While disinformation is not a new problem, the digital age has created new threats. This ICNL policy prospectus examines legal and regulatory measures that can address the evolving challenges of disinformation while protecting the freedom of expression.

This report, assembled by the Blockchain Trust Accelerator at New America with the support of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, assesses opportunities and obstacles in charitable donations of virtual currencies. It aims to bring civil society organizations, would-be virtual currency donors, and policymakers up to speed on emerging trends.

Artificial intelligence pervades all facets of modern life and has unparalleled abilities to expand or restrict civic space. ICNL is helping to develop international norms and national laws to ensure that artificial intelligence effectively promotes and protects civil society.

The internet is both a tool and a space where freedom of association can be exercised, which has created new opportunities and challenges. Through our support of the UN Special Rapporteur Clement Voule’s 2019 report on freedom of association in the digital age and our work on the impact of emerging technology on civic space, ICNL is aiming to better understand and protect freedom of association online.

CivicSpace.Tech was created as an interactive resource to provide civil society organizations and development workers with overviews of 14 types of emerging digital technologies and related issues, including their potential benefits, risks, and best practices for their use. It covers a wide range of  broader technology trends in the Democracy, Human Rights and Governance (DRG) space.

Some governments have incorporated surveillance technology into their efforts to halt the spread of COVID-19. While the use of all the tools at hand is understandable, emergencies do not obviate states’ obligations to consider the broader societal and human rights effects of these measures.

This Council of Europe report explores the implications of new communications technologies for the exercise of rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. It examines new challenges to these rights and presents possible responses to them.

This resolution on the right to digital privacy was adopted unanimously by the 133rd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in October 2015.

This report explores the application to the internet of the right to freedom of expression. It examines the approaches of major international and regional human rights instruments and explores new challenges and opportunities for freedom of expression in the digital age.

This 2018 report outlines major regulatory initiatives related to artificial intelligence and mass data collection in the European Union and its member states.

This 2018 report helps policymakers make informed decisions about regulating artificial intelligence by providing an overview of AI and the crosscutting challenges it poses.

There has been relatively little public or congressional debate about the U.S. Government’s overseas surveillance operations. This 2016 report explores the implications of Executive Order 12333, which authorized expanded data collection by U.S. intelligence agencies.

The OpenNet Initiative tracks restrictions on access to the internet in more than forty countries.

This 2012 publication by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization identifies the relationship between freedom of expression and internet privacy, in particular asking whether they support or compete with each other in differing circumstances.

In this 2019 report, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Clément Voule, focuses on the opportunities and challenges facing these rights in the digital age.

In this 2018 report, the United Nations special rapporteur of the promotion and protection of the rights to freedom of opinion and expression recommends a framework for regulating user-generated online content.

This 2016 report marks the launch of a new project by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, exploring issues at the intersection of state and private-sector activities and freedom of expression in the digital age.

This 2015 study by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization provides a comprehensive overview of core documents about internet governance, which were developed and adopted by various stakeholders.

In this 2011 report, the United Nations special rapporteur of the promotion and protection of the rights to freedom of opinion and expression emphasizes that international norms governing these rights apply to the internet.

As required by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 65/230, this 2013 study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime examines options for strengthening national and international legal and other responses to cybercrime.

This report by UNSR Clement Voule, identifies a path forward for ending Internet shutdowns and will act as a key resource for supporting efforts by governments, companies, international institutions, and civil society to strengthen cooperation and implementation measures to end shutdowns.

This March 2015 resolution by United Nations Human Rights Council recognizes the need to promote and protect the right to privacy in the digital age based on international human rights law. The UNHRC adopted additional resolutions on the right to privacy in the digital age in 2017 and 2018.

This 2018 resolution expresses the concern of the United Nations Human Rights Council about disinformation, noting the need for protection of secure and private use of digital tools in exercising the right to peaceful assembly.

This October 2012 resolution reminds states that all individuals have the right to assemble peacefully and associate freely online as well as offline.

In this 2012 resolution, the United Nations Human Rights Council recognizes that human rights must be protected online and resolves to continue considering how to promote, protect, and facilitate human rights on the internet. The UNHRC affirmed this resolution in 2014, 2016, and 2018.

Recommendation of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers to member States on Internet freedom

Report of the European Parliament on the EU Digital Freedom Strategy

Remarks by former U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton at the OSCE First Plenary Session in Lithuania

Article 9 of this 1990 document from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe affirms that freedom of expression applies to new mass printing technologies and, more broadly, that laws governing new technologies incorporate rights preexisting in any era.

This article argues that the Soviet Union’s decision to stop jamming broadcasts at the end of the Cold War was not a concession but rather a sign that it respected its international obligations made years earlier.