Digital Rights Weekly | April 18 - 22

Thu Apr 21 20:32:26 CEST 2022

Hello Digital Rights Defenders!

Here is your weekly update on digital rights around the world for the
weeks of April 18 - 22.

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

###  Upcoming Virtual TCU Events ###

April 27 | MENA Monthly Meetup
The monthly meetups bring together folks from the MENA region to
share, connect, seek help, and release stress by celebrating each
other. In addition, it's a time for us to find ways to support each
other, and understand what is happening in our part of the world. If
you cannot attend the monthly meetups, notes of each gathering will be
linked below.
https://internetfreedomfestival.org/wiki/index.php/April_27_2022,_MENA_Meetup

April 28 | Glitter Meetup: What's new in Tella 2.0?
We'll discuss the release of Tella 2.0 and the security, feature, and
usability improvements the release brings to users.
https://internetfreedomfestival.org/wiki/index.php/April_28_2022_GM
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### Digital Rights in the Community ###

1. Call for Grants Proposal - International Center for Non-for-Profit Law (ICNL)

ICNL invites proposals for grants as part of its ongoing project to
safeguard civic freedoms and address democratic backsliding stemming
from the COVID-19 pandemic. Applications will be accepted on a rolling
basis until April 30, 2022 or until funds are available.

https://www.icnl.org/wp-content/uploads/CAIP-Small-Grants-2022-CFP-UPDATED.pdf

2. Call for Workshop Proposal | Internet Governance Forum (IGF)

Applicants are invited to submit proposals for workshops at the 17th
Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum. The deadline is June
3, 2022. The programme will be organized based on five themes:
Connecting All People and Safeguarding Human Rights, Avoiding Internet
Fragmentation, Governing Data and Protecting Privacy, Enabling Safety,
Security and Accountability, Addressing Advanced Technologies.

https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/igf-2022-call-for-workshop-proposals

3. Submit Proposal for Bread&Net 2022

Bread&Net is an annual space that promotes and defends digital rights
across Arabic speaking countries. The 5th edition of Bread&Net will
host a range of in-person networking and community-building events
across Beirut. Its aim is to promote and strengthen the local culture
of digital literacy, privacy, and security while bringing to light the
wider digital rights challenges and opportunities emerging in the
region. Submit your proposal before May 30, 2022.

https://breadandnet.org/en/

4. ARTICLE19 Releases International Annual Report: A Critical Juncture

ARTICLE 19 released their annual report for 2021, reflecting on six
years of the Expression Agenda and how the organization has responded
to the growing threats to freedom of expression around the world.
ARTICLE19’s projects contributed to change around the world. Although
there are stark reminders of just how many people on this planet do
not enjoy freedom of expression, this report also celebrates the work
of dozens of partners, organizations and individual activists. It is
those individuals and organizations who are making tremendous strides
to strengthen media literacy, improve government transparency, tackle
hate speech and regulate social media corporations. Read more here:

https://www.article19.org/resources/international-annual-report-2021-a-critical-juncture/

5. Open Culture Foundation (OCF) Releases 2021 Report

In 2021, despite the pandemic reaching Taiwan in full force, Open
Culture Foundation (OCF) kept working to promote open source, open
data and open government. Inits 2021 report you can find an overview
of their main projects, the events they hosted, the communities they
supported, as well as OCF’s finances in 2021. OCF looks forward to
continuing to work together in 2022!

https://ocf.tw/en/p/2021/

5. CatlanGate Catalan Leaders Targeted Using NSO Spyware

The Citizen Lab, in collaboration with Catalan civil society groups,
released a report last week and identified over 65 individuals
targeted or infected with mercenary spyware. At least 63 people’s
devices were targeted or infected with Pegasus, and four others’
devices with Candiru. Victims included Members of the European
Parliament, Catalan Presidents, legislators, jurists, and members of
civil society organizations. In some cases, the victims’ family
members’ devices were also infected.
https://citizenlab.ca/2022/04/catalangate-extensive-mercenary-spyware-operation-against-catalans-using-pegasus-candiru/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/18/catalan-leaders-targeted-using-nso-spyware-say-cybersecurity-experts

6. Digital Rights Foundation Condemns Pakistan Government’s Arrests
and Harassment for Online Speech

Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) is asking the new government of
Pakistan to take action by repealing laws that are used to stifle
freedom of expression. DRF states that they are alarmed by First
Information Reports (FIR) (a written document prepared by the police
when they receive information about the commission of a cognizable
offense), against supporters of the political party, Pakistan Movement
for Justice, also known as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

DRF went on to state that they believe that state institutions and
public officials should not be insulated from criticism and should not
weaponise laws and law enforcement bodies to silence their critics.
DRF  is calling on the new government to set a precedent by condemning
these abuses of power and taking action to ensure that such laws are
repealed and guardrails are placed on institutions to ensure
transparency and accountability to the general public.

https://ifex.org/pakistan-digital-rights-foundation-condemns-arrests-and-harassment-for-online-speech-and-dissent/
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### Digital Rights Resources ###

