"On April 3, 2022, Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party won a fourth term in national elections, cementing its dominance with a two-thirds majority that will allow it to continue traveling what critics of the party and many others would describe as the path of centralizing power and rolling back democrat
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ic safeguards. International observers characterized the elections as free but raised serious concerns about their fairness. These included blurring the lines between the government and the ruling party in campaigning, which amplified the advantage of the ruling coalition, the absence of a level playing field, and lack of balance in campaign coverage in the press, on television, and on billboards. Fidesz’s effective control over large sections of the media, undermining the independence of the judiciary and public institutions, and curbing of civil society has received considerable attention from international media and international observers. However, its misuse of people’s personal data, which helped the party reach voters in new, opaque ways, has received relatively little scrutiny. This report examines how data-driven campaigning in Hungary’s 2022 elections exacerbated an already uneven playing field and undermined the right to privacy. It also documents new forms of misuse of personal data collected by the government and used for political campaigning by Fidesz in the 2022 elections." (Summary)
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"E-participation is the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) or digital technologies to involve citizens in public decision-making with the goal of empowering citizens and for the benefit of society as a whole. It is part of e-governance, a term that refers to the use of ICTs in
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governance functions. Broadly, e-governance comprises government service provision (e-government); government information platforms and e-participation platforms through which public decision-making takes place. Developments in digital technologies have led to convergence of one or all of e-governance components. For example, with the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments publish health information online for their citizens. During particular campaigns, such as vaccination drives, government officers use their systems to contact people, collect data and provide the vaccination and follow-ups. The same system may be used to collect feedback on services received." (Introduction, page 1)
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"The first adopters of mobile money were economies in sub-Saharan Africa, and over time adoption rates have increased rapidly particularly in Asia and Latin America. As of 2020, there were 1.2 billion mobile money accounts globally, with US$ 767 billion in transactions during the year. Sub-Saharan A
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frica accounts for 45.2 percent of all registered mobile money accounts, while South Asia and East Asia and the Pacific account for 25.2 percent and 20 percent of registered accounts respectively. A wide range of transactions are executed on mobile money networks, including person-to-person transfers (which account for the largest share), as well as merchant payments, mobile-bank payments, international remittances, bill payments, government transfers and payments, business-to-business payments and airtime purchases. The overall trend shows mobile money continuing to scale rapidly in a number of countries globally, although a number of implementations have been unsuccessful. This report details the key lessons from the mobile money experience in Africa that can contribute to the effective design, regulation and operation of central bank-issued digital currencies (CBDCs), based on the wealth of theoretical and empirical evidence on the social, economic and cultural impact of mobile money. The lessons are categorized into regulatory, technology, economic and socio-cultural." (Executive summary)
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"The aim of this report is to support ITU members and stakeholders from the Africa region in their efforts to achieve inclusive digital communities by assessing ICT accessibility as a key driver in achieving digital inclusion within the digital transformation process. The report provides an overview
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of the current situation of ICT accessibility implementation in the Africa region. In this document, Member States will also find: information on challenges and opportunities related to digital inclusion; descriptions and definitions of the pillars of digital inclusion within the digital transformation process; information and knowledge about the critical importance of ICT accessibility in ensuring the digital inclusion of all persons regardless of gender, age, ability or location; guidance on the requirements for implementing ICT accessibility, such as ICT accessibility policies and strategies, accessible ICT products and services, appropriation and digital skills." (Page 2)
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"The relationship between journalism and whistleblowers has been generally beneficial for both. Whistleblowers – whether they go to the media or directly to the authorities – must have guarantees that their actions do not lead to negative consequences, such as financial sanctions, job dismissals
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, undermining their family members or circles of friends, or threats of arbitrary arrest. When whistleblowers approach journalists, they sometimes require the protection of their identity. For this to happen, journalists need to respect the professional ethic of confidentiality and they need to not be subject to legal sanction for refusing to reveal their sources. Blowing the whistle should be understood as an exercise of the right to freedom of expression, not only as an instrumental tool to fight corruption or expose human rights violations." (Key findings)
