Endorse Open Letter against Data Retention to European Parliament. Privacy International, European Digital Rights and Statewatch are calling to reject the draft European Union Directive on Data Retention. "Adopting this Directive," the letter states, "would cause an irreversible shift in civil liberties within the European Union. It will adversely affect consumer rights throughout Europe. And it will generate an unprecedented obstacle to the global competitiveness of European industry." To sign on, please contact Gus Hosein, by Tuesday December 6, 2005, by e-mail at <gus - AT - privacy - DOT org>.  More »

Oppose National Politics in ICANN Decisionmaking
In August, 2005 the U.S. government urged ICANN to delay and possibly deny a Top Level Domain name delegation previously made by ICANN. Sign the petition opposing the government effort to censor the Domain Name System. More »

Public Comment Sought on ICANN WHOIS Proposal
The ICANN is requesting public comments on a new WHOIS policy. Under ICANN's current contracts with the registries and registrars, the WHOIS domain name contact information, which includes names, addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses, must be public. But under many local and national laws the information is private. The Task Force now recommends that registrars who change their WHOIS practices to abide by applicable laws and governmental regulations can still operate as accredited registrars. Comments are due October 2. More »

Submit Comments to the European Commission on Two Papers on Data Protection - one in Relation to Intellectual Property and one in Relation to RFID
The European Commission's Article 29 Working Party on Data Protection has adopted one working document on data protection issues related to intellectual property rights and another working document on data protection issues related to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).  They have launched a public consultation calling for comments on each of the documents until March 31, 2005. The documents are available at the Article 29 Working Party web site and comments should be submitted to markt-privacy-consultations@cec.eu.int. Read the Article 29 Documents »

Comment on the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) Issue Papers
The UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) has published a set of issue papers. They are the first of a series of 'draft working papers' prepared by WGIG members, reflecting the preliminary findings of various drafting teams. They papers are published to show the ongoing work of the Working Group and in order to seek public comment. Any interested stakeholders should comment using the template available at the working group site. Working Group on Internet Governance Issue Papers »

Donate Money to the Tsunami Relief Efforts
A number of organizations are working to help the victims affected by the December 26th tsunami. While these organizations are currently receiving generous contributions from citizens around the world, they will need ongoing monetary donations throughout the year in order to see the assistance all the way through. Instead of our regular Public Voice action alert, we wanted to support this message of the relief organizations: please don't forget about the victims after the media attention subsides. List of Tsunami Relief Organizations »

Participate in the Africa Electronic Privacy and Public Voice Symposium
The Public Voice will hold a one day symposium on December 6, 2004 in Cape Town, South Africa. Its aim is to bring together NGOs, technical experts and policy makers for a dialogue on privacy and free expression in Africa, and to hear African perspectives on the World Summit on the Information Society and Internet governance. The meeting will be held the day after the ICANN meetings in Cape Town, and anyone interested in these issues is invited to participate. More Information »

Sign on to Comments to UNESCO on the Convention on Cultural Diversity
UNESCO is currently drafting a new international agreement on cultural diversity: the Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expression. Its aim is to allow each country to implement cultural, media, and communications policies that foster cultural diversity. Some governments have proposed dangerous revisions that would transform the draft Convention into an instrument that expands corporate ownership of culture. The CRIS campaign has drafted concrete suggestions for changes to the draft Convention. Read and sign on »

Sign a Petition to Support the Indymedia Network
On October 7, 2004, hard drives from two Indymedia servers were seized from the London office of a US-owned web hosting company, Rackspace. This was done at the request of the US Justice Department, apparently in collaboration with Italian and Swiss authorities. Sign this Petition on behalf of the Indymedia Network and against the take over of their servers. Sign the Petition »

Sign on to the Geneva Declaration on the Future of WIPO
On September 30, 2004, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) General Assembly will debate an important proposal to change the mission and work program for WIPO. CPTech has written Declaration on the Future of WIPO and is currently collecting signatures. View and Sign the Declaration »

