Source - ISOC Switzerland Chapter

UN Convention on Cybercrime: staying out of the table and fighting for human rights, privacy, and safety
The voting in the UN General Assembly that was expected to pass the Draft Convention on Cybercrime, was postponed. This Draft was the outcome of many years of negotiations which started with a UN resolution initiated in 2019 by Russia, China and other states (such as Iran, Egypt, Sudan, and Uzbekistan) , with 88 votes to 58, and 34 abstentions. There is a wide consensus that this convention puts in danger human rights, privacy, and safety online, and a large number of human rights and journalists’ associations  have officially expressed their criticism of the surveillance pact, including Privacy International, Access Now, the IPI, and European Digital Rights, the umbrella organisation of many European NGOs. ISOC global in their position article on the UN convention state clearly two major concerns regarding its potential negative impact: > 1) Impact on the work of security researchers: As highlighted in this > statement from security experts, good faith security research is crucial to > ensuring the security of the Internet and preventing cybercrime. > 2) Impact on encryption: Article 28.4 on search and seizure of electronic data > might be interpreted to allow countries to authorize competent authorities to > order the handover of encryption keys or other sensitive information about the > security of hardware or software. Adrienne Fichter, in her article titled “The UN community has negotiated a global surveillance regime — but it could have been worse”, explains in detail all the shortcomings of this convention and the potential impact in the Swiss context. A recent article (9.Dec 2024) by Lawfare media analyzes the legal language of the Draft Convention and another one by Anja P. Jakobi und Lena Herbst, at the same day, concludes that despite the problems with this convention, > It is, however, unlikely that the draft Convention will fail to pass the GA. > Therefore, it seems advisable to accept the treaty with reservations and > become a state party to the Convention. Without internal critics, the > ‘Conference of Parties’ (CoP), tasked with reviewing and implementing the > convention, could develop additional measures and worsen a Convention that at > least includes some human rights safeguards. In particular, due to Russia’s > and China’s growing influence, rejecting the Convention could pave the way for > ‘digital authoritarianism’ in a central UN norm on cyberspace. Still, > accepting the Convention requires careful monitoring, not only of the CoP, but > also of its results in practice. If reviews of the treaty show that its > implementation means compromising human rights and data protection, states > should continuously reevaluate whether to stay or leave the treaty, with the > Budapest Convention as a remaining fallback option. The argument of making compromises to “stay at the table of negotiations” have been used also for other critical issues in recent debates among digital rights associations in Switzerland. And although “staying at the table” is a valid argument, for such important threats on fundamental human rights, someone needs to stay out of the table and fight for privacy, self-determination, and safety! So, we are in a critical moment of this process, and signing the ongoing petition, initiated by the Pirate Party CH, and supported by the ISOC Switzerland Chapter, we can pass the message to policy makers that people care for human rights and privacy: https://act.campax.org/petitions/un-cybercrime-convention-stoppen-arreter-la-convention-des-nations-unies-sur-la-cybercriminalite The post UN Convention on Cybercrime: staying out of the table and fighting for human rights, privacy, and safety appeared first on ISOC Switzerland Chapter.
December 19, 2024 / ISOC Switzerland Chapter
Public Policy Sessions 2024 (summary)
On May 15th, ISOC Switzerland Chapter hosted the Public Policy Sessions 2024 including a diverse set of introductory talks and a very interesting panel on the topic of disinformation online, organized by Bernie Hoeneisen, co-founder of ISOC-CH. You can watch the recorded live stream here: https://livestream.com/internetsociety/isoc-ch-public-policy2024 First, Markus Kummer (ISOC-CH Chapter Advisory Council Representative) introduced... The post Public Policy Sessions 2024 (summary) appeared first on ISOC Switzerland Chapter.
August 21, 2024 / ISOC Switzerland Chapter
ISOC-CH is a partner of the NGI0 Commons Fund
The ISOC Switzerland Chapter is proud to be one of the partners of the Horizon Europe project NGI0 Commons Fund, which started on January 1st 2024. The project is part of the NGI0 NGI Zero coalition, led by NLnet Foundation, which uses a very flexible cascading funding scheme that enables a large number of carefully... The post ISOC-CH is a partner of the NGI0 Commons Fund appeared first on ISOC Switzerland Chapter.
August 9, 2024 / ISOC Switzerland Chapter
The support of the European Union for free and open source software is at stake.
The Next Generation Internet initiative has supported Free Software projects with funding and technical assistance since 2018. Despite its proven success, the European Commission made the decision to cut this funding in the current draft for the Horizon Europe 2025 Work Programme. This open letter to the European Commission to revert this decision was initially... The post The support of the European Union for free and open source software is at stake. appeared first on ISOC Switzerland Chapter.
August 1, 2024 / ISOC Switzerland Chapter
ISOC-CH to support disassociation from DigiGes Platform statement
On Friday, March 24th, 2023, the ISOC-CH General Assembly decided to join the explicit disassociation from the position paper "Joint Statement zur Plattformregulierung" issued and co-signed by Digitale Gesellschaft (Digiges) a few months ago. The post ISOC-CH to support disassociation from DigiGes Platform statement appeared first on ISOC Switzerland Chapter.
March 31, 2023 / ISOC Switzerland Chapter
ISOC-CH to support disassociation from DigiGes Platform statement
On Friday, March 24th, 2023, the ISOC-CH General Assembly decided to join the explicit disassociation from the position paper "Joint Statement zur Plattformregulierung" issued and co-signed by Digitale Gesellschaft (Digiges) a few months ago. The post ISOC-CH to support disassociation from DigiGes Platform statement appeared first on ISOC Switzerland Chapter.
March 31, 2023 / ISOC Switzerland Chapter
Home Copy
The Internet Society Switzerland Chapter (ISOC-CH) is a non-governmental not-for-profit association seated in Zurich, Switzerland, founded in 2012. ISOC-CH is a recognized Chapter of the global Internet Society, founded in 1992. With a goal of benefiting the whole community, including academic, professional, business and private Internet users, ISOC-CH aims to ensure a multi-stakeholder participation in... The post Home Copy appeared first on ISOC Switzerland Chapter.
March 30, 2023 / ISOC Switzerland Chapter
ISOC-CH, pEp Foundation and Pirate Party recommend rejection of the parliamentary initiative Pult
The parliamentary initiative Pult violates the Swiss Federal Constitution, including freedom of expression and information as well as freedom of the media. Therefore ISOC-CH, pEp Foundation and Pirate Party recommend rejection of the parliamentary initiative Pult. The post ISOC-CH, pEp Foundation and Pirate Party recommend rejection of the parliamentary initiative Pult appeared first on ISOC Switzerland Chapter.
January 28, 2023 / ISOC Switzerland Chapter
General Assembly 2022
The ISOC’s General Assembly 2022 took place online on December 15, 2022 The draft minutes of AGM 2022 are available here: GA-2022-minutes_DRAFT.pdf The approved minutes of the AGM 2021 are available here: GA-2021-minutes_APPROVED.pdf The post General Assembly 2022 appeared first on ISOC Switzerland Chapter.
January 16, 2023 / ISOC Switzerland Chapter
A vision for the future of the Internet
The Internet has now become essential for all aspects of life and business. Thus it is not surprising that more and more people, including people who don’t understand much about technology, express thoughts about how the Internet, and its governance, should evolve in the future. There is a tendency in some quarters to take the... The post A vision for the future of the Internet appeared first on ISOC Switzerland Chapter.
November 10, 2022 / ISOC Switzerland Chapter