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"As the online space becomes increasingly centre stage in the fight against antisemitism, this guide from ISD and B’nai B’rith International, in partnership with UNESCO, aims to build capacity among civil society to tackle this growing threat. Recognising the enormous capacity for positive actio
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n that the digital space offers, this practical and action-oriented resource aims to consolidate knowledge and provide a wide range of policy and community avenues for action. The guide provides an overview of the online antisemitism threat landscape, a summary of existing policy responses on an international and national level across a range of European contexts, and a broad set of recommendations for civil society engagement with governments, platforms and wider communities to address this challenge." (About this report)
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"Access Rules mounts a strong and hopeful argument for how informational tools at present in the hands of a few could instead become empowering machines for everyone. By forcing data-hoarding companies to open access to their data, we can reinvigorate both our economy and our society. Authors Viktor
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Mayer-Schönberger and Thomas Ramge contend that if we disrupt monopoly power and create a level playing field, digital innovations can emerge to benefit us all. Over the last twenty years, Big Tech has managed to centralize the most relevant data on their servers, and data has become the most important raw material for innovation. Dominant oligopolists like Facebook, Amazon, and Google, contrary to their reputation as digital pioneers, are in fact slowing down innovation and progress for the benefit of their shareholders--and at the expense of customers, the economy, and society. As Access Rules compellingly argues, ultimately it is up to us to force information giants, wherever they are located, to share their treasure troves of data with others. In order for us to limit global warming, contain a virus like COVID-19, or successfully fight poverty, everyone must have access to data - citizens and scientists, start-ups and established companies, as well as the public sector and NGOs. When everyone has access to the informational riches of the data age, the nature of digital power will change. Information technology will find its way back to its original purpose: empowering all of us to use information so we can thrive as individuals and as societies." (Publisher description)
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"CDAC's core vision focuses on ensuring people and communities are central to identifying solutions to the problems they face in a crisis. The 2022-2027 vision is: 'that communities will have the information and resources they need to determine their own solutions and be central stakeholders in huma
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nitarian and development decision making'. This document outlines the common advocacy statements of the CDAC Network in support of this vision. It aims to support CDAC Network's collective influence to promote a common vision of the growth and change needed in CCEA, so that the drive for effectiveness is efficient and well targeted." (Introduction, page 1)
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"This policy brief is an Access Now publication. It gives context about the Personal Data Protection Bill in the Parliament of Sri Lank, states the key areas of concerns in the present bill, and proposes nine (9) recommendations." (commbox)
"This white paper seeks to unpack the use of Indigenous or non-majority language in the existing digital landscape. This ties into ideas about digital colonialism (Kwett, 2022), wherein hegemonic, or dominant, languages are threatening and jeopardising the ability for local language speakers to expr
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ess themselves and communicate in digital spaces. We hope to analyse a sample of existing scholarship on digital inclusion to examine how it plays out specifically through the use of local language on social media. We map key issues at work when local languages are used on social media platforms. These may concern issues that build on the theme of the digital divide to raise questions about digital equality, participation, citizenship, belonging and identity. Through this white paper, we aim to understand how the digital onboarding of language may empower, limit, extend and enrich user engagement. We also seek to unpack themes of access, safety and usability that the average user in these contexts may experience when using digital platforms for communication and daily life." (Aim of the paper, page 4)
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"Transnational repression is strategically employed by autocrats, enabled by underprepared host governments, and spreading rapidly around the world. This report aims to assess the strengths and weaknesses in the global understanding of and responses to transnational repression, so that governments,
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private companies, and civil society organizations can better equip themselves to defend human rights. Transnational repression should be recognized for what it is: a direct threat to fundamental freedoms, state sovereignty, and democracy, and a disturbing physical manifestation of global authoritarianism." (Page 2)
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"This book has compiled the tech policy debate into a toolkit for policy makers, legal experts, and academics seeking to address platform dominance and its impact on society today. It discusses the global consensus around technology regulation with recommendations of cutting-edge policy innovations
