COMMENT BLOG
A remark, a critique, an opinion…
Internet Connectivity through Community Resolve
My family decided to move to a rural location in northern England. Knowing that my job depends on excellent internet connections, friends expressed concern that by moving away from towns and their services, I wouldn’t be able to access the internet at the same speeds...
Qatar: Digital surveillance and human rights abuse
For many, digital surveillance is a big “So what?”, the unavoidable risk of using the technology. For others, it can mean obstruction, harassment, detention, unfair trial, and imprisonment. Over 1.2 million international visitors were expected to visit Qatar to watch...
Media gender equality in the era of diversity
Seems like you can’t fight for recognition of women in discussions about diversity without being drawn into TERF wars. The TERF—trans-exclusionary radical feminist—label is increasingly being applied to disparage voices urging protection of the modest gains for women...
Communicating climate justice: A vital part of COP27’s outcomes
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s 2021 report unequivocally linked climate change to human activity and predicted more frequent and more severe natural disasters over the coming years. Given the current trajectory of emissions and...
Rethinking our role as social media “users”
Mozilla, the organization/community that built the Firefox browser and now has a Foundation working to ensure the internet remains an open and accessible public resource, has released a 12-minute documentary, “Unknown Influence” The documentary interviews independent...
Calling out government censorship of the Internet
The world’s law enforcement services are in cahoots, sharing detailed data about individuals as well as corporations “in the interest of national security”. In 2021, the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the United States of America...
Real people against hate
Pursuit of profit and social media algorithms foster and elevate hate into the mainstream. In yet one more example, misogynistic and violent messages made by influencer Andrew Tate, recently banned from social media platforms, were viewed billions of times on TikTok...
Why the new Chilean Constitution matters for communication rights
On September 4, 2022, Chilean voters rejected a new proposed constitution that would have set the foundations for a progressive, rights-based, gender-sensitive, decolonial, and ecologically sound form of governance. Despite some gaps in terms of clarity and concerns...
Putting people first rather than corporate interests
On 5 July 2022, the European Parliament approved the final text of its Digital Services Act (DSA), the new rule book for moderating digital content. The DSA aims to limit the spread of illegal content online and it establishes a new set of obligations for private...
#Cybermisogyny
In the Netflix documentary “the most hated man on the Internet”, a mother seeks justice for her daughter and other women whose intimate photos obtained through hacking are posted on a revenge porn website. The magnitude of apathy of the site owner and his upto 350,000...
Opportunities for communication rights in the context of Latin America’s ‘Pink Tide’ 2.0
In Latin America, the “pink tide” governments of the first decade of the 21st Century transformed the movement for communication rights by introducing far-reaching media reform legislation. As the second wave of progressive governments are elected, the region has a...
Trustworthy news or the Greatest Show on Earth?
News fatigue is an age-old phenomenon. Not only do media have a reputation for “moving on” after a catastrophe, but readers, listeners, and viewers have a tendency to get bored. Sadly, extended calamities – the drought in the Horn of Africa, the war in Ukraine – lose...
PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance