Digital Rights Weekly | June 27 - July 1

Fri Jul 1 17:35:06 CEST 2022

Hello Digital Rights Defenders!

Here is your weekly update on digital rights around the world for the
weeks of June 27 - July 1. As a reminder, you can submit your news for
the newsletter here:
https://www.digitalrights.community/weekly-newsletter

###  Upcoming Virtual TCU Events ###

July 5 | CKS: Tor en dispositivos móviles, Transportes Conectables & Snowflake
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/cks59

July 7 | Glitter Meetup: Building African feminist resistance to data practices
https://internetfreedomfestival.org/wiki/index.php/July_7_2022_GM

## Team CommUNITY Update ##

1. June Edition of the Regional Briefs are Out!

The June edition of the Regional briefs are out, created by TCU’s
amazing community leads! Each dispatch contains information on current
opportunities, emerging topics, community news, regional updates and
more, for Latin America, MENA, Africa and Asia regions.

This month the researchers covered a variety of issues affecting
digital rights defenders, from the silent implementation of Whatsapp
Pay as an imminent monopoly of financial data, to the work of meme
specialists advocating for social justice. Let us know what is
missing, or what you want to see more of!

https://www.digitalrights.community/blog/regionalbriefsjune2022

2. Singup for a TCU Psychosocial Circle: Prioritize your Mental Health

Sign up for one of the eight psychosocial Circles Team CommUNITy is
offering this Fall!
A Circle is a series of weekly private gatherings, led by a mental
health professional, which provides individuals with the opportunity
to process experiences and emotions collectively as a group. In
addition, participants learn adaptive coping mechanisms, and can
connect with others facing similar challenges and/or experiences.

The Fall Circles include: Dealing with Griefs, Activist Fatigue,
Skills Based Group for Men, Diaspora, LGBTQ Support, Living in
Survival Mode, and Racialized Trauma.
Circles are free and open to anyone working on digital rights and/or
identifies as a digital rights defender. Each circle will be limited
to 6-10 participants. However, you must commit to attending once a
week from September 19 to December 9.

Enroll by September 5:
https://www.communityhealth.team/upcoming-circles

3. Apply for the  Psychosocial Educational Retreat for Managers and
Community Leaders

TCU is offering a psycho-educational retreat for managers and
community leaders of the digital rights community, which will be given
by mental health professionals specialized in providing support to
communities with limited resources. Participants will learn a variety
of skills, from how to deal with mental health distress in a group
setting, to identifying signs of burnout, to how to implement tools
and structures to improve team health and address interpersonal
conflict in a group setting.

Apply by July 30.
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/psychosocial_educational_retreat

3. TCU Needs Volunteers for the 2023 Community Health Report!

TCU is looking for volunteers to be interviewed for our 2023 Community
Health Report, which will be a primer for mental health professionals
working with digital rights defenders. Interviews will last 45 minutes
and be led by TCU’s Director of Community Mental Health.

Participants do not need to share any personal information during the
interview. Specifically, we are looking for folks who can talk about
their level of openness or comfort using (or not using) mental health
service; and what concerns or fears they may have. By volunteering,
you are helping push forward community health in the space!

https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/volunteers_chr_2023

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### Digital Rights in the Community ###

1. Keep Your Abortion Private and Secure

The Digital Defense Fund set up an extensive guide for users to learn
about digital security and abortion, especially in the face of the
U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe. w. Wade. The guide has a list
of scenarios with digital security tips to neutralize potential
threats. The guide is also available in Spanish.

https://digitaldefensefund.org/ddf-guides/abortion-privacy/#history

2.Telefonica Release Report Revealing Venezuela’s Mass Surveillance

Telefónica released a transparency report that reveals the
indiscriminate and massive interceptions of their Venzuelans’s
subsribers private communications by order of security government
agencies. According to the document, in 2021 Telefónica intercepted
the communications of over 20% of its Venzuelan subscribers (1.5
million). These interventions were carried out by order of Nicolas
Maduro’s government and included intercepting or “tapping” calls,
monitoring SMS, giving the location of people through their cell
phones and/or monitoring their internet traffic. Interventions in
other countries in the region are closer to 1% of subscribers.

