What could go possibly wrong with two of the most repressive regimes in the MENA region collecting a staggering amount of data? Here are just a few of the threats people face:

• Mass collection and processing of personal data
  
• Chilling effects and threats to free will — modification of our behavior
  
• Threats to people’s lives and livelihoods
  
• Threats to cybersecurity

There’s no reason to accept ubiquitous surveillance as the norm, in the MENA region or anywhere else!

The Declaration on European Digital Rights and Principles proposed by the Commission does not do enough for shaping the European online ecosystem as a digital public space, and not just a market. The "Digital Public Space" principle should be expanded upon to secure a stronger focus on societal objectives and collective rights.

The rising power and prominence of the nation's loudest, meanest voices obscures what most of us personally experience: Most people are sane and generous -- and too busy to tweet. It turns out, you're right. We dug into the data and found that, in fact, most Americans are friendly, donate time or money, and would help you shovel your snow. They are busy, normal and mostly silent. These aren't the people with big Twitter followings or cable-news contracts -- and they don't try to pick fights at school board meetings. So the people who get the clicks and the coverage distort our true reality.

In this blog post, newly appointed Deputy general manager Sille Sepp explains the main developments for MyData Global in 2022 – Collective sensemaking and channels for impact, Strengthening the MyData brand, Renovating the infrastructure of MyData Global, and Changes in the staff and leadership team.

In March 2021 General Comment 25 on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment was adopted by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. This authoritative document set out for the first time that children’s rights apply equally online and offline, its 10,700 words offers a comprehensive vision for how states should interpret children’s rights in relation to the digital world.

The Datasphere Initiative’s mission is to responsibly unlock the value of data for all. They have been mapping all of the different organisations working on data governance. (Early access of the publication here with password: "Atlas62501" - MyData is on page 52)

NFTs are a powerful technology for digital ownership and value transfer, but verifiable credentials are better for digital identity

Defining Data Intermediaries - UK Govt DCMS - Q3 2021: An exploration of the role intermediaries could play in supporting responsible data sharing

The CyberWar for Democracy: The Role Privacy and Cyber Security Professionals Need to Play - The crisis in Ukraine has amplified the problems tenfold in the emergence of disinformation, attacks on critical and business infrastructure, and the theft of personal information. Long before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia engaged in a disinformation campaign to undermine and create disunity in the West, and this now has increased in scale and effort.

Cyber Security and Privacy communities are now at a point where they can bring together their combined talents to address this undeclared war, as well as the fallout of the Russian invasion. What practically should we be doing? It is essential we understand the threads that weave through the events of the past decade, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal, to understand this cyberwar, and to identify ways in which to combat it.

Today, March 11, 2022, marks two years since covid-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. We've had lockdowns, vaccines, and arguments about how to move forward and live with this virus. We've watched the pandemic through numbers and data and memorials to the many lives lost, officially now over six million. It is likely this figure is a vast undercount. A study published in The Lancet this week estimated that the true number may be three times higher, at 18.2 million.