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from around the world. It also explores the proposed policy toolkit through comprehensive coverage of existing and future policy on data, antitrust, competition, freedom of expression, jurisdiction, fake news, elections, liability, and accountability. The book identifies potential policy impacts on global communication, user rights, public welfare, and economic activity. It outlines a policy framework that address the interlocking challenges of contemporary tech regulation and offer actionable solutions for the technological future." (Publisher description)
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"In this paper, ARIJ proposes the following recommendations which target the greater media community. This includes media institutions concerned with the press, unions, press unions and donors who support this venture. We maintain that disinformation is a product of a social and political environmen
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t, as well as a professional one. Our recommendations are as follows: First: Build a regional network for news and information fact-checkers, in both the written and visual press ...; Second: Designate the year 2021 to combat disinformation in the Arab region ...; Third: Support scientific specializations for scientific journalism cadres ...; Fourth: Expand and develop methods of teaching media education ...; Fifth: Launch an audiovisual media campaign to support news verification ...; Sixth: Produce simplified training materials in Arabic on how journalists can use artificial intelligence in media work ...; Seventh: Encourage independent news auditing initiatives [...] Eighth: Encourage the Arabization of more existing digital news verification tools ..." (Recommendations, page 38-43)
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"Technologists at Amnesty Tech’s Security Lab were able to identify traces of NSO’s “zero-click” attacks (malware infections that require no interaction with the target) through cutting edge forensic analysis, including by linking these new attacks to previously documented attacks on human r
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ights defenders (HRDs) using NSO Group software.3 This project was a crucial and overdue breakthrough of transparency in an industry stubbornly resistant to it, which relied on the collaborative efforts of all involved. It is important to note, however, that the success of such investigative efforts was never guaranteed, and these disclosures cannot represent the only form of check on industry participants and state actors. The stories published as a result of this collaboration speak for themselves. In this briefing, Amnesty International’s goal is to contribute to the discussion by highlighting some of the key insights from the perspective of international law, particularly international human rights law, that come out of the reporting and technical analyses. These include: the improper breadth of targeting under international human rights law, which is also out of line with the company’s stated rationale of selling its products to help its clients combat crime, including terrorism-related conduct; the clandestine nature of the tool that facilitates its illegal use and operation; the serious human rights violations that have resulted; the total impunity of states and companies in deploying this targeted digital surveillance tool; and the failure of states to fulfil their obligation to protect them from this unlawful hacking and surveillance." (Introduction, page 4)
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"[...] governments have put up barriers to activities like reporting and sharing opinions and used the pandemic as a pretext to muzzle critical voices. Amnesty International is concerned that Covid-19 related restrictions are not just temporary measures but are part of an ongoing onslaught on human
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rights and civic space. In addition, misinformation on different aspects of the pandemic has contributed to behaviours such as vaccine hesitancy. The overabundance of false and misleading information, facilitated by social media platforms, makes it harder than ever for individuals to form a fully informed opinion and make choices about their health based on the best available scientific facts. The report ends with a list of recommendations, urging States to stop using the pandemic as an excuse to silence independent reporting, debate and scrutiny and urgently lift all undue restrictions as a key approach to protecting the right to health and enabling an inclusive recovery. States should also provide credible, reliable, accessible, objective and evidence-based information, enable independent, public interest journalism and independent civil society, and engage diverse communities. Amnesty International urges social media companies to also take measures to address the viral spread of misinformation, including by improving the transparency and oversight of their business practices, policies and procedures." (Back cover)
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"Los medios escolares son espacios socioeducativos que no solo ayudan a enriquecer las trayectorias educativas de las y los jóvenes que los transitan, sino que también posibilitan la ampliación de experiencias de aprendizaje que trascienden el aula. Un estudio de grabación, un control de radio,
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un set de filmación, una computadora o un celular también pueden ser una oportunidad para expandir los horizontes de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje; un lugar que profundice la participación y el intercambio intergeneracional, que da lugar a otros saberes y múltiples modos de abordarlos. A través de esta serie de publicaciones buscamos brindarles a las y los directivos, docentes y talleristas que quieran participar de esta propuesta las herramientas necesarias para construir e implementar un proyecto de medios en sus escuelas." (Página 7)
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"1 Words matter: Use the correct terms
2 Images and emotions: Understanding the entire range of disinformation
3 Creating structures for the digital education of every age group
4 Securing the freedom of expression: Smart regulation against overblocking
