11 Jan 2021 New Year, new digital responsibilities
Last year – and even as recently as January 6, 2021 – saw anti-democratic tendencies and misinformation magnified by social media in several countries, contributing to near breakdowns in the rule of law. It is time for stringent regulation of social media companies and online platforms as part of a more concerted plan to curb abuse, hate speech, and cyber-bullying.
21 Dec 2020 Remembering the past to reimagine the future
Cloud storage and hard drives are today’s scrapbooks, records, and memories. In his book delete (2009), Viktor Mayer-Schönberger explored “The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age”.
14 Dec 2020 Empowering women by tackling online harassment and abuse
Section 230 of the U.S. Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996 says, “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
07 Dec 2020 Speaking up for decency and dialogue
Stars on the digital Walk of Infamy are being awarded to world leaders. Former US President Donald Trump, current Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and current Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro have each received one. They have been admonished by Twitter and Facebook for posts that violate public interest policies and rules about misleading information.
30 Nov 2020 Facial recognition use and abuse
Public safety and national security are two advantages of facial recognition technology. Law enforcement agencies use the technology to identify known criminals and to find missing children or seniors. Airports are increasingly adding facial recognition technology to security checkpoints. Unsurprisingly, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security predicts that by 2023 97% of travellers will be subjected to facial recognition.
23 Nov 2020 Biosurveillance can threaten human rights
Using smartphones to track and trace during the Covid-19 epidemic creates a smokescreen for wider surveillance measures that may infringe people’s right to privacy. Human rights activists are concerned that such data can be used to discriminate against migrants, refugees, and on racial grounds.
16 Nov 2020 Time to detrumpify the media
The antics of the outgoing US president have raised profound questions about the role of mass and social media in society today. How do public interest media – the kind that publish information and points of view on important issues that affect policies, lives, and livelihoods – stay independent?
09 Nov 2020 16 Days of Activism and the News Media in 2020
This month marks the start of the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence campaign running from November 25 to Human Rights Day December 10. Unlike previous years, lockdowns and curfews intended to arrest the spread of Covid-19 have led to a free-fall into GBV with impunity in 2020.