Digital Rights Weekly | March 28 - April 1

Sat Apr 2 12:52:27 CEST 2022

Hello!

Here is your weekly update on digital rights around the world for the
week of March 28 - April 1

As a reminder,  you can submit your news for the newsletter here:
https://www.digitalrights.community/weekly-newsletter

###  Upcoming Virtual TCU Events ###

April 5 | Fireside Chat with the Open Tech Fund
See below for details!
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/cks55

April 7 | Glitter Meetup | Results of the Digital Privacy and Security
Survey 2021
The inaugural Calyx Digital Privacy and Security Survey provides
insights about people’s attitudes towards digital privacy and
security;, including their awareness of protection and protective
behavior, and their knowledge about and concerns around digital
privacy and security.
https://internetfreedomfestival.org/wiki/index.php/April_7_2022_GM

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### Digital Rights in the Community ###

1.  Lantern Featured in Vice for Building an ‘Unbreakable’ Internet
Inside Russia

Last week Lantern was featured in Vice for the unbreakable internet it
has created in Russia. If you don't know Lantern, it is a software
application for desktop and mobile that delivers private, fast,
reliable and secure access to blocked websites and apps.

In Russia, the app has been allowing users to bypass restrictions the
Kremlin put in place on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram.  It useson an internal peer-to-peer network to allow
dissenting voices to continue to upload and share content, even if the
Kremlin shuts down the internet. It allows opposition voices to post
content like videos from protests or updates on the war in Ukraine
directly to the Lantern network. This allows users to share it with
other Lantern users without fear that the content will be removed or
blocked. There has seen significant growth in users in the past few
weeks, mostly in Russia and China, but also in the United Arab
Emirates and Iran.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3n5e9/russian-internet-lantern

You can also download Lantern here: https://getlantern.org

2. No Minor Futures - Call for Participation

Jaacklac is looking for adolescents 13 and 17 years old from different
regions of the world to take part in activities of their “No Minor
Futures” campaign. Individuals can participate individually or in
teams with their family, school or local youth organization. The
campaign would be based on online activities to create animations,
podcasts and a social media campaign that inspires Artificial
Intelligence for and with the values, wants and needs of children and
youth.

More info about the activities and registration:
https://jaaklac.org/nominorfutures/

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### Digital Rights Resources ###

1. A New Report on the State of the Internet’s Languages

Only about 500 of the 7,000 languages in the world are represented
online in any form of information or knowledge, including some of the
most widely spoken languages in the world. The State of the Internet’s
Languages report maps some of the ways in which languages are
represented online, raises awareness about the need to make the
internet more multilingual, and advances an agenda for action. If
people are unable to express themselves online from the start because
their language is not represented, then it becomes a censorship issue
brought on by the Internet structure.

The report was written through a collaborative of three organizations
— Whose Knowledge?, the Oxford Internet Institute, and the Centre for
Internet and Society — as well as a host of individuals and
communities across the world.

https://internetlanguages.org/en/

2. White Paper on Feminist Internet Research

As part of their Feminist Internet Research Network (FIRN), APC has
published a white paper aiming to assess feminist internet research
related to internet governance and policy, particularly from the
Global South. Within a feminist framework, the white paper explores
access, expression, pleasure, online gender-based violence (GBV),
surveillance, data and datafication, artificial intelligence and the
digital economy. The paper also outlines how gender and related
thematic areas are discussed in internet policy spaces, with a focus
on the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF), and offers
recommendations for further research, ways of making and disseminating
research, policy making and accountability, and funding priorities in
accordance with the research.

Feminist research that brings localised and embodied knowledge on
autonomous infrastructure could create more ways to imagine,
conceptualise and advocate for access that go beyond centralised,
top-down, market-based and state-regulated forms of access.

https://www.apc.org/en/pubs/white-paper-feminist-internet-research

3. How to Get A Second Signal Account

Those who use Signal and prefer not to give out their personal phone
numbers can create a second account to increase their digital
security. This resource is a step-by-step guide on how to get a
secondary Signal phone number.

https://freedom.press/training/secondary-signal-account/

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### Digital Rights in the Wider World ###

1. The Nepali Government Wants to Censor Online Videos

The Nepali government issued a new decree on March 3 that requires any
media or individual to pay 500,000 Nepali rupees (3,720 euros) for a
license in order to be able to post videos online. This applies to any
form of online video, including those on YouTube channels, which have
many followers in Nepal. On the pretext of “regulating” online videos,
this decree has the effect of preventing media outlets, journalists
and ordinary citizens from posting video news reports on the Internet.
This fee would be impossible for ordinary citizens and journalists to
pay, given the minimum monthly fee for a journalist is 25,000 rupees.
This would impact citizens who will have less access to vital news,
information about topics, such as health services, and even education.
Individuals who are not literate would suffer the most, given that
video is one of the most effective and inclusive way to make sure
people have access to information.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on Nepal’s government to
immediately rescind this decree. Experts believe that the decree is
legally questionable.

