Today, Catherine Stihler, the new chief executive of Open Knowledge International, delivered a keynote speech – Fighting for a more open world – at the Open Belgium 2019 conference in Brussels. Read the speech on blog.okfn.org and visit the Open Belgium website or follow the hashtag to learn more about the event.
In her speech, Catherine - a former MEP - sets out five demands for candidates standing in this year’s European elections to prove their commitment to freedom of expression and access to information:
- A public pledge to oppose Article 13 of the EU’s chilling copyright reforms which threatens to restrict the sharing of data and other content on the internet pledge2019.eu
- Support improved transparency measures at social media companies like Facebook to prevent the spread of disinformation and fake news foundation.mozilla.org/en/campaigns/eu-misinformation
- Champion ‘responsible data’ to ensure that data is used ethically and legally, and protects privacy responsibledata.io
- Back efforts to force governments and organisations to use established and recognised open licences when releasing data or content opendefinition.org/licenses
- Push for greater openness in their country, including committing to domestic transparency legislation