On May 28, 2021, members of the Coconet community were among 25 organisations that signed a statement calling on the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo) to repeal Ministerial Regulation 5 (MR5), which can lead to “prepublication censorship” in its current state.
There are a growing number of messaging applications available to us, but many of these are not transparent in the amount of user data they collect and the lack of privacy measures in place to secure our conversations. To help Indonesians better understand which messaging apps protect their users the most, Coconet member Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) has published a “Guide to Choosing a Privacy-Protecting Conversation App”.
The Foundation for Media Alternatives, a Coconet community member, has published a new report, “State of the Digital Nation: The Digital Rights Report 2020”, that documents how human rights were impacted by technology and digital innovations in the country. The report is based on findings from January to December 2020.
While the 2021 celebrations for International Women’s Month are ending, it’s important that digital rights advocates continue to share and amplify efforts surrounding online gender-based violence (OGBV). In Indonesia, Coconet community member SAFEnet recently published “Aspek Hukum untuk Jerat Pelaku” (Legal Aspects for Perpetrator’s Snare), a guide that deals with the legal implications and actions for individuals whose intimate content are disseminated online and without their consent.
Since July 2020, the independent news organisation New Naratif has been under attack by the Singaporean government in for allegedly breaking the Parliamentary Elections Act by boosting elections-related Facebook posts containing during the previous Singaporean election. New Naratif has stated that, “the Prime Minister’s Office is abusing the law to attack us as part of a long-standing campaign of intimidation and harassment”.
This statement by civil society organisations in Myanmar was originally published in Free Expression Myanmar, a Coconet community member, on February 11, 2021. It has been republished here with permission. For more timely updates on #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar, check out and follow the Twitter accounts of Coconet members Free Expression Myanmar and Myanmar ICT for Development Organisation (MIDO).
Free Expression Myanmar analyses how and why the military’s draft Cyber Security Law poses risks to human and digital rights to the people of Myanmar.
In support of the people of Myanmar protesting against the human and digital rights violations by the military, civil society organisations working in Myanmar or on Myanmar issues have published on Gitlab a list of digital security and safety resources in the Burmese language.
Digital identification, or digital IDs, have become more common in Asia, with some countries even mandating its use for their citizens. Ho Ming-hsuan writes about the digital ID experiences of Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea – and lists various issues that need to be tackled before digital IDs can be adopted more thoroughly in the region.
