Global Network Initiative

📨 GNI's Q4 Newsletter is now in your inboxes! Our 2024 concluded with several milestones, key engagements and participation at global events, and of course, our flagship Annual Learning Forum. In this edition, we reflect on the implementation of the EU Digital Services Act, the continuing importance of the GNI Framework in the age of AI, and the regulatory trends we're tracking in the Asia-Pacific. Do look out for a year ending message from our Executive Director Jason Pielemeier and a Bulletin Board for the latest updates from our members! Read the newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gSW3Qm9a To sign-up: https://lnkd.in/gZbF52kK

As #RightsCon2025 kicks off in Taipei, the Global Network Initiative team and our members are gearing up for a week of rich discussions, workshops, and strategic roundtables at the intersection of technology and human rights. GNI is doing a series of engagements related to intermediary liability, trust and safety, business and human rights, and more, during and at the sidelines of RightsCon. Come say hello! Learn more: https://www.rightscon.org/

One year ago, GNI lamented the potential for abuse of the proposed amendments to the #UK Investigatory Powers Act. It appears that those concerns have proven prescient. This is an unnecessary and disproportionate assertion of power by the UK government, which sets a terrible global precedent. Read our full statement: https://lnkd.in/gmZzizxY https://lnkd.in/ejG2CB59

An overview of the recommendations to completely rewrite Sri Lanka's Online Safety Act (OSA) to a more fit-for-purpose legislative instrument which can meaningfully address online harms in a rights respecting manner. Based off framework provided by the Global Network Initiative. For full capture, read Sri Lanka's Online Safety Act: A year in review, and framework for reform, https://lnkd.in/gV5AQkHW

As the 2024 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) concludes, we, the undersigned organisations and individuals from civil society, the private sector, and the technical community, call on all governments, institutions, and organisations to affirm the vision of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) of a people-centred and development-oriented inclusive information society. Read the full statement here: https://gdip.ngo/4hl9S2X Association for Progressive Communications APNIC auDA - .au Domain Administration Ltd. Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication Blacknight Internet Solutions Ltd Center for Democracy & Technology CENTER FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT Derechos Digitales DotAsia Organisation Global Partners Digital Global Network Initiative Identity Digital Inc. Ideosync Media Combine Japan Network Information Center Jokkolabs Banjul Paradigm Initiative Research ICT Africa Search for Common Ground Taiwan Network Information Center TWNIC Women of Uganda Network WACC Global Konstantinos Komaitis, PhD Ebenezer Olawole Dare Eduardo Bertoni William J. Drake

The Global Network Initiative, of which CPJ is a member, raises concerns about #Bangladesh's draft Cyber Protection Ordinance, 2025 and Personal Data Protection Ordinance, 2025. We call on the interim government to ensure protection for fundamental freedoms and digital rights through multistakeholder input. Read the statement⤵️

GNI's Vice Chair Usama Khilji and Policy and Communications Fellow Samaya Anjum are attending the DRAPAC Digital Rights Asia-Pacific #Bangladesh National Convening, organized by the Association for Progressive Communications, Digitally Right Ltd, and EngageMedia. Usama presented at a roundtable on "Free Expression and Online Safety: Implications of the Cyber Safety Ordinance and Beyond" where he emphasized the need for rigorous, transparent, forward-looking, and rights-based approach to reform initiatives, in order to ensure that Bangladesh takes advantage of this important opportunity in its history to develop a new, modern, resilient, and sustainable framework for ICT governance. Earlier today, GNI released a statement raising concerns on recent digital regulations in the country and the transparency of the law-making process surrounding them. Read the statement here: https://lnkd.in/gWcVkpGT

🇧🇩 GNI calls on the Interim Government of #Bangladesh to adopt a rigorous, transparent, forward-looking, and rights-based approach to reform initiatives, engaging with and taking into account expert, multistakeholder input. We acknowledge the important role that the Interim Government is playing in reforming the country’s ICT sector, but nevertheless wish to express concerns regarding the lack of transparency and inclusion regarding recent regulatory initiatives, specifically the draft Cyber Security Ordinance, 2025 and the draft Personal Data Protection Ordinance, 2025. The absence to date of transparent and inclusive consultations around these two ordinances is unfortunately reminiscent of the regulatory approach exhibited by previous governments and risks exacerbating long-standing issues regarding executive overreach. In the aftermath of the devastating internet shutdowns during the student protests last year, the Interim Government should be careful to address historical concerns related to the exercise of unchecked executive powers over online service providers by the telecommunications regulator and national security agencies. GNI encourages the Interim Government of Bangladesh to use this opportunity to ensure, in a timely way, the rule of law, due process, transparency, and accountability. The multistakeholder and geographically-diverse expertise of GNI members positions us to offer unique and important perspectives regarding the development of such critical legislation, and we remain eager to engage with the Interim Government to ensure the protection for fundamental freedoms and digital rights under international best practices and principles. Read the full statement: https://lnkd.in/gWcVkpGT

The Global Network Initiative's framework provides Deputy Minister Weeraratne, and the NPP government with a proven, rights-respecting template to achieve their stated aims of reforming the Online Safety Act (OSA) while maintaining its effectiveness against online misconduct. The framework's emphasis on open, participatory law-making aligns perfectly with the Deputy Minister's commitment to stakeholder and public consultation, while its recommendations around precise definitions, clear limiting criteria, and judicial determination can help "prevent the misuse of freedom" without creating a chilling effect on legitimate expression. GNI's approach to establishing differentiated obligations based on service type and capacity, coupled with its emphasis on transparency, due process, and remedy, offers practical guidance for implementing "necessary modifications" that would minimise adverse effects while preserving regulatory effectiveness. Finally, and critically, GNI's focus on empirical support, and careful deliberation to ensure laws are proportionate provides a methodology for the government to demonstrate that any restrictions on expression are truly necessary and appropriate, helping achieve the delicate balance between addressing genuine online harms and protecting fundamental rights that the Deputy Minister seeks to establish. One can only hope someone from the NPP government is listening, and open to learning.

𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬-𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐒𝐈𝐒, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐆𝐅 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐃𝐂 Paradigm Initiative is part of a collective of organisations from civil society, the private sector, and the technical community, calling on all governments, institutions, and organisations to affirm the vision of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) for a people-centred and development-oriented inclusive information society. As we face the challenges of rapid digitalisation, climate change-related uncertainty, and ongoing economic, social, and political inequalities—which are reflected in digital divides—this vision and its focus on people and inclusion are more important now than ever before. 🔗 See the full statement: https://lnkd.in/eCD_F-kW #ParadigmInitiative