United Nations: New database explores links between human rights and sustainable development goals . “A new interactive database promises to give users a chance to visually check on progress on achieving both sustainable development and human rights goals across the globe.The database was developed by the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR). It is based on more than 50,000 recommendations made during the first and second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR is a peer-review mechanism of the Human Rights Council that looks at the human rights situation on the ground for each of the United Nation’s 193 Member States. At the end of each review, recommendations are issued to improve human rights before the next review. The reviews take place once every 4.5 years. Using an algorithm developed and trained by the DIHR team, the recommendations are then weighted and linked to specific sustainable development goals (SDG), giving States and others a concrete way of seeing human rights linked with development, said Birgitte Feiring from the DIHR.”
world
World Resources Institute: A Global Database of Power Plants
World Resources Institute: A Global Database of Power Plants. “The Global Power Plant Database is a comprehensive, open source database of power plants around the world. It centralizes power plant data to make it easier to navigate, compare and draw insights for one’s own analysis. Each power plant is geolocated and entries contain information on plant capacity, generation, ownership, and fuel type. As of April 2018, the database includes around 25,500 power plants from 162 countries. It will be continuously updated as data becomes available.” The database will be available Monday.
BetaNews: The best and worst rated countries for internet surveillance
BetaNews: The best and worst rated countries for internet surveillance. “We all know that some countries censor their citizens’ access to the internet. But which are the most intrusive when it comes to online surveillance? Consumer security site Security Baron has created an infographic showing the best and worst, along with those named by Reporters Without Borders as, ‘enemies of the internet’.”
ISSD: Fisheries Statistics, Ocean Database to Support Marine Resource Management
ISSD: Fisheries Statistics, Ocean Database to Support Marine Resource Management. “The UN Environment Programme (UNEP, or UN Environment) World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) launched Ocean+Data, an online library of ocean-related data resources meant to inform decision making. In parallel, the Asia-Pacific Commission on Agricultural Statistics launched the Pacific Strategic Plan for Agricultural and Fisheries Statistics (P-SPAFS). Both data collection mechanisms were announced as the UK published a report calling for improved data collection to support a growing ocean economy.”
The Verge: Morehshin Allahyari’s 3D-printed Project Pushes Back Against ‘Digital Colonialism’
The Verge: Morehshin Allahyari’s 3D-printed Project Pushes Back Against ‘Digital Colonialism’. “The Iranian artist and activist Morehshin Allahyari is currently working on a project that transcends continents and centuries. Using ancient illustrations of Middle Eastern dark goddesses as her source material, Allahyari is producing 12 sculptures through a process of 3D modeling, scanning, and printing. The result is She Who Sees The Unknown, an attempt by Allahyari to reclaim ownership of traditional mythologies, and fight against “digital colonialism,” which she says is a recent trend that allows corporations to profit off of cultural artifacts of others.”
The Next Web: The ‘splinternet’ is coming: Why countries will break away from today’s internet
The Next Web: The ‘splinternet’ is coming: Why countries will break away from today’s internet. “With domestic and geopolitical tensions rising, governments are finding it increasingly hard to function amid a constant barrage of uncontrollable information and potential cyber-attacks, making them grow more wary both of the internet’s influence and their ability to control it. The fallout from this means we are facing the prospect of countries around the world pulling the plug on the open, global internet and creating their own independent networks. We might be about to see the end of the world wide internet as we know it.” Would not surprise me in the least.
Washington Post: A ‘global game of whack-a-mole’: Overseas data rules are stuck in the 19th century
Washington Post: A ‘global game of whack-a-mole’: Overseas data rules are stuck in the 19th century. “How should law enforcement officials deal with digital data that happens to be stored in a different country? If FBI agents, pursuing a subject who committed a crime in the United States, serve a valid court order on an American company, the government shouldn’t have to wait a year because the company happens to store the information overseas. Likewise, if the London police are investigating a local murder, the fact that they are seeking phone records from a communications provider located in the United States should not block them from doing their job.”
