AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

Wireless Communication Technologies & Human Rights

The Wireless Communication Technologies and Human Rights Project is devoted to introducing a new generation of communication technologies to human rights organizations and bringing human rights to the bourgeoning movement of Community Wireless Networks (CWNs).

Wireless communication technology is any technology (including radio transmitters and receivers, remote controls, satellite phones, paging systems) which uses some form of energy (radio frequency, infrared light, laser light, visible light, acoustic energy) to transfer information over short or long distances without the use of wires. New wireless technologies have the potential to ensure free and unimpeded access to information for all who seek it. This possibility has stimulated the formation of CWNs throughout the world, a science and technology driven social movement to protect and extend access to a vital means of communication in the digital age.

The freedom "to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers" is a human right that is articulated both in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. By bringing international human rights norms and law to the work of CWNs, human rights advocates can help CWNs protect and expand access to communication technology vital to freedoms of expression and information in the 21st century. Further, CWNs can aid human rights organizations by establishing networks that strengthen human rights documenting and reporting, organizing, and campaigning where it is currently too difficult or too expensive to use existing communication technology.

Community Wireless Networks Could Have "Transformative" Impact, Experts Say

At the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks, hosted by AAAS from 28-30 May, specialists noted that providing low-cost, universal access to wireless networks has not been easy, even in some tech-savvy locales. Read more...

(site updated 10/06/2008)

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