Major international decisions are being made about the internet in the coming weeks – decisions that could affect the internet as we know it forever. Last week, tens of thousands of you successfully petitioned the G8 to keep its hands off our internet after a stunning press conference right in the middle of the event in Paris.
This week we need to step up again! The United Nations Human Rights Council will receive its first ever official report on freedom of expression online – and this is one report to support. How the members of the United Nations respond will determine how, and if, countries
commit to protecting the rights of their citizens on the internet. And it is one step further toward access to the internet being properly recognised as a fundamental right.
Don’t think that the Chinese, Iranian and Burmese governments are going to take this one lying down. They are going to fight the report’s recommendations with everything they’ve got. Meanwhile other countries, from Australia to Zimbabwe, are sitting on the fence deciding how much information is okay to censor, whether they should monitor their citizen’s online activities and who has access to our private data.
That’s why it is our job as internet users to let our governments know we want them to stand up for our rights online – by adopting this long awaited report that sets out our right to freedom of information online.
Contact your UN representative and let them know you want a rights respecting internet for all
Remember that *without us, the future of the internet will be decided by governments and corporation*s that may not have our interests in mind.
Last week we were at the G8, this week we’ll be heard at the UN (our friends at APC will deliver your message to the UN in Geneva on Friday) and in a few weeks we’ll be pressing our case for an uncensored, decentralised and open internet at the OECD. But it starts with you today – email your rep at the UN now (you’ll even find speaking points we’ve prepared if you arent sure what to say)!
With determination,
The Access Team
PS Last week’s petition and letter organised by Access and our colleagues was a show stopper! Read the blog post about how your voices jammed the eG8, “with an impromptu press conference attended by the world’s media”:https://www.accessnow.org/policy-activism/press-blog/world-rallies-to-s…