https://rsf.org/en/news/nepali-government-wants-censor-online-videos

2. Indonesia Preparing Tough New Curbs for Online Platforms

Reuters reported that Indonesia is readying tough new rules that will
allow it to fine and criminally charge internet and social media
companies if they fail to take down content the government deems
unlawful within hours, as well as comply with other requests. The
rules are among the most stringent globally and follow intensifying
crackdowns on online content.

The regulations will apply to all internet and digital platforms
determined to be "internet system operators", ranging from social
media giants to e-commerce sites to fintech companies to
telecommunication firms.  Platforms failing to comply with requests
could be blocked and their staff face criminal sanctions. Executives
warned the measures will be hard to comply with, raise their operating
costs, and could undermine freedom of expression in the world's fourth
most populous country.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-indonesia-preparing-tough-new-curbs-online-platforms-sources-2022-03-23/

3. NYT Investigation Uncovers the Role Nokia Took in Enabling Russia’s
Cyberspying

Nokia said that it would stop its sales in Russia and denounced the
invasion of Ukraine. However, a New York Times investigation shows
that the Finnish company played a key role in enabling Russia's
cyberspying, and most recently left behind equipment and software that
connects the government’s powerful digital surveillance tool (SORM) to
the nation’s largest telecommunications network (MTS) - a connection
that they managed for the past five years.  While Nokia does not make
the surveillance tech, the documents obtained by NYT lay out how it
worked with state-linked Russian companies to plan, streamline and
troubleshoot the SORM system’s connection to the MTS network.

Russia’s main intelligence service uses SORM to listen in on phone
conversations, intercept emails and text messages, and track other
internet communications. It was used to track supporters of the
Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny.

The documents, spanning 2008 to 2017, show in previously unreported
detail that Nokia knew it was enabling a Russian surveillance system.
The work was essential for Nokia to do business in Russia, where it
had become a top supplier of equipment and services to various
telecommunications customers to help their networks function.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/technology/nokia-russia-surveillance-system-sorm.html
 (Pay Wall)

https://www.pcmag.com/news/report-nokia-tech-is-vital-to-russias-internal-spying-efforts

4.  Four European Cities Chosen to Pilot Digital Rights Framework

The Cities Coalition for Digital Rights has chosen Brussels, Dublin,
Sofia and Tirana to pilot a new Digital Rights Governance Framework,
focusing on protecting people’s digital rights. As more cities around
the world digitize their services, it brings new new risks such as
excessive surveillance that can violate people’s right to privacy.

Moreover, as cities adopt smart technologies, the digital divide
widens for those with low digital literacy, such as a large percentage
of senior citizens. Developed by the Cities Coalition for Digital
Rights, UN-Habitat, Eurocities and United Cities and Local Governments
(UCLG) with support from Open Society Foundations, this pilot will
provide cities with technical advice, ad hoc support, and advisory
input to implement and uphold human rights and to address the ethical
questions that arise from the rapid implementation of technology
across local and municipal services.

https://citiesfordigitalrights.org/framework
https://www.smartcitiesworld.net/policymaking/four-cities-chosen-to-pilot-digital-rights-framework
https://www.codastory.com/newsletters/russia-smart-cities/

5. Arizona First State to Approve Digital Driver’s License

Digital rights activists are concerned about a new development in
Arizona - it is the first state to offer driver’s license and state ID
in the Apple Wallet. Additional states are expected to follow,
including Colorado, Hawaii, Mississippi, Ohio and Puerto Rico.

Not only are lawmakers not thinking about how this move could directly
or indirectly hurt citizens in the future, but they are concerned with
security flaws. As an example, a recent report by the security firm
Syndis found significant flaws during a rollout of a digital ID
program using Apple’s technology.

Digital rights activists are also concerned about the equity
implications, since it can reduce access for marginalized communities
who do not have access to smartphones. Making a digital ID a
requirement could leave them at further disadvantage.

https://www.azmirror.com/2022/03/25/apple-digital-drivers-license-in-arizona-raise-privacy-concerns/

6.  Spyware Vendor FinFisher Claims Insolvency Amid Investigation

FinFisher, the creator of spyware software, has shut down operations
and filed for insolvency. Human rights groups accused the company of
providing the technology to authoritarian governments who used it to
target activists and journalists.

