Let’s Hear from the Experts
You now know how your digital life is being tracked and commodified as part of Big Data, how surveillance and censorship can impact advocacy, and how privacy online is very different from privacy offline. Now, take some time to listen to experts in the field and learn about international processes that are in place to protect your rights.
Expert Input
The 2021 Filipino People’s Digital Justice Declaration
The Filipino People’s Digital Justice Declaration is an example of how civil society is coming together protect digital rights. The declaration is a good example of context-specific advocacy. It focusses on accessible and inclusive digital technologies; empowering communities through digital privacy and protection; ensuring marginalized voices are heard in digital spaces; and calling for responsible digital innovation.
The declaration can be used as inspiration for other organizations looking to develop their own similar call to action.
(Source: Philippine Digital Justice Initiative, a project of the Computer Professionals’ Union. This declaration was an outcome of a WACC Global project.)
Explainer: European Union Digital Protection Laws
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a data privacy law in the European Union (EU). It strengthens individuals’ rights regarding their personal data and regulates how organizations collect, process, and protect such data.
The GDPR is widely regarded as one of the strictest data protection laws in the world because of its comprehensive scope, strict requirements for data handling, and steep penalties for non-compliance. Fines for breaching the GDPR can reach up to €20 million or 4% of a company’s global annual revenue, whichever is higher.
(Source: Channel 4, a British public broadcaster.)
Case Study
Tyranny and privacy overreach laws in Asia
Who: Civil society organizations throughout the Asia-Pacific region are sounding the alarm about the rise of so-called personal data protection (PDP) legislation in the region. These laws often reflect an overreach of governments rather than a desire to protect personal data.
What: Over the past decade, personal date protection laws have emerged in Japan, Malaysia, China, Thailand and other nations. As of early 2025, 137 countries worldwide have data protection laws. (Source: United Nations Trade & Development). This is part of a broader trend to use digital tools to restrict civil liberties and human rights. Under the guise of national security, these laws often impact civil society organizations and their advocacy work heavily.
Where: Countries across the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, the Philippines, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal, have been actively implementing PDP legislation.
When: Over the past decade, PDP laws have gained prominence globally, with the Asia-Pacific region witnessing rapid developments following the COVID-19 pandemic period.
Why: Press freedom, freedom of expression and the public’s right to information are all critical for the functioning of healthy democracies. They are crucial for transparency in governance, prevention of corruption and the creation of democratic space for dissent and active public participation. PDP laws can be (and often are) used by authoritarian governments as a powerful tool to chip away at these fundamental rights.
(Source: The Association for Progressive Communications is a worldwide network of civil society organizations founded in 1990.)
Break Time
Time for a well-deserved break. Do you have far more questions than answers? That’s okay! Questions are a great way to start learning more about these issues. Here are a few to get you started:
- Have you ever read the terms and conditions before clicking “Accept All Cookies”? If yes, how long did it take you and did you understand what it meant?
- Does surveillance change how you behave online?
- Think about one website you visit nearly every day. Do you know what data the site collects on you? Do you know how that data is used?
Have you gathered your thoughts? Ready to go futher?
We’ve given you a lot of digital food for thought. Understanding is good, but using that understanding to take action is even better! So click on the button below to move to the final section of this session. Here you’ll find the Side Quests along with some tools you can use in your own advocacy.