Gender and internet governance

9th IGF: Feminist talks scale over the walls of internet governance, 29 September 2014 |This edition of GenderIT offers snapshots of these debates and features observations and reflections from feminist and queer activists who participated in this forum to discuss issues of sexual and women’s rights, such as the responsibilities of social networking platforms to address violence against women, and the importance of anonymous communication for sexual rights activism around the world. This edition also contains an interview with a local activist from Turkey on the pathbreaking LGBTI activism in the country, the internet as a basic means for LGBTI refugees to access information, and the impact of the blocking of websites on local activists.
Domestic legal remedies for technology-related violence against women: Review of related studies and literature, August 2014 | This review of related studies and literature forms part of the legal remedy research which falls under the End violence: Women’s rights and safety online(EndVAW) flagship project of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC).
End violence research: Case summaries from country reports, August 2014 | The following case summaries are excerpted from End violence against women: Country reports, which involve seven countries and are part of research commissioned by the APC Women’s Rights Programme beginning in 2013. End violence against women research focuses on tech-related violence, from mobile phones to the internet.
Internet intermediaries and violence against women online: User policies and redress framework of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, by Carly Nyst, 4 August 2014 | A recent report, “Internet intermediaries and violence against women online” released by the Association for Progressive Communications for the End violence: Women’s rights and safety online project, which analyses the policies and redress framework of the three major internet intermediaries: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, in regard to violence against women online.
Technology-related violence against women – Recent legislative trends, by Carly Nyst, 26 August, 2014 | This study seeks to explore recent legislative developments aimed at addressing and providing avenues of redress for technology-related violence against women.
GISWatch 2013: Setting the agenda on women’s rights, gender and ICTs, 10 December 2013 | A GenderIT edition highlighting the 2013 Global Information Society Watch.
Critically absent: Women in internet governance. A policy advocacy toolkit, April 2012| The women’s movement has always had the ability to make the invisible visible and grant it a political character. This toolkit encourages women and their organisations to engage in political discussions regarding internet development with a vision of inclusion, fairness and respect for women’s rights. The authors’ visions are that the toolkit be used to raise awareness and encourage participation in a new environment where women cannot and should not be absent.
Gender Peripheries of the 2012 Internet Governance Forum, 23 November 2012 | A GenderIT edition which covers the 2012 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Baku. “Gender aspects of human rights on the internet, such as the serious abuses women face because of what they say online, are still absent in the debates”
Gender Peripheries of the 2011 Internet Governance Forum, 18 October 2011 | A GenderIT edition which covers the 2011 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Nairobi.
Internet governance issues on sexuality and women’s rights, 10 September 2010 | This briefing document highlights key issues on internet regulations that are relevant for gender equality and sexuality. It also brings to the debate findings from various research initiatives undertaken by APC and key partners, including a cross-country research initiative – EROTICS – that is being conducted in five countries: Brazil, India, Lebanon, South Africa and the United States.
Gender Peripheries of Internet Governance Forum 2010, 7 October 2010 | A GenderIT edition on the fifth Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which took place from 14-17 September 2010 in Vilnius, Lithuania. It looks at questions such as “Have we got any closer to strengthening the role of the internet in defending and realising women’s rights and sexual rights?”, and “What experiences and gains have women rights advocates brought back home from this forum?”
Gender Peripheries of Internet Governance Forum, Athens, 2 November 2006 | A GenderIT edition which covers the first meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Athens.
Keeping the Internet Neutral?: Tim Wu and Christopher Yoo Debate 12 January 2007 | Network neutrality has emerged as one of the highest profile issues in telecommunications and Internet policy last year. Not only did it play a pivotal role in both houses of Congress during debates over proposed communications reform legislation; it also emerged as a key consideration during the Federal Communications Commission consideration of the recent SBC-AT&T, Verizon-MCI, and AT&T-BellSouth mergers. In the following exchange, Professors Tim Wu and Christopher Yoo engage in a lively debate over the merits of network neutrality that reviews the leading arguments on both sides of the issue.
Beyond Network Neutrality 14 June 2005 by Christopher S. Yoo| In this Article, Professor Yoo takes issue with the emerging scholarly consensus in favor of “network neutrality,” which would prohibit network owners from employing proprietary protocols or entering into exclusivity agreements with content providers that would reduce the transparency of the Internet. Economic theory suggests that network neutrality advocates are focusing on the wrong policy problem. Communications policy would be better served if the focus were placed on the segment of the industry that is the most concentrated and protected by entry barriers, which in the case of broadband is the last mile. Professor Yoo proposes a “network diversity” approach that would use product differentiation to encourage investment and to mitigate the supply-side and demand-side scale economies associated with the impact of up-front, fixed costs and by network economic effects.
Network Neutrality and Quality of Service: What a Non-Discrimination Rule Should Look Like by Barbara van Schewick 2015|This paper helps policy makers think through the available options, focusing on the substantive merits of the different non-discrimination rules under consideration. In addition to rules that forbid network providers from blocking applications, content and services, rules that forbid discrimination are a key component of any network neutrality regime. Non-discrimination rules apply to any form of differential treatment that falls short of blocking. They determine, for example, whether network providers are allowed to provide low – delay service only to their own streaming video application, but not to competing video applications.
Towards a Developmental Framework for Net Neutrality: The Rise of Sponsored Data Plans in Developing Countries 31 March 2014 | Academic research has been paying little attention to the net neutrality debate in developing countries, where large content providers such as Facebook, Google and Twitter have long been executing agreements with local mobile ISPs for prioritized or subsidized data delivery for their customers. Thus, the goal of this paper is to assess the potential consequences of these business arrangements for the IT industry in these countries. Our hypothesis is that these agreements may actually lead to unintended effects for the expansion of the mobile sector in developing countries, as they may empower market concentration, restrict local innovation and reduce user choices. In order to overcome these consequences, a net neutrality rule could play an instrumental role in fostering the innovation sector in developing countries, without resorting to protectionist policies.
Exploring Zero-Rating Challenges: Views from 5 Countries| Recent changes in net neutrality regulation around the world have made net neutrality, zero-rating, and their effects on telecommunications practices a significant area of interest. To inform this ongoing critical debate, Public Knowledge (“PK”) provides in-depth case studies of five countries. The countries are present on the international forefront regarding the issues of net neutrality and zero-rating. The profile of each country is structured on the basis of core questions that are at the heart of our overall inquiry
Regulatory Perspectives on Net Neutrality 8 July 2015 by Pranesh Prakash | In this paper the author gives an overview on why India needs to put in place net neutrality regulations, and the form that those regulations must take to avoid being over-regulation.
An open Internet in Africa: Challenges shifting beyond access by Nicolas Seidler. 21 March 2015| This article tackles issues of opennes and what access means. It puts the question of how access to the internet can be used in Africa
Keystones to foster inclusive Knowledge Societies | The transnational and multi-dimensional nature of Cyberspace and its growing importance presents new frontiers with unparalleled opportunities and challenges for access to information and knowledge, freedom of expression, privacy and ethics. The Internet Study being undertaken by UNESCO is seeking to provide the necessary clarity to support holistic approaches to addressing this broad range of interrelated issues as well as their short and long-term effects.
Public access: Supporting digital inclusion for all| The convergence between the internet and mobile networks has enabled some of the most innovative uses of mobile telephony, such as monitoring human rights, early warning systems, election monitoring, financial transactions, sharing public health information and reporting of domestic violence. But the same process also poses new challenges in terms of policy, regulation, development of applications and building capacity, among others.
Poor internet for poor people: why Facebook’s Internet.org amounts to economic racism 18 April 2015 by Mahesh Murthy
The perils and prospects of bringing the next billion online. Conference by Sunil Abraham.
Zero-rated Internet Boon or Bane? 2 April 2015 by Mwende Njiraini