Tag: advocacy

EFF opposes California bill to authorize digitally verifiable COVID-19 test results

Jonathan DonnerIdentity and Privacy
No to California Bill on Verified Credentials of COVID-19 Test Results
EFF opposes a California bill, A.B. 2004, that would authorize the issuers of COVID-19 test results to do so with digital verifiable credentials. This bill would take us a step towards national digital identification, create information security risks, exacerbate social inequities in access to smartphones and COVID-19 tests, endorse one solution to an evolving technological problem, and fail to limit who may view credentials of test results

Change model: letter of opposition co-signed with ACLU of California

Letter to social media platforms: preserve coronavirus misinformation data

Jonathan DonnerPublic Sphere
Researchers want social media companies to preserve coronavirus misinformation data
[The Verge 2.22.20] The Committee to Protect Journalists, Access Now, the EFF, and other organizations have asked social media companies to preserve misinformation takedown data during the coronavirus pandemic for future research and transparency purposes.

Change Model: Advocacy

Access Now: Fighting misinformation and defending free expression during COVID-19: recommendations for states

Jonathan DonnerIdentity and Privacy
Access Now releases
We have identified practical examples and promising practices to support policy makers in respecting human rights while developing measures to address disinformation and misinformation during the COVID-19 crisis.

“Hasty and shortsighted solutions to disinformation and misinformation endanger human rights. There will be an aftermath to the COVID-19 outbreak, and the measures governments put in place right now will determine what that looks like, ” said Eliska Pirkova, Europe Policy Analyst at Access Now. “Under no circumstances should any government allow people’s fundamental rights to fall victim to this pandemic.”

Access Now

Change Model: Advocacy and detailed toolkits for policymakers

A coronavirus safeguards bill for the UK – protections for digital interventions

Jonathan DonnerIdentity and Privacy

“This short Bill attempts to provide safeguards in relation to the symptom tracking and contact tracing apps that are currently being rolled out in the UK; and anticipates minimum safeguards that will be needed if we move on to a roll out of “immunity certificates” in the near future.”

screen grab of download page for the paper
The Coronavirus (Safeguards) Bill 2020: Proposed protections for digital interventions and in relation to immunity certificates
Prof Lilian Edwards, University of Newcastle
Dr Michael Veale, University College London
Dr Orla Lynskey, London School of Economics
Carly Kind, Ada Lovelace Institute
Rachel Coldicutt, Careful Industries

Change model: influence legislation

Created: April 13, 2020

Index launches global project to map media freedom during coronavirus crisis

Jonathan DonnerPublic Sphere

“We have created this monitoring map, in conjunction with Justice for Journalists Foundation, to track media violations during the coronavirus crisis. It reports on the detention or arrest of journalists and physical attacks. It also covers the introduction of new legislation or changes to existing laws that threaten to stop journalists from doing their jobs and social media restrictions that threaten the free reporting of information.”

Index
Index launches global project to map media freedom during COVID-19 crisis – IFEX
The current crisis has seen an increase in attacks and violations against the media, as well as other alarming news pertaining to privacy and freedoms. Once these freedoms are eroded they are hard to get back.

The change model implied by this organizational action is that an updated tracker will help policymakers remain alert to the risks to media freedom emerging from the COVID-19 responses.

Tracking COVID-19 Digital Rights Violations in Central/Eastern Europe

Jonathan DonnerIdentity and Privacy, Public Sphere
Digital Rights in the Time of COVID-19 – BIRD
BIRN and SHARE Foundation are bringing you the latest updates and cases of arbitrary arrests, surveillance, phone tapping, privacy breaches and other digital rights violations as countries of Central and Southeast Europe impose emergency legislation to combat the COVID-19 outbreak.

The change model implied by this organizational action is that an updated tracker will help policymakers remain alert to the risks to digital rights emerging from the COVID-19 responses.

Digital Rights Ireland pushes HSE for data protection and privacy audits

Jonathan DonnerIdentity and Privacy
DigitalRightsIreland on Twitter
“To ensure public confidence, it is important that concerns about COVID-19 data collection are addressed comprehensively. With that in mind, we have written today to the HSE in the following terms.”

The change model for this organization is based on direct, public advocacy to policymakers.