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28-513: The Open Rights Group ( ORG ) is a UK-based organisation that works to preserve digital rights and freedoms by campaigning on digital rights issues and by fostering a community of grassroots activists. It campaigns on numerous issues including mass surveillance, internet filtering and censorship, and intellectual property rights. The organisation was started by Danny O'Brien , Cory Doctorow , Ian Brown , Rufus Pollock , James Cronin , Stefan Magdalinski , Louise Ferguson and Suw Charman after

56-630: A "sell-out" meeting in Soho , London. The group has made submissions to the All Party Internet Group (APIG) inquiry into digital rights management and the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property . The group was honoured in the 2008 Privacy International Big Brother Awards alongside No2ID , Liberty , Genewatch UK and others, as a recognition of their efforts to keep state and corporate mass surveillance at bay. In 2010

84-929: A joint declaration on internet rights. At the IGF in Hyderabad in 2008 a merger between the Dynamic Coalitions on Human Rights for the Internet and on Principles for the Internet led to the Dynamic Coalition on Internet Rights and Principles, which based on the APC Internet Rights Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights elaborated the Charter of Human Rights and Principles for the Internet presented at

112-453: A panel discussion at Open Tech 2005. O'Brien created a pledge on PledgeBank , placed on 23 July 2005, with a deadline of 25 December 2005: "I will create a standing order of 5 pounds per month to support an organisation that will campaign for digital rights in the UK but only if 1,000 other people will too." The pledge reached 1000 people on 29 November 2005. The Open Rights Group was launched at

140-566: Is Neil Gaiman . As of October 2019 the group had over 3,000 paying supporters. In addition to staff members and volunteers, there is an advisory panel of over thirty members, and a board of directors, which oversees the group's work, staff, fundraising and policy. The current board members are: In January 2015, the Open Rights Group announced the formation of a Scottish Advisory Council which will be handling matters relating to Scottish digital rights and campaigns. The Advisory Council

168-531: Is a non-party British civil liberties and privacy campaigning organisation. It was launched in 2009 by founding director Alex Deane to campaign against state surveillance and threats to civil liberties. It was founded by Matthew Elliott . Since January 2018, Silkie Carlo is the Director. The organisation campaigns on a variety of issues including: The rise of the surveillance state , police use of oppressive technology, freedom and privacy online,

196-564: Is a fundamental social process, a basic human need and the foundation of all social organisation. It is central to the Information Society. Everyone, everywhere should have the opportunity to participate and no one should be excluded from the benefits of the Information Society offers. The 2004 WSIS Declaration of Principles also acknowledged the need to prevent the use of information and technologies for criminal purposes, while respecting human rights. Wolfgang Benedek comments that

224-825: Is made up of: From the existing UK Advisory Council: And from the Open Rights Group Board: One of the first projects is to raise awareness and opposition to the Scottish Identity Database. ORGCON was the first ever conference dedicated to digital rights in the UK, marketed as "a crash course in digital rights". It was held for the first time in 2010 at City University in London and included keynote talks from Cory Doctorow , politicians and similar pressure groups including Liberty , NO2ID and Big Brother Watch . ORGCON has since been held in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, and 2019 where

252-648: The Centre for Women's Justice . In 2019, Big Brother Watch investigated and succeeded in getting HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to delete over 5 million people's voice biometrics , which had been collected without people's consent or knowledge, in breach of data protection laws, from a HMRC database. It is believed to be the biggest ever deletion of biometric IDs from a state-held database. The organisation has published reports investigating police access to people's personal mobile phone information, police use of body worn cameras, surveillance technology in schools and

280-538: The European Court of Human Rights arguing that British surveillance laws infringed British citizens' right to privacy . In 2017 and 2018, the organisation campaigned against police retention of innocent people's custody images (also known as mugshots ) and police use of facial recognition technology. In 2018 they supported a debate in the House of Lords which noted the intrusive nature of this technology,

308-618: The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women ." The APC Internet Rights Charter is an early example of a so-called Internet bill of rights, an important element of digital constitutionalism . In December 2003 the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was convened under the auspice of the United Nations (UN). After lengthy negotiations between governments, businesses and civil society representatives

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336-716: The GNI as a voluntary code of conduct, calling instead for bylaws to be introduced that force boards of directors to accept human rights responsibilities. Some of the 88 recommendations made by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression in a May 2011 report to the Human Rights Council of the United Nations General Assembly supported

364-665: The IGF in Vilnius in 2010, which since has been translated into several languages. On October 29, 2008, the Global Network Initiative (GNI) was founded upon its "Principles on Freedom of Expression and Privacy". The Initiative was launched in the 60th Anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and is based on internationally recognized laws and standards for human rights on freedom of expression and privacy set out in