1. How Digital Health Apps Exploit Users’ Data | Privacy International (PI)
Globally, people are increasingly using digital health apps to learn
more about their bodies, their fertility, and to access health
information. Privacy advocates are concerned that the highly personal
health information people both knowingly and unknowingly provide to
the app (and by extension to private companies), can easily be
exploited in unexpected ways.  This type of information can be used in
fundamentally discriminatory ways that continue to disadvantage those
who have been historically excluded.   PI’s campaigns and reports on
this topic and you can read more about these matters on PI’s website:

https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/4804/how-digital-health-apps-can-exploit-users-data

2. MIT Technology Series - How AI is Creating a New Colonial World Order

An MIT Technology Review series investigates how AI is enriching a
powerful few by dispossessing communities that have been historically
dispossessed by colonialism. While it would diminish the depth of past
traumas to say the AI industry is repeating the same colonial violence
today, it is now using other means to enrich the wealthy and powerful
at the great expense of the poor. Read part one that introduces the
continuity of the extractive colonial world order in AI’s function:

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/19/1049592/artificial-intelligence-colonialism/

3. What Does Building an Intersectional Feminist Internet Look Like?

Can we imagine what the internet could be if we envisaged it to serve
not the interests of big tech and States, but of the communities and
people who use it, each and every one of them? Nani Jansen Reventlow
answers this question by sketching the contours that an internet in an
intersectional feminist space, community-centred, pluralist, and
genuinely representative of the myriad of lived experiences society
holds. This piece explores these ideas and dynamics more.

https://nanijansenreventlow.medium.com/what-does-building-an-intersectional-feminist-internet-look-like-8927cb114d4a
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### Digital Rights in the Wider World ###

1. Deliveroo Found Guilty and Fined for  Abusing Riders’ Rights in France

 A French court gave two former managers of Deliveroo a suspended
one-year prison sentence and fined them $32,380 for abusing the
freelance status of cycle riders working for the British takeaway
delivery platform. The investigation reviewed a period extending from
2015 to 2017. The court hearings showed that Deliveroo imposed an
almost permanent surveillance and control over riders' work while they
were connected. That included allocating riders long time slots to be
sure Deliveroo had as many people on hand as possible during the
weekend and, for instance, would also tell drivers who refused these
slots that they would not be allowed to work for the platform the
following weeks. Even though the riders were freelance, the court also
found that Deliveroo unilaterally changed the criteria under which pay
increases were defined or the minimum time needed to be online to
qualify as a rider. This court ruling may set a precedent for other
tech companies’ work standards.

https://www.reuters.com/business/deliveroo-fined-by-french-court-abusing-freelance-status-its-riders-2022-04-19/

2. The Russia Invasion of Ukraine Continues to Manifest Online

As the Russia aggression continues on Ukraine and its own residents,
the digital realm continues to be an active part of the dynamics. Last
month, TikTok suspended new video uploads and live streams from
Russia. The company said it made the move to protect Russian users
from the country’s new laws criminalizing criticism of its military.
It also barred Russian users from seeing any posts from outside the
country. This created a second, censored version of TikTok. However,
according to a new report from Tracking Exposed, this block on Russian
content has proved porous and let pro-government propaganda slip
through. The researchers found what appeared to be a network of
accounts working together to publish pro-war propaganda that was
visible to Russian users, suggesting that these accounts had found a
loophole in TikTok’s geographic blocking.

Any approach that focuses on censorship or blocking, goes against
Internet Freedom, and causes more disinformation, manipulation, and
muddling of the truth. This is particularly true if only
pro-government propaganda is getting through.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/13/tiktok-russia-censorship-propaganda-tracking-exposed/

To read the report:
https://tracking.exposed/blog/tiktok-content-restrictions-in-russia-response-to-scrutiny/

Four journalists who worked for an independent Moscow student magazine
have been sentenced to two years’ “corrective labour” over an online
video in which they defended young Russians’ freedom of assembly.
Former Doxa journalists Armen Aramyan, Natasha Tyshkevich, Alla
Gutnikova and Volodya Metelkin had been under house arrest for almost
a year after they were detained in April 2021 for posting a
three-minute video on YouTube in which they said it was illegal to
expel and intimidate students for participating in rallies in support
of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The Russian court also banned
the four from “administering internet resources for three years.” The
sentencing comes amid an unprecedented crackdown on independent media
and antiwar dissent.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/13/russian-student-journalists-sentenced-to-labour-over-freedom-of-assembly-video

