Today, Public Knowledge endorsed the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace. The Call, developed through a multistakeholder process facilitated by the French government, promotes a rules-based cyberspace that respects human rights and fundamental freedoms by applying international law. The Call kicks-off a multi-year effort to realize its principles, and recommends a progress assessment one year after its publication.
On April 12th, the Irish High Court elevated a series of questions to the European Court of Justice (ECJ, the Supreme Court of the European Union) regarding the validity of key legal instruments used by American tech companies to process Europeans’ personal data. Judge Caroline Costello of the Irish High Court is concerned about the national surveillance practices of the United States and the level of privacy rights observed there.
After years of failed negotiations, the European Union now appears close to reaching a trade agreement with the South American political and economic bloc, Mercosur. This was confirmed by the European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström during a press conference last month. The announcement came a day after the European Union Vice-President, Jyrki Katainen, met in Buenos Aires with the Argentinian President, Mauricio Macri, to work on unspecified “difficult issues” still pending.
Today, Public Knowledge signs a joint statement with Access Now and ARTICLE 19 on privacy policy discussions taking place at the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The WTDC, as part of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at the United Nations, outlines the strategies and objectives for the global development of information and communications technologies.
Last week, Public Knowledge and the Organization of American States (OAS) organized a joint roundtable on “Cybersecurity and Civil Society in the Americas,” which took place at the OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C. Thanks to the support of Open Society Foundations, the roundtable included civil society organizations from all over the Americans: Derechos Digitales, Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (IDEC), ADC Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC), Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Karisma, TEDIC, Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales (R3D), CodingRights, InternetLab, Datos Protegidos, Ipandetec, Hiperderecho, Access Now, New America, and more. It also included the active participation of high-ranking members of the Canadian, American, Colombian, and Guatemalan governments, the Brazilian Armed Forces, and private organizations.
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