Derechos Digitales

The Court ruled the immediate cessation of the use of military-grade surveillance technology by two municipalities, arguing that they violate the right to individual privacy.

After the September 2014 disappearance of 43 students, the human rights crisis in Mexico came to a head in 2015. Following the patterns of previous years, the crisis extended to the realm of digital and Internet rights.

In a lot of contexts, balance between privacy and comfort is an issue of convenience. In Venezuela, where in order to buy food supplies you must slide both thumbs through a fingerprint scanner and give a big spectrum of personal information, is an issue of survival.

The Free Basics initiative becomes most problematic when governments use the arrival of the platform in their countries as a substitute for real public policies that would expand full internet access for their citizens.

Should we have the legal and technical ability to remove certain data that we do not want to exist on the Internet? What implications does this have for the rights to freedom of expression and access to information on-line?

For members of the IFEX-ALC, the Secom decision to shut down Fundamedios will affect the free expression landscape in Ecuador and threatens the right of society to be informed. Fundamedios is the only organisation that monitors attacks and threats on the media and defends the right to freedom of expression in Ecuador.

EFF, Derechos Digitales and their colleagues in the region have issued a statement to Latin American governments, demanding more transparency on how Latin American states are using — or misusing — spyware like that sold by Hacking Team.

On World Press Freedom Day, organisations from around the globe commit to defending the right to freedom of expression, even when that right is being used to express views that may be offensive.