app has become synonymous with the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet it poses an unprecedented threat while leaving citizens with little recourse to protect their data. This article is part of the "Pandemic of Control" series by EngageMedia and CommonEdge.

EngageMedia and CommonEdge invited writers, researchers and changemakers to respond to the growing digital authoritarianism – accelerated by COVID-19 – in the Asia-Pacific. The result is a 10-part series featuring insights from Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Australia.

This article by APC founder Carlos Afonso, now the director of Brazilian APC member Nupef, is both a tribute to recently deceased Brazilian internet pioneer Tadao Takahashi and a fascinating glimpse into some key chapters in the early history (and prehistory) of APC.

Internet user growth is slowing and varied attempts to address the problem of access – through traditional telecom models, private sector initiatives, state-led measures, philanthropy – have met with limited success. We must rethink how networks are built, owned, operated and utilised, and empowering local communities is key to this.