Bytes for All (B4A)

British intelligence services acted unlawfully in accessing millions of people’s personal communications collected by the NSA, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruled on 6 February 2015.

The international community’s response to the current charges leveled against prominent activist Nabeel Rajab has been monumental in denouncing the Criminal Investigations Department and the Bahraini government for their actions.

Bytes For All is alarmed by the recommendations made by the Pakistani parliamentary body that seeks to impose McCarthyism-style regulations on the media and Internet, in reaction to the December Peshawar school attack.

Technology based violence is exposing women to the entire spectrum of conceivable harms in Pakistan, says a Bytes for All research report. The report also highlights the negative impact created by the lack of a cybercrime law.

Civil society groups call for an end to repression of IFEX member the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety, and urge UNESCO to take action to ensure free expression in Azerbaijan.

Independent organizations in Egypt face a looming crackdown. The government has threatened to enforce a draconian associations law that became law 12 years ago, but has seldom been enforced.

While digital surveillance is increasingly becoming a concern among common citizens all over the world, the hearing for a public interest litigation case is continuously hitting snags at Lahore High Court. A petition was filed by Bytes For All Pakistan in May 2013, on suspicion that digital surveillance is targeting Pakistani human rights defenders, civil society organisations and citizens.

IFEX members and partners from around the world urge the UN to include access to information in the Agenda for the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.