392-668: The UDHR, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Participants in the Initiative include the Electronic Frontier Foundation , Human Rights Watch , Google , Microsoft , Yahoo , other major companies, human rights NGOs, investors, and academics. John Harrington dismissed the impact

420-553: The UK. Big Brother Watch was part of the anti-surveillance coalition Don't Spy On Us, which campaigned against the proposed bulk communications collection powers and lack of judicial safeguards in the Investigatory Powers Bill , now Investigatory Powers Act , in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, Big Brother Watch took a case against the United Kingdom, together with Open Rights Group and English PEN , to

448-654: The WSIS Declaration of Principles was adopted reaffirming human rights : We reaffirm the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelation of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development , as enshrined in the Vienna Declaration . We also reaffirm that democracy , sustainable development , and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as good governance at all levels are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. We further resolve to strengthen

476-653: The WSIS Declaration only contains a number of references to human rights and does not spell out any procedures or mechanism to assure that human rights are considered in practice. The Dynamic Coalition for an Internet Bill of Rights held a large preparatory Dialogue Forum on Internet Rights in Rome, September 2007 and presented its ideas at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Rio in November 2007 leading to

504-615: The argument that internet access itself is or should become a fundamental human right. The United Nations Human Rights Council declared internet freedom a Human Right in 2012. Several countries and unions have laws dealing with digital rights: A poll of 27,973 adults in 26 countries, including 14,306 Internet users, was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan using telephone and in-person interviews between 30 November 2009 and 7 February 2010. GlobeScan Chairman Doug Miller interpreted

532-546: The default option" in response to the proposed switch. The organisation, though focused on the impact of digital technology on the liberty of UK citizens, operates with an apparently wide range of interests within that category. Its interests include: ORG has a paid staff, whose members include: Former staff include Suw Charman-Anderson and Becky Hogge , both executive directors, e-voting coordinator Jason Kitcat, campaigner Peter Bradwell, grassroots campaigner Katie Sutton and administrator Katerina Maniadaki. The group's patron

560-677: The group worked with 38 Degrees to oppose the introduction of the Digital Economy Act , which was passed in April 2010. The group opposes measures in the draft Online Safety Bill introduced in 2021, that it sees as infringing free speech rights and online anonymity. The group campaigns against the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport 's plan to switch to an opt-out model for cookies . The group spokesperson stated that "[t]he UK government propose to make online spying

588-475: The internet; awareness, protection and realization of rights. The APC states that "the ability to share information and communicate freely using the internet is vital to the realization of human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights , the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on

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616-505: The keynote was given by Edward Snowden . Digital rights A number of human rights have been identified as relevant with regard to the Internet . These include freedom of expression , privacy , and freedom of association . Furthermore, the right to education and multilingualism , consumer rights , and capacity building in the context of the right to development have also been identified. The APC Internet Rights Charter

644-874: The lack of a legal basis or parliamentary scrutiny, and the possibility that it may be incompatible with Article 8 right to privacy under the ECHR . In July 2018, the organisation brought a legal challenge against the Metropolitan Police Service and the Secretary of State for the Home Department . In 2019, Big Brother Watch has also campaigned to protect victims of crime from 'digital strip searches' of their mobile phones by police, especially victims of sexual violence. They campaigned alongside other rights and justice groups including End Violence Against Women , Rape Crisis England and Wales and

672-492: The results as showing that people around the world see access to the internet as their fundamental right, a force for good, and most do not want governments to regulate it. Findings from the poll include: In July and August 2012 the Internet Society conducted online interviews of more than 10,000 Internet users in 20 countries, including questions on digital rights: Big Brother Watch Big Brother Watch

700-666: The rule of law in international as in national affairs. The WSIS Declaration also makes specific reference to the importance of the right to freedom of expression in the " Information Society " in stating: We reaffirm, as an essential foundation of the Information Society, and as outlined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; that this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Communication

728-681: The use of intrusive communications interception powers including the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act , and the Investigatory Powers Act , the protection of personal information and wider data protection issues. The organisation is headquartered in the China Works building, Vauxhall , London, and previously at 55 Tufton Street , London. The name "Big Brother Watch" originates from George Orwell 's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four , published in 1949. The group

756-729: Was established by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) at the APC Europe Internet Rights Workshop, held in Prague, February 2001. The Charter draws on the People's Communications Charter and develops seven themes: internet access for all; freedom of expression and association ; access to knowledge, shared learning and creation - free and open source software and technology development; privacy , surveillance and encryption ; governance of

784-597: Was established in August 2009 as a Private Limited Company owned by Mark Littlewood and Lord Strasburger and the official launch took place in January 2010 with Tony Benn and David Davis as guest speakers. In 2012, Big Brother Watch shut down its website in protest at the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act proposed United States legislation, warning that similar plans may be proposed in

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