Digital Rights Weekly | June 5 - 9

Fri Jun 9 17:09:54 CEST 2023

Hello Digital Rights Defenders!

Here is your weekly update on digital rights around the world for the
week of June 5 - 9. As a reminder, you can submit your news for the
newsletter here: https://www.digitalrights.community/weekly-newsletter

### Team CommUNITY (TCU) ###

1. RSVP for “The Wellbeing Monthly”: A Once a Month Psychosocial
Educational Workshop Series

We are glad to announce "The Wellbeing Monthly", a monthly virtual
educational workshop led by diverse mental health professionals. The
online series will run from June to December and are free of charge.
They will focus on psychoeducation and coping mechanisms on diverse
topics including anxiety and fear, guilt and survivors guilt, