2016 was an important year for the policy network Internet & Jurisdiction. We convened, organized and participated in a significant number of events around the world to enable multistakeholder cooperation. The first Global Internet and Jurisdiction Conference, held in November 2016, gathered over 200 stakeholders from more than 40 countries to collectively address the most pressing issues regarding the future of jurisdiction on the cross-border Internet.
Committed to enable evidence-based policy innovation, Internet & Jurisdiction informs stakeholders about jurisdiction trends that we diligently track around the world since 2012 in the I&J Retrospect. Through a crowd-based curation process supported by the I&J Observatory of leading academic experts, the 20 most influential cases are identified, analyzed, and summarized every month. Once added to the I&J Retrospect Database, subscribers receive the 20 top cases in their inbox through the I&J Newsletter.
We have selected 12 cases that shaped 2016 in different regions. Click on their titles to read the full stories. All 240 cases of the past year and their summaries can be consulted in the I&J Retrospect Database.
January
Pakistan lifts YouTube’s three-year ban after launch of local version
February
Uganda government blocks social media during presidential election
March
Kenya: Google rejects film regulator’s request to take down gay music video from YouTube
April
EU Parliament adopts data protection reform
May
Google appeals French order for global application of “right to be de-indexed”
June
Israeli court approves class action suit against Facebook for violating users privacy
July
Brazil: WhatsApp targeted again in judicial blocking order
August
France and Germany push for new EU measures on encryption and extremist content
September
Facebook and WhatsApp’s data sharing policy challenged in Europe and India
October
US Department of Justice appeals US court decision in Microsoft Ireland case
November
Russia blocks LinkedIn for non-compliance with data localization rules
December
Internet platforms launch hash-sharing initiative to combat terrorism online