Discussing freedoms online

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This week Prof. Alison Gillwald and Anri van der Spuy will be participating in the Freedom Online Conference – Internet Freedom at a Crossroads: Common Paths towards Strengthening Human Rights Online, in Berlin.
The Conference, which takes place from 28 to 30 November, is the flagship event of the Freedom Online Coalition, bringing together governments and stakeholders from around the world to discuss the most urgent challenges to the realisation of human rights online.

The Conference takes place at the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, Germany, and offers an open platform for discussion among all stakeholders – governments, civil society, the private sector, and others – to share relevant information, develop joint strategies and combine efforts towards their mutual goal of a human rights based Internet.

Alison will be presenting on two sessions, Bridging the Digital Divides (session 3), and Levy on Internet Services – a Threat to Human Rights? (session 8). As a member of the Freedom Online Coalition’s Advisory Network, Anri in turn organised session 12, Towards Global Norms and Mechanisms for Good Platform Practice.

The session, which will be facilitated by Prof Jeanette Hofmann (WZB Berlin Social Science Center), focuses on efforts to develop standards, benchmarks and incentives for global platforms to respect human rights everywhere they operate, highlighting how stakeholders and experts can address gaps in the promotion and protection of human rights in a range of areas, from workers’ freedom of association to Internet users’ freedom of expression and privacy. She will be joined by panelists like Prof Mark Graham (Fair Work Foundation, Oxford Internet Institute), Andy O’Connell (Facebook, Head of Content Distribution & Algorithm Policy), Rebecca MacKinnon (Ranking Digital Rights), and Prof Luca Belli (FGV).

The Freedom Online Coalition is a partnership of 30 governments, working to advance Internet freedom. Coalition members work closely together to coordinate their diplomatic efforts and engage with civil society and the private sector to support Internet freedom – free expression, association, assembly, and privacy online – worldwide.

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