Open Rights Group

Description

Open Rights Group, known as ORG, is a UK-based digital rights organisation. It was founded in 2005 and campaigns to protect people’s rights to privacy and free speech online. It raises awareness, campaigns, lobbies and goes to court to challenge restrictions on digital human rights.

ORG works through a movement of individuals and partner organisations. These include groups that campaign for migrants’ rights, racial justice and LGBTQ+ rights, since digital threats often reinforce structural racism, discrimination and inequality. It challenges surveillance of personal communications by government and the exploitative use of personal data by private companies. It also challenges threats to free speech, such as the criminalisation of online speech, online censorship and restrictive copyright laws.

ORG runs policy programmes on pre-crime and predictive policing, data protection, online safety and free expression, and migrant digital justice. It maintains a free tool called Blocked that checks websites for censorship.

ORG has won five legal victories and runs eleven local supporter groups in towns and cities across the UK. It is overseen by a Board of Directors, an unpaid Advisory Council of technology experts and academics, and a legal panel of barristers and solicitors. It is a member organisation of European Digital Rights, EDRi.