How Ukraine is Crowdsourcing Digital Evidence of War Crimes

Ukrainian officials, lawyers and human-rights groups have come up with
ways to catalog and verify videos, photo and eyewitness accounts of
Russian forces’ criminal behavior since the start of the invasion.
Ukraine adapted popular government apps to allow citizens to document
damage to their homes, used facial-recognition software to identify
Russian military officials in photos, and rolled out new tools to
guide users through the process of geo-tagging and time-stamping their
footage in hopes it may help authorities hold the perpetrators
responsible. The Ukrainian human-rights organizations 5AM coalition
trains volunteers to document eyewitness testimony, and to collect,
preserve and verify evidence in accordance with international
protocols. The apps, chatbots and websites categorize different kinds
of war crimes and human-rights violations and feed into one
centralized database that Ukraine’s Prosecutor General set up. These
include the killing or injury of civilians by Russians; physical
violence or imprisonment; denial of medical care; looting; and seizure
of property by occupying forces. Here as in many other conflicts
around the world, open-source and verified information or intelligence
on crimes contribute to strengthening ways to hold perpetrators
accountable in international courts.

https://time.com/6166781/ukraine-crowdsourcing-war-crimes/

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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

Digital Freedom Fund
23 May - 1 July 2022
https://digitalfreedomfund.org/grants/

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/

Polis London School of Economics
Deadline: Rolling basis and closes April 28
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2022/04/07/journalismai-2022/

_________________________________________________

### Global Events Calendar ###

48 Hour Earth Day Hackathon
April 21-23
Code for All and DemocracyLab
https://democracylab.org/events/48hourearthday

MENA Monthly Meetup
April 27
4pm UTC+1 / 11am EDT
https://internetfreedomfestival.org/wiki/index.php/April_27_2022,_MENA_Meetup

Glitter Meetup: What's new in Tella 2.0?
April 28
9am EDT / 1pm UTC
https://internetfreedomfestival.org/wiki/index.php/April_28_2022_GM

Charting the Future of Big Tech | New America
May 4 2022
https://events.newamerica.org/chartingthefutureofbigtech?gz=c56274bc574984f7f8c3a7212278138f&guest-access-hash=NDU4Mzg2MzMzfDUxNTk1NDUxOXwxNjUwNDY1MDE0OzgxODQ4NjI4MzEyN2M3OWRjZTQ4ZWY2N2MyMTBhYjgxZDg4Y2Y4YThjNmFmYjg3MWJjZDAyNjQwYzNlMDNlNDM=

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
_________________________________________________

### 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

✎ Senior Committee Support Manager | Wikimedia Foundation
+ Remote
https://grnh.se/17a119fe1us

✎ GDPR Lawyer (Junior, Mid-Level, Senior) | noyb - European Center for
Digital Rights
+ Vienna, Austria
https://noyb.eu/jobs

✎ Global Team Manager | Global Investigative Journalism Network
+ Remote
https://gijn.org/job-opening-global-team-manager/

✎ Human Resources Specialist | Global Investigative Journalism Network
+ Remote
https://gijn.org/job-opening-human-resources-specialist-2/

✎ Privacy Fellow | Wikimedia Foundation
+ Remote
https://grnh.se/bc174b581us

✎ Email Fundraising (Developer) Specialist | Wikimedia Foundation
+ Remote
https://grnh.se/18ea2c351us

✎ Operations Coordinator | Access Now
+ Berlin, Germany
https://accessnow.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=117&source=aWQ9MjA%3D

✎ Senior Program Manager | Ranking Digital Rights - New America
+ Remote
https://newamerica.applytojob.com/apply/Whi9hthJb9/Senior-Program-Manager-Ranking-Digital-Rights

✎ Director - Communications and Engagement | Access Now
+ Global Location Options
https://accessnow.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=116&source=aWQ9MjA%3D

✎ Senior Product Manager | Wikimedia Foundation
+ Remote
https://grnh.se/dbf630d71us

✎ Responsible Data Lead | Simprints
+ Remote
https://app.skeeled.com/offer/625456da34eca25417710018?language=en&show_description=true&utm_id=6218acfd94dc698f9a92abd5&utm_medium=MANUAL

✎ Newsroom Support Engineer | Freedom of the Press Foundation
+ Remote
https://freedom.press/jobs/?gh_jid=4008600005&gh_src=08dea1cf5us

✎ Director of Research | Pollicy
+ Remote or Kampala
https://pollicy.org/events/director-of-research/

✎ Head of Communication | System Justice
+ Europe, Remote
https://systemicjustice.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=22

✎ Technology Manager | Center for Constitutional Rights
+ 50% New York presence
https://ccrjustice.org/home/get-involved/jobs/technology-manager

✎ Social Media Platform Specialist | Center for Human Dialogue
+ Flexible
https://www.hdcentre.org/jobs/social-media-platform-specialist/

✎ Senior Investigative Data Scientist | Amnesty Tech
+ London
https://careers.amnesty.org/vacancy/senior-investigative-data-scientist--3282/3310/description/

✎ Communications Officer | SMEX
+ Remote
https://smex.org/smex-seeks-communications-officer/

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_________________________________________________

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(((Hugs & light)))

--
Team CommUNITY at ARTICLE 19
www.digitalrights.community
Organizers of the Internet Freedom Festival
PGP: 2E1D CC33 A362 0BD6 236E  540A F60A 89AD 6FF9 7A2F

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