Internet shutdowns: Are we likely to see more in 2024?

Digital rights groups fear a rise in global internet shutdowns in 2024 could threaten fundamental rights in a super-election year. NITA BHALLA, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, report…
Digital rights: Iran steps up internet crackdown one year after Mahsa Amini death

SANAM MAHOOZI, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports that one year after nationwide protests erupted in Iran, people suffer rolling internet blackouts, but create an online freedom community to fight for digital rights…
Essay: Worldcoin is scanning eyeballs to build a global ID and finance system. Governments are not impressed

Australian-based law professor KATHARINE KEMP looks, in an article first published on The Conversation, at concerns over Worldcoin’s efforts to scan people’s irises in exchange for online identity verification and “free” cryptocurrency…
Biometrics: UK food bank users swap face scans for free food

Charities say digital cash transfers give users autonomy, while digital rights groups argue that biometric data can put vulnerable people at risk. LIN TAYLOR, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports…
Essay: A global vaccine database?

Writing from London, MAL FLETCHER says there are “huge potential downsides” to Tony Blair’s proposal for a global database of the vaccinated…
Indians fight in court for right to be forgotten online

Thomson Reuters Foundation It is more than a decade since Indian actor and reality television star Ashutosh Kaushik was arrested for drink-driving. Now, he is fighting for the right to put the incident behind him for good. Kaushik filed a petition in the Delhi high court last year, seeking the removal of about 20 online […]
Cambodia: Internet gateway raises fears of China-style surveillance

RINA CHANDRAN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on critics claims that, when implemented, Cambodia’s National Internet Gateway will hit privacy and hamper the work of human rights defenders amid a crackdown on dissent…
“Cutting-edge solutions”: The African software developers using AI to fight inequality

KIM HARRISBERG, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on the growing number of African developers pioneering the use of artificial intelligence to tackle their continent’s challenges…
“Silicon Savannah”: Kenya targets loan apps abusing customer data

NITA BHALLA and DOMINIC KIRUI, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, report on rising concerns over some of the practices of digital lenders…
Digital rights: AI vigilantes fuel censorship fears in Russian cyberspace

UMBERTO BACCHI, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how Russia is increasingly using AI to police the web…