https://vesinfiltro.com/noticias/venezuela-communications-spying/

3. Report: Perception on Privacy and Personal Data Protection in Palestine

7amleh, the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, released
a new publication that surveys the attitudes towards Privacy and Data
Protection in Palestine. It examines the extent to which participants
are aware of and understand issues of privacy and data protection. It
also surveys their knowledge of the Palestinian Authority’s policies
regarding privacy and data protection, oversight, and accountability
in cases of breach.

https://7amleh.org/2022/06/27/69-of-palestinians-in-the-west-bank-and-gaza-strip-support-privacy-and-data-protection-legislation

4. Bifrost-T: New Anti-Blocking Service

Qurium Media Foundation released its content anti-blocking service
Bifrost-T developed to support independent media and human rights
organizations that suffer Internet blocking. Bifrost-T converts
WordPress postings to Telegram messages and publishes the information
on a client specific Telegram channel. The service is intended to be
used for Wordpress websites that are blocked in countries where the
Telegram service is available. The blocked media only needs to apply
for the service and inform Qurium which Telegram channel they wish to
use. The readers just need to sign up to the Telegram channel to start
receiving the blocked content. Bifrost-T is a pro-bono service
developed and provided by Qurium.

https://www.qurium.org/bifrost-t/

5. Cases from the Tech + Fellowship Society

The Ford and Mozilla Foundations have partnered on the Tech + Society
fellowship to embed interdisciplinary public interest technologists
into key civil society and human rights “host” organizations across
the Global South. These fellows bring hard tech skills and support
civil society and social justice organizations to incorporate
technological perspectives in their work. This paper looks into some
outcomes of this fellowship.

https://ssir.org/articles/entry/how_public_interest_technologists_power_human_rights_in_the_global_south

_________________________________________________

### Digital Rights Resources ###

1. How Online Censorship Harms Sex Workers and LGBTQ Communities

The law “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking
Act/Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act”, better known as FOSTA, was
meant to address sex trafficking on online platforms, but has “chilled
speech, shut down online spaces, and made sex work more dangerous”. A
study of FOSTA’s effects on sex workers showed that it increased
economic instability for about 72% of the study’s participants and
nearly 34% reported an increase of violence from clients. Instagram,
for example, has deleted accounts that post about sex; meanwhile, some
niche, free, and queer websites have shut down entirely. Online
intermediaries have largely shut down “bad johns” lists compiled by
sex workers to identify abusive clients, and many affordable ways to
advertise sex work.

https://www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/how-online-censorship-harms-sex-workers-and-lgbtq-communities

2. Psychological Mechanisms on Why We Fall for Disinformation

The report “The Psychology of (Dis)Information: A Primer on Key
Psychological Mechanisms” identifies four key psychological mechanisms
that make people vulnerable to persuasion. Initial information
processing, cognitive dissonance, influence of group membership, and
lastly emotion. Despite their impact on the spread of disinformation,
these mechanisms can be generally healthy and useful to us in our
daily lives. They allow us to filter through the onslaught of
information and images we encounter regularly.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/deep-analysis/202206/why-we-fall-disinformation

3. When “Jawboning” Creates Private Liability

“Jawboning” is when government authorities influence companies’ social
media policies. This article poses the question, “When does a private
company become a state actor when they act according to it?” EFF
writes about the importance for a defined, though narrow, avenue for
holding social media companies liable for certain censorial
collaborations with the government.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/when-jawboning-creates-private-liability

_________________________________________________

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

1. Roe. v Wade: Tech Companies Role With Protecting User Privacy Internet

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has raised
questions about whether and how tech companies should protect data of
users seeking abortions. Privacy experts are sharing ways that tech
companies can better protect their information in a post-Roe era, and
steps consumers can take to minimize their data exposure.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/24/roe-v-wade-overturned-how-tech-companies-and-users-can-protect-privacy.html

Facebook is removing the posts that say abortion pills can be mailed.
In some cases, Facebook is also banning users who are posting them.
When exactly Facebook started removing these and similar posts is
unclear, but they definitely removed them on the day the Supreme Court
overturned Roe v. Wade.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7gav3/facebook-is-banning-people-who-say-they-will-mail-abortion-pills

