Internet

Photo: ITU
ITU

UN Member States outline information technology roadmap to achieve sustainable development

17 December 2015
With the curtain closed on the two-day review by the United Nations General Assembly of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Member States have adopted an outcome document which aims at bridging the digital divide, ensure freedom of speech, and address Internet governance to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
How can terrorists be stopped from exploiting the Internet and social media? Image: CTED

Internet, social media help ISIL recruit 30,000 fighters

17 December 2015
General News

The terrorist organization ISIL has used the internet and social media to recruit at least 30,000 foreign fighters from more than 100 countries to fight in Syria and Iraq.

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Minister of Communication Technologies and Digital Economy of Tunisia speaks during the General Assembly Meeting on Implementation of Outcomes of World Summit on Information Society.
UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

Every Tunisian home to have internet “within five years”

16 December 2015
General News

Every family in Tunisia will have access to the internet in their home “within five years.”

That’s according to Noomane Fehri, the north African country’s Minister of Communication Technologies and Digital Economy.

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ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao addresses the 13th World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium (WTIS 2015) in Hiroshima, Japan.
ITU/D. Woldu

Some 3.2 billion people now online, but number still falls short of Internet target – UN report

30 November 2015
Some 3.2 billion people are now online, representing 43.4 per cent of the global population, but the number still falls significantly short of reaching the anticipated goal of 60 per cent by 2020, according to a United Nations report released today.
Students of Computer Sciences at Khowaja Institute of Information Technology (KIIT) in Hyderabad, Pakistan learn computing skills.
Visual News Associates/World Bank

UN Internet Governance Forum closes, highlights linkages with sustainable development

14 November 2015
Consensus at the closing of the 10th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Brazil today underscored the contribution of Information Communications Technologies (ICTs) and the Internet to the achievement of the recently adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations announced.
Lenni Montiel.
UN Photo/Kim Haughton

Internet, a “fundamental tool” for sustainable development

10 November 2015
General News

Governments seeking to implement public policy initiatives and new globally agreed development goals have a “fundamental tool” that can help them: the Internet.

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Mobile broadband.
ITU/M.Jacobson-Gonzalez

Billions of people in developing world still without Internet access, new UN report finds

21 September 2015
Broadband Internet is failing to reach billions of people living in the developing world, including 90 per cent of those living in the poorest nations, according to a new United Nations report that offers country-by-country data on the state of access around the globe.
UN investigator David Kaye wants to see states promote encryption to protect people's identities with no possibility of "backdoor" access to data.

Focus on criminals that limits web liberty is misguided, says expert

19 June 2015
General News

Protecting people’s online identity by scrambling the data they access is a necessity even though criminals might benefit, a UN investigator said Thursday.

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Photo: ITU
ITU

UN expert applauds US decision guaranteeing ‘net neutrality’

27 February 2015
The United States Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision to establish new regulations protecting so-called net neutrality, or the equal treatment of all Internet traffic, is “a real victory” for freedom of expression and access to information, a United Nations human rights expert said today.
Photo: ITU
ITU

On Safer Internet Day, UN joins global call to boost online safety for children

10 February 2015
The United Nations today joined the global call for child online safety, with human rights experts flagging the need to tackle online child sexual abuse and the head of the UN agency for information and communication technology urging greater worldwide collaboration to ensure what has become a priority for many countries.