Organization Brief
Organization Brief on The IO Foundation.
Last updated
Organization Brief on The IO Foundation.
Last updated
The IO Foundation (TIOF) is a global for-impact NGO born from a fundamental concern about the state of technology in the world and advocating for .
TIOF aims to raise awareness of the importance of in collaboration with stakeholders ranging from civil society, programmer communities, bodies of governance and corporate and work together to achieve the proclamation and adoption of a .
TIOF advances its through the implementation of a number of .
The nature of data is largely misunderstood
With currently 11 definitions of data worldwide, if we can't agree on that basic concept it will be virtually impossible to protect it effectively cross-borders.
Technology is too complex for citizens and doesn't protect them properly
Current regulations place too much burden on the citizens' shoulders.
Technology, and in particular software, does not have a way to prove compliance to data protection laws in an objective, standardized manner
In any properly regulated industry, companies only compete at value proposition level. In technology, they also compete at compliance level; enduring trust is not possible.
Experts do not have the necessary tools to be at the forefront of architecting and implementing better and safer technology
Policy makers and civil society at large keeps ignoring that engineers require being spoken too in a language they understand: clear, precise and definable problems + algorithms.
Citizens should only be expected to be responsible citizens and not hackers
Governments are increasingly becoming irrelevant by not being able to protect their own citizens' data
At The IO Foundation we regard technologists, and developers in particular, as the Next Generation of Rights Defenders.
TIOF views the technology as currently non-correlated with all working understandings and practices as to how any public-consumption industry functions traditionally where a clear separation is made between:
Experts, who understand the complexities to design and build products that are compliant with applicable legislation and
Citizens, who are solely tasked for being responsible users of the product
A set of taxonomies for
designing and producing implementation guidelines and other research materials
participating actively in the drafting of National Action Plans (NAPs) so that tech is considered as a thematic area or, to the very least, as a cross-cutting theme
increase the recognition of the importance of technology in different jurisdictions through their National Action Plans
reviewing existing National Action Plans (NAPs)
increase awareness and adoption across tech companies
TechUp is a collaborative space uniting capacity building and social participation to build better and safer digital by engaging technologists in a meaningful way.
Through its activities, TechUp strives to bring together the tech community to become the agents of change that digital societies need right now.
The CrowdShape (CS) initiative intends to be a model for crowd collaboration based on transparent processes and accountable management. It is aimed at enabling technologists to start and run their own tech NGOs by providing familiar tools to enable the collaboration and reward of participants, attracting talent and financial support.
The UDDR initiative is a multi-stakeholder initiative promoted by The IO Foundation to promote and achieve the proclamation of a Universal Declaration of Digital Rights.
Building trustworthy technology that protects your Data-Centric Digital Rights.
The UDDR initiative aims at encouraging a shift in the current technology paradigms by providing
a Universal Declaration of Digital Rights comprising
a Legal document (L)
a Technical document (T)
a Data-Centric Digital Rights SDK (DCDR SDK)
a DCDR Processing Index
a Global DCDR compliance database
a strategy for international & national adoption and legislation strategies
conversations on the different adoption strategies per stakeholder
a strategy for the implementation, adoption, deployment and maintenance phases by the tech sector
a roadmap for the above activities
The following diagram provides an overview on how each of the initiatives support each other to advance TIOF's in realizing its .
As core stakeholders, technologists play a critical role as the and need to orient themselves through new design and implementation paradigms focused on protecting data. The are concepts that help them navigate the intricacies of applying Human and Digital Rights in digital infrastructures, products and services.
In essence, DCDR is a framework for technologists composed by Principles, Taxonomies and other technical tools. It enables them to develop a deeper understanding about the nature of data, the digital twins that emerge from it and make possible for them to embrace their role as .
By understanding that , technologists may architect Digital Spaces that aim at and build it so that they implement .
DCDR aims at encouraging a shift in the current technology paradigms by providing a comprised of, among others:
A set of
An oath
The BHR in Tech initiative aims at encouraging a shift towards the adoption and implementation of the in the Tech sector by
As core stakeholders, technologists play a critical role as the and need to orient themselves through new design and implementation paradigms focused on protecting data. The put forward by The IO Foundation are concepts that help them navigate the intricacies of applying Human and Digital Rights in digital infrastructures, products and services.
For more information, .