The undersigned human rights and digital rights organizations urge Google to immediately halt its plan to establish a new Google Cloud region in Saudi Arabia until the company can publicly demonstrate how it will mitigate adverse human rights impacts.
Google should immediately halt its decision to establish a new Cloud region in Saudi Arabia until it can clearly outline steps to mitigate adverse human.
Headline
Safer Internet Day marked with launch of digital safety initiatives
A local organisation and Facebook on Tuesday announced a series of local initiatives and efforts to promote a safer Internet for all users.
The initiative, which is also being launched across the MENA region, was initiated in partnership with Jordan Open Source Association (JOSA) to mark Safer Internet Day 2021.
Facebook has also produced a digital safety guide and a digital safety toolkit that can be utilised by users to better control unwanted, offensive or hurtful experiences on Facebook, according to a JOSA statement that was made available to The Jordan Times.
Exposed and exploited: Data protection in the Middle East and North Africa 28 January 2021 | 10:09 am
A woman in Beirut was driving while trying to ignore a man who was pestering her from his car. A few minutes later, she received a phone call from him. Before she hung up, the man informed her that he knows her home address. Where did he get this information from? Her license plate number.
How did this happen? In 2014 in Lebanon, anyone could get access to your name, home address, phone number, and other personal data, such as your blood type, just by punching your car’s license plate number into a mobile app.
Access Now 28 January 2021 | 10:43 am
Beirut, the private data of millions is at risk. Access Now is launching
Jordan,
“Data protection laws across the region are not upheld, vaguely written, or, in many cases, simply don’t exist. And for governments and companies that prey on people’s personal information, disrupting the status quo is the least of their priorities,” said
Marwa Fatafta, MENA Policy Manager at Access Now. “Governments’ blatant disregard of the right to privacy disproportionately harms those who are already most at-risk of attacks, discrimination, and oppression such as refugees, people living on occupied land, LGBTQ+ communities, and women.”