2. China: Policing the “Future”

A New York Times report describes how police across China are buying
technology that harnesses vast surveillance data to predict crime and
protest before they happen. The systems and software are targeting
people whose behavior or characteristics are suspicious in the eyes of
an algorithm and the Chinese authorities, even if they’ve done nothing
wrong. The new approach to surveillance is partly based on data-driven
policing software from the United States and Europe - technology that
rights groups say has encoded racism into decisions like which
neighborhoods are most heavily policed and which prisoners get parole.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/25/technology/china-surveillance-police.html

Hikivision is one of the companies contributing to this mass
surveillance. Hikivision is a Chinese company whose products can be
found anywhere from police surveillance systems to baby monitors in
more than 190 countries. Its ability to make decent-quality products
at cheap prices (as well as its ties with the Chinese state) has
helped make Hikvision the largest manufacturer of video surveillance
equipment in the world. The firm has helped build China’s massive
police surveillance system and tailored it to oppress the Muslim
minority groups in Xinjiang.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/06/22/1054586/hikvision-worlds-biggest-surveillance-company/

3. UN Report:  “Switching Off the Internet Causes Incalculable Damage”

The UN released a report titled "Internet shutdowns: Trends, causes,
legal implications and impacts on a range of human rights." It sheds
light on internet shutdowns, examining how they undermine a range of
human rights, first and foremost the right to freedom of expression.
It also details how shutdowns undermine development and how some
governments increasingly use the measure to stop protests and silence
dissent.

The report notes that the #KeepItOn coalition, which monitors
shutdowns across the world, documented 931 shutdowns between 2016 and
2021 in 74 countries, with some countries blocking communications
repeatedly and over long periods of time. Globally, all regions
experienced multiple shutdowns, but the majority reported occurred in
Asia and Africa.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2022/06/switching-internet-causes-incalculable-damage-un-report

_________________________________________________

### 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

Mellon Fellowship Program
Deadline: July 2
https://globalcenters.columbia.edu/content/mellon-fellowship-program-0

International Republic Institute
Deadline: July 3
https://www.iri.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/RFP-CENTER2022TECHDEM02o-Technical-Initiatives.pdf

Sir Harry Evans Global Fellowship
Deadline: August 15
https://www.durham.ac.uk/sir-harry-evans-memorial-fund/global-fellowship/

Mozilla Tech Policy Fellowship
Deadline: Not Specified
https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/blog/mozilla-is-seeking-senior-tech-policy-fellows-apply-today/

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/
_________________________________________________

### Global Events Calendar ###

CKS: Tor en dispositivos móviles, Transportes Conectables & Snowflake
July 5
6pm EDT / 10pm UTC
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/cks59

Glitter Meetup: Where my data at - Building African feminist
resistance to data practices
July 7
9am EDT / 1pm UTC
https://internetfreedomfestival.org/wiki/index.php/July_14_2022_GM

PETS 2022
July 11 - 15
Sydney, Australia
https://petsymposium.org/2022/stipends.php

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

✎ IT recruiter | Jobways
+ Remote in USA
https://www.jobways.com/

✎ Trauma-informed content advisor [Portuguese & English] | Chayn
+ Remote
https://chayn.notion.site/Trauma-informed-content-advisor-Portuguese-English-78f8923d52754800adc4b60fd1b5327b

✎ Staff Software Engineer - Wikimedia Enterprise | Wikimedia Foundation
+ Remote
https://grnh.se/6ab31c081us

✎ Digital Rights Coordinator | Internews
+ Remote
https://phf.tbe.taleo.net/phf04/ats/careers/v2/viewRequisition?org=INTERNEWS&cws=38&rid=1761

✎ Senior Manager, Site Reliability Engineering | Wikimedia Foundation
+ Remote
https://grnh.se/9839b5981us

✎ Junior DevSecOps specialist | Tactical Tech
+ Berlin, Germany
https://tacticaltech.org/junior-devsecops-specialist/

✎ Data & Implementation Officer | Oversight Board
+ Washington DC, USA
https://oversightboard.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=175

✎ Data & Implementation Officer | Oversight Board
+ San Francisco, USA
https://oversightboard.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=176

✎ Data & Implementation Officer | Oversight Board
+ London, UK
https://oversightboard.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=173

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_________________________________________________

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If you have any questions or want to learn more about partnerships,
get in touch at team at digitalrights.community. We are always looking
for like-minded organizations and people.

(((Hugs & light)))

--
Team CommUNITY at ARTICLE 19
www.digitalrights.community
Organizers of the Internet Freedom Festival
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