This insolvency came after a period of legal scrutiny in Germany,
starting in 2019 when a coalition of advocacy groups filed a criminal
complaint against the company alleging that it supplied its spyware to
Turkey without obtaining the required license from Germany’s federal
government.

A spokesperson for the insolvency administrator said that “Employees
are no longer employed in the companies [...] the business premises
were abandoned in the course of the opening of insolvency proceedings
and the location of the companies in Munich was dissolved, as there
was no perspective of continuing business operations.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-28/spyware-vendor-finfisher-claims-insolvency-amid-investigation

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### Grants, Fellowships, & Awards ###

The following opportunities are open to individual digital rights
defenders and to organizations. If you would like us to include a
grant, fellowship or award in this newsletter, please email details to
team at digitalrights.community
https://internetfreedomfestival.org/wiki/index.php/Fundraising_Opportunities

Internet Freedom Fund
Open Technology Fund
Deadline: Rolling Basis
https://www.opentech.fund/funds/internet-freedom-fund/

Rapid Response Fund
Open Tech Fund
Deadline: Rolling Basis
https://www.opentech.fund/funds/rapid-response-fund/

Rapid Response Fund
Derechos Digitales
Deadline: Rolling Basis
https://www.derechosdigitales.org/sobre-el-fondo-de-respuesta-rapida/

Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights
Deadline: Rolling Basis
https://urgentactionfund.org/

Open Briefing’s Responsive Assistance
Deadline: Rolling Basis
https://www.openbriefing.org/support/referral/

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### Global Events Calendar ###

APAC DNS Forum 2022 First Pre-Event Webinar
September 2021 - March 2022
https://apacdnsforum.my/

CKS: OTF Fireside Chat: Funding Opportunities & Feedback
April 5
9am EDT / 1pm UTC
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/cks55

2022 Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum
April 12-14
Paradigm Initiative
https://drif.paradigmhq.org/

Lingua Cafe
April 20
10am EDT / 2pm UTC
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/linguacafe_6

Palestine Digital Activism Forum
May 17-19
https://pdaf.ps/pdaf2022

The Wikimedia Hackathon 2022
May 20-22
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Hackathon_2022

Virtual School of Internet Governance - French Version
May 2022
Online
http://www.virtualsig.org/

Check out a list of our virtual events here:
https://internetfreedomfestival.org/wiki/index.php/Calendar_of_Events

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### NEW Job Opportunities  ###

Below is a short list of jobs we have been sent in the last week.

Want to see more jobs? OR Have a job opening you want us to promote?
Check out the Team CommUNITY Job Board:
https://www.digitalrights.community/job-board

✎ Web Projects Lead | The Center for Victims of Torture
+ Remote, USA
https://cvt.simplicant.com/

✎ Chief Program Officer | Transparentem
+ Washington DC or New York, USA
https://www.goodcitizen.com/executive-search/transparentem-chief-program-officer/

✎ Project Coordinator | Functional Cybersecurity International
+ Remote (South Asia)
https://fcinternational.us/posts

✎ Policy Counsel or Policy Analyst | New America - Open Technology Institute
+ Washington DC, USA
https://newamerica.applytojob.com/apply/PpqKB8nEGG/

✎ Research Consultant - Online Gender-Based Violence | International
Center for Not-for-Profit Law
+ Remote
https://www.icnl.org/work-with-us/grants-fellowships

✎ Tech Weaver aka Tech Lead | Numun Fund
+ Remote
https://numunfund.notion.site/Tech-Weaver-aka-Tech-Lead-773f0e03afee4ff9bb9e8c84af0c8464

✎ Software Engineer (MediaWiki) III | Wikimedia Foundation
+ Remote
https://grnh.se/b7b0a6071us

✎ Researcher, Labour and Digitisation | Centre for Internet and Society
+ India
https://cis-india.org/jobs/researcher-labour-and-digitisation

✎ Multiple Job Offers! | New York Times
+ NYC, USA & Remote
https://www.nytco.com/careers/

✎ Multiple Job Offers! | Horizontal
+ Remote
https://wearehorizontal.org/jobs.html

✎ Android Developer | OpenArchive
+ Remote
https://open-archive.org/AndroidDevJob

✎ Mobile app developer for the decentralized web | eQualitie
+ Remote
https://equalit.ie/job-post/mobile-dev-dweb/

✎ Program Officer MENA |
+ Remote | Internews
https://phf.tbe.taleo.net/phf04/ats/careers/v2/viewRequisition?org=INTERNEWS&cws=38&rid=1674

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_________________________________________________

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(((Hugs & light)))
--
Team CommUNITY at ARTICLE 19
www.digitalrights.community
Organizers of the Internet Freedom Festival
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