5 A modern constitutional state
6 Focus on tec
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hnology: Greater responsibility of platform operators
7 Social media councils: Binding integration of the civil society
8 Strengthening journalism for the 21st century
9 Diplomacy in the Digital Age: Prioritising cyber foreign policy
10 Prevention of threats: Better communication, civic tech and transparency." (Pages 1-8)
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"The Serbian government prioritizes digitalization. Serbia’s digital transformation accelerated in 2017 with the government’s focus on building a digital government, or “digitalization” as defined by Serbians, and Serbia’s participation in the Digital Agenda for the Western Balkans. As one
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Serbian official described it, digitalization refers to the “fundamental changes reflected in the emergence of an efficient, economical, and transparent public administration.” Although there is no comprehensive national policy for Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Serbia’s digital agenda includes initiatives ranging from expanding connectivity to developing the ICT industry. Prime Minister Brnabic has been a champion for digitalization, and digital transformation will continue to be a key priority in the coming years. Digital connectivity infrastructure in the country is strong and growing. Fourth-generation (4G) mobile broadband covers more than 90 percent of the population. The government and top mobile network operators (MNOs) plan to deploy 5G networks in the near future. Donors such as the European Union (EU) support the expansion of fiber-optic connectivity to connect rural schools. China’s Digital Silk Road Initiative has had a substantial role in building Serbia’s digital infrastructure, ranging from Safe City infrastructure to providing cloud infrastructure and developing an artificial intelligence (AI) platform for the government. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government swiftly embraced online schooling and expanded digital government services. Fragmentation and uneven levels of buy-in across the executive branch hinders Serbian digital government efforts. Serbia’s approach to multi-stakeholder internet governance has also been uneven, with industry and civil society stakeholders lamenting a lack of public engagement. Serbian civil society is working to protect digital rights and freedoms. A growing network of organizations in Serbia and across Southeast Europe is working to protect free expression online, promote information security, and publicize digital rights violations." (https://www.usaid.gov/digital-development)
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"Wie gezeigt wurde, fällt, über den gesamten Produktzyklus hinweg betrachtet, die Herstellung der digitalen Endgeräte, bzgl. der Menge verursachter Treibhausgasemissionen, besonders schwer ins Gewicht. Für Nutzer*innen liegt somit der größte Hebel für eine Reduzierung der Emissionen im Kauf v
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on passgenauen Geräten bei verantwortungsvollen Anbietern und einer möglichst langen Nutzungsdauer. Doch auch während der Nutzung existieren zahlreiche und einfach anzuwendende Optionen für einen klimafreundlicheren Gebrauch – beginnend bei der Wahl des Stromanbieters, über die Anpassung allgemeiner Nutzungseinstellungen bis hin zu einer Reduzierung der versendeten und empfangenen Datenmenge, der Beseitigung bzw. Reduzierung von überflüssigem Datenmüll und dem vollständigen Ausschalten der Geräte. Auch wenn die Entsorgung von Endgeräten aus Klimagesichtspunkten nicht allzu stark ins Gewicht fällt, ist sie, aufgrund der vom Elektroschrott ausgehenden zahlreichen weiteren Umweltrisiken, dennoch von größter Relevanz und sollte ebenso umsichtig erfolgen." (Schlussbetrachtung, Seite 29)
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"The digital economy, including cross-border services, digital trade, and electronic commerce (eCommerce), contributes to democratic and economic development by expanding market access for local businesses, promoting inclusive trade, creating jobs, and increasing tax revenue for governments to provi
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de essential services. As the scope of digital innovation expands around the globe, so must appropriate considerations for harmonized national and regional policies and regulations to facilitate greater economic competitiveness and inclusiveness while respecting human rights and online freedom. Harnessing opportunities and limiting barriers to equitable participation in the digital economy has become even more important since the start of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), which resulted in online global data traffic rising by 20 percent. As people continue to rely on digital platforms and services more than ever before, it is crucial for diverse stakeholders including local business communities, civil society, media organizations, and governments to actively participate in multi-stakeholder discussions on the development and implementation of legislation and frameworks that impact the digital economy, from a national, regional, and Continental perspective.
This Roadmap to Reform of Africa’s digital economy is divided into three parts. Part one highlights the findings from engagements held by the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) on the various opportunities and challenges related to digital transformation in Africa in September 2019 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This dialogue brought together representatives from chambers of commerce, civil society, media organizations, and governments across over ten African countries. Part two explores multi-stakeholder approaches to capitalizing on digital transformation opportunities in Africa. Finally, part three presents a series of case studies that illustrate the ways in which advocacy and multi-stakeholder engagement can advance the digital economy in Africa." (Executive summary)
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