Civic Tech and Innovations

18 October 2017

IDFI at the E-Partnership Conference and Recommendations for Georgia

On October 4, 2017, IDFI representative and E-Governance Direction Lead Teona Turashvili attended the E-Partnership Conference, held in Tallinn, and took part in the panel titled - What is the potential of ICT in increasing transparency of government processes and inclusiveness of civil society. The panel was also attended by civil society and government representatives from Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine.

1 September 2017

Regulating Inadmissible Internet Content – Georgia in Need of Legal Changes

Parallel to the unprecedented growth of the Internet’s importance in contemporary democratic societies, it is all the more pressing to determine the rules of engagement in this medium. The goal of such regulations is, on the one hand, not to restrict or hamper the use of the Internet and, on the other hand, to protect the interests that in certain cases contradicts freedom of expression.

19 July 2017

IDFI’s Guide for Facebook Users – How to Ensure Personal Security

IDFI has prepared a special guide for Facebook users to help them protect their personal security.

27 June 2017

Analysis of the Proposed Amendments to the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting

The Parliament of Georgia has recently starting working on amendments to the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting. According to the First Channel of the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), the draft law has already been registered in the Parliament.

16 June 2017

IDFI Hosted Public Discussion on Internet Regulations

On June 15, 2017, IDFI organized a workshop on the regulation of blocking, filtering and removal of online content. Representatives of the government, business, media and civil society attended the meeting.

25 May 2017

Georgia to Launch an Electronic Petition Platform – ICHANGE.GOV.GE

The Georgian government plans to launch an e-petition platform (ichange.gov.ge) in the near future. Through the platform, any Georgian citizen will be able to create an electronic petition and gather signatures; petitions with a sufficient number of signatures will be sent to the government for consideration.

28 April 2017

Workshop with Private Sector Representatives – Internet Regulation in Georgia

IDFI organized a workshop on the regulation of blocking, filtering and removal of online content in Georgia. Representatives of the following civil society and private organizations attended the meeting: Magticom, Geocell, Beeline, Caucasus Online, Silknet, Small and Medium Telecom Operators Association of Georgia, Adjara.com, LPA and Digital Report.

28 March 2017

Workshop on Regulations of Filtering, Blocking and Takedown of Illegal Online Content in Georgia

On March 27, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) organized a workshop for civil society organizations and the media representatives. The goal of the meeting was to identify problems related to Internet restriction, to encourage public discussions on the issues of blocking, filtering and removal of illegal content in Georgia, to promote dialogue between interested parties, and to collect feedback from civil society organizations before the initiation of a relevant draft law.

3 February 2017

2016 Statistics on Telephone Surveillance and Secret Investigation in Georgia

On January 25, 2017 the Supreme Court of Georgia published complete information about motions on telephone surveillance in 2016. Prior to this, available statistics covered the period up to October 2016. According to the published information, in 2016 there was a total of 401 motions on telephone surveillance, 315 of which were granted fully, and 30 were granted partially. Therefore, the percentage of granted motions has slightly increased as compared to 2015 and was 86%.

23 January 2017

Regulating Secret Surveillance in Georgia (April-December, 2016)

Recent surveys show that public perception of surveillance has not changed dramatically in Georgia since 2013. There is still a perception that law enforcement agencies have technical capacity to wiretap and are using this capacity in illegal ways. Although there has been some progress in terms of investigation of cases of illegal surveillance, the emergence of new cases after the change of government in 2012 has increased doubts on continuing systemic practice of illegal surveillance, lack of willingness from the government to limit its power, and indicates a lack of efficient and comprehensive reform in this area.