digital rights - The African Mirror

Dec

2020

Debt to personal data: Five threats to digital rights in Africa in 2020

KIM HARRISBERG and NITA BHALLA FROM internet blackouts to contact tracing apps, digital rights across Africa were spotlighted in 2020 as millions of people were forced online to work, study and socialise amid lockdowns to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. Rights advocates and research groups raised concerns that measures enacted to curb the spread of the virus allowed governments and hackers to start clamping down on other rights, too. Since 2010, internet access has improved in nearly all 54 African countries, according to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation 2020 report on African governance. But with increased access comes greater…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Digital rights legal fund targets COVID-19 violations with grants

COVID-19

KAROLIN SCHAPS AS governments embrace tracing apps to stem the spread of COVID-19, a Dutch-based organisation announced grants this week to fight alleged violations of digital rights during the coronavirus pandemic. The Digital Freedom Fund (DFF), which warned that measures to contain the virus were increasingly infringing on privacy and other basic rights, said it would allocate legal funding to four cases involving European governments and companies. One of the cases is being brought on behalf of an online abortion information portal that was blocked by the Spanish government. Another involves a privacy complaint due to be filed at London's…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Experts warn: High-tech tools to fight COVID-19 pose their own risks

COVID-19

AVI ASHER-SCHAPIRO A range of technologies designed to combat the spread of COVID-19 is being deployed across Europe, from tracking apps to infrared cameras, posing a threat to individual digital rights and privacy, a report warned on Tuesday. Using such tools, despite the urgency surrounding the pandemic, calls for proper oversight and should not be rushed, said the report by Germany's AlgorithmWatch, a digital rights group, and Bertelsmann Foundation. The research traced technology in use across 16 European countries, including telephone apps to track viral contacts, facial recognition systems that scan social distancing in crowds and infrared cameras that measure body temperature.…