Digital rights are being eroded in Australia with an Act of Parliament that enables surveillance, modification of data, interception of communications and even account takeovers. Earlier this year, the Attorney-General publicly released the Privacy Act Review of the Identify and Disrupt Bill, otherwise known as the hacking bill. But will this result in changes that are, in the words of Electronic Frontiers Australia; "balanced against the ever growing interests and insatiable data appetites of business and its further subordination to what is administratively convenient and expeditious for the government". Stay tuned.

It all began as a centre for tech utopia but it’s turned into something quite uncontrollable. Silicon Valley - home of the digitally free and technologically brave - is its own unleashed beast. But with no ethics surrounding the development of this seemingly limitless computer industry, has it now got us all by the short and curlies?

How the hell can we protect ourselves from the rise and rise of Artificial Intelligence? As human brains compete with digital minds, The Future for Life Institute is proposing watermarking systems to trace AI provenance, and liability for harm caused by runaway products. But with Microsoft’s decision to ditch its entire AI ethics team this week, and the European Union scheduled to vote on the EU AI Act at the end of this month, what sort of disruptions to democracy are forecast? More importantly, how can they be averted?

There’s a growing spyware industry that uses human rights-abusing technology to spy on people’s daily business. But on March 27,  just two days before the launch of the 2nd U.S. Summit for Democracy in Washington D.C., there was a major victory for human rights activists when President Biden made an executive order to ban US  federal agencies from using commercial spyware.This is a significant victory for activists in this space but does it mean the end of spyware globally?

With 187 Internet shutdowns in 35 countries in 2022, the relationship between democracy and technology is top of mind for many humanitarians. A prime forum to thrash out some of the nuances of this partnership will be the second U.S. Summit for Democracy, which takes place in Washington from March 29-30. Access Now is co-leading the Technology for Democracy Cohort in partnership with the U.K. and Estonian governments. It’s  an impressive coalition of over 150 civil society, government, and private sector organisations across 40 countries. And Brett Solomon will be there.

The United Nations is currently holding its 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women and the main theme for this 12-day think fest is: “Innovation and technology for gender equality”. It’s the first time that digital gender inequalities have been highlighted by the Commission and high time too because there are 238 million more men on line than women. At the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, Hilary Clinton famously said "Human rights are women's rights, once and for all". Now women's rights are also digital rights. We unpack some of the key issues that disproportionately affect women and girls and non-binary people online.

Rainbow flags are flapping from police stations, shop fronts and Surf Rescue buggies thanks to Sydney WorldPride. Inclusivity and diversity is the mantra of the Rainbow Tribe, but globally, identity wars ares raging. We discuss how the LGBTIQmmunity is enhanced by digital platforms in some countries, and targeted by them in others. 

“The country was a construction site. It has become a cemetery.” wrote one journalist in the wake of the mega earthquake that rocked Turkey on February 6 killing nearly 50,000 people, many of them buried beneath the rubble of poorly built apartment blocks. A further two earthquakes destroyed even more buildings weakened by the previous quake. In the midst of this natural disaster, Twitter and Tik Tok (the main modes of communication) were blocked. Survivors are pointing fingers at the Erdogan government which allowed the dodgy dwellings to go up. In return, the state is detaining people who post about it on their social media accounts. 

There are potentially dangerous experiments taking place in the Artificial Intelligence sphere that could shape the way we all live. The latest one is Tik Tok’s Focused View, an emotional recognition feature that targets ads to the user based on your reactions to various videos. But there are serious questions about whether it actually violates European Union laws. We attempt to get our real live intelligence around the issue.

It’s been 2 years since the military took over rule in Myanmar. Playing from the authoritarian's playbook, the regime is  using CCTV's and International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) registration to control their citizens. It's a digital dictatorship where people think that Facebook IS the Internet, and human rights abuses are hidden behind internet shutdowns. But dictatorships always fall. We explore how this one could.