Action Steps: A decade of civil society advocacy in the information society

The purpose of this review was to look back over the past decade of country reports published in Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) and attempt to identify trends in civil society perspectives on what needed to be done to create a people-centred information society. The period for analysis was, more accurately, just over a decade: 2007-2017, during which a GISWatch report was produced each year – a total of 11 reports.

Themes

Access to educational materials
Internet governance
Access to libraries
Civil society participation
Climate change
Communications surveillance
E-waste
Environment and ICT
Freedom of association
Freedom of expression
Information and democracy
Information and livelihoods
Infrastructure
Intellectual property rights
Internet and corruption
Internet rights
Knowledge rights
Open culture
Open standards
Privacy
Sexual rights
Transparency and accountability online
Women's rights, gender

GISWatch: An annual snapshot of the information society, 10 years running

Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) has reached its 10th edition, providing the international community with yearly reports on the state of the information society from the perspective of local civil society organisations and experts from all around the world.

Themes

Access to educational materials
Access to libraries
Civil society participation
Climate change
Communications surveillance
E-waste
Environment and ICT
Freedom of association
Freedom of expression
Information and democracy
Information and livelihoods
Infrastructure
Intellectual property rights
Internet and corruption
Internet rights
Knowledge rights
Open culture
Open standards
Privacy
Sexual rights
Transparency and accountability online
Women's rights, gender

Credits

Year

2015 - Sexual rights and the internet

Global Information Society Watch 2015: Sexual rights and the internet

Steering committee

  • Anriette Esterhuysen (APC)
  • Will Janssen (Hivos)

Coordinating committee

  • Monique Doppert (Hivos)
  • Valeria Betancourt (APC)
  • Mallory Knodel (APC)
  • Jac sm Kee (APC)
  • Nadine Moawad (APC)

Project coordinator

  • Roxana Bassi (APC)

Editor

Themes

Sexual rights

2015 - Sexual rights and the internet

This edition of GISWatch presents stories from around the world on how the politics of sex and sexual rights activism takes place online. We want to research how generally accepted sexual identities, as well as marginalised sexualities, are expressed, regulated and moralised on the internet. We also want to show how this relates to the threats of surveillance, censorship and online violence.

Themes

Sexual rights

Click “I agree”: Consent and feminism in commercial pornography

Year

2015 - Sexual rights and the internet

Authored by

Jiz Lee

Organization

Jiz Lee

Click “I agree”: Consent and feminism in commercial pornography

Introduction

Adult video production is often regarded as controversial and culturally taboo. Due to social stigma concerning sexuality, including criminalisation and institutionalised offences prohibiting pornography, its industry remains largely unregulated and under-researched.

Themes

Sexual rights

Preface

Year

2015 - Sexual rights and the internet

Authored by

Anriette Esterhuysen
Will Janssen

Organization

APC & Hivos

When the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) first raised the issue of internet content regulation and how it impacts on sexuality, in internet governance and policy spaces, we focused on building understanding that sexuality is a critical component of freedom of expression. APC, along with Hivos and our respective partners, challenged the assumption that sex was always about porn, and that porn was always bad.

Themes

Sexual rights

Porn. Panic. Ban.

Year

2015 - Sexual rights and the internet

Authored by

Bishakha Datta

Organization

Point of View

#PornBan. It’s like a rash, this impulse to ban porn all over the world – despite protests that are going viral. The Twitter hashtag #pornban sprung up in July 2015 as the Indian government blocked 857 porn sites, 1 and then backtracked a bit, 2 asking internet service providers (ISPs) to unblock those that don’t contain child pornography. Which makes service providers the arbiters of our constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression, deciding what we may or may not see.

Themes

Sexual rights