Submit a Paper to the UN Working Group on Internet Governance
The new Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) established by the United Nations according to the Action Plan of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) will hold its first consultation with stakeholders on September 20-21, 2004 in Geneva. The WGIG has requested that interested stakeholders submit papers to the WGIG by September 13, 2004. The consultations will take place in Room XVIII, at the Palais des Nations, Geneva. Interpretation in all UN languages will be provided. The meeting will be open to representatives of International Organizations, as well as to participants from NGOs, civil society and business entities accredited to the WSIS. Papers should be sent to the WGIG Secretariat (wgig@unog.ch) More information at the Civil Society Internet Goverance web site »

Submit Nominations to ICANN!
The ICANN Nominating Committee is looking for qualified candidates for the following positions: Three members of the ICANN Board of Directors; One member of the Council of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO); Three members of the Council of the Country-Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO); and two members of the At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC). Submit your recommendations! More »

Submit Comments to ICANN!
Protect Privacy: Submit comments to ICANN regarding the Preliminary Reports issued in their WHOIS policy development.  The comment period has been extended to July 5, 2004. More »

Endorse a Resolution on Passenger Name Records!
The Resolution calls the EU and US governments to suspend a recent agreement disclosing passengers' data to US government agencies until much stronger privacy safeguards are adopted. The deadline to endorse is Monday June 21, 2004. More »

Contribute to a Survey on the Information Society...
The International Telecommunication Union, the organizing entity of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), is conducting a survey to obtain views on the perceived importance of agreed upon targets for improving connectivity and access in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The targets outlined in the WSIS Plan of Action were agreed to by 176 countries represented at the first phase of the Summit in Geneva, 10 - 12 December 2003.

Participate in an Online Forum on Internet Governance...
In the context of consultations leading to the establishment of the working group on Internet governance to be set up by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, wsis-online.net, the community platform of the World Summit on the Information Society, has opened an online forum on Internet governance to host contributions from all concerned stakeholders.  The forum is accessible at http://www.wsis-online.net/igov-forum/root/. Participation in the online forum is open to any individual or organization concerned with Internet governance and willing to contribute to the debate in a constructive way.  The only condition for participation is registration on the wsis-online Web site with a valid email address.

Evaluate UNESCO's Webworld...
UNESCO is presently carrying out an evaluation of WebWorld, the website of its Communication and Information Sector. UNESCO's Webworld is one of the best online resources for global policies on communications and IT policy. Your responses to their survey will help them to better respond to your needs and to improve WebWorld's services and portals (the Libraries Portal, the Archives Portal, the Free Software Portal and the Observatory on the Information Society). The evaluation is brief, just 12 simple questions in an online survey. UNESCO appreciates your interest and participation.

In the season for charitable giving... this year, why not contribute to the work of UNICEF.
UNICEF is an organization mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF mobilizes political will and material resources to help countries, particularly developing countries, ensure a "first call for children" and to build their capacity to form appropriate policies and deliver services for children and their families. You can make a difference for children. UNICEF depends entirely on voluntary contributions for all their work. You can donate, or purchase UNICEF cards and gifts, or become a volunteer. Click here to donate now! »

Give Your Opinion on Spam
The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), a group which represents EU and US consumers, is interested in what you think of unsolicited commercial e-mails otherwise known as Spam, that is e-mails that you receive but you have not asked for. The survey's results will inform TACD's discussions on this topic. The survey is available here in all EU languages and you are invited to complete it by December 8, 2003. Its results will be released in January at an Organization of Economic and Cooperation Development (OECD) workshop on spam.

Comments Requested in Internet Policy Development
The Generic Name Supporting Organization (GNSO), a subgroup of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), is attempting to address the problem posed by the WHOIS database. As part of the policy development process, the GNSO issued a privacy issues report and created three taskforces to deal with three specific issues of WHOIS data. The GNSO's policy development process mandates a period of public comment on the description of work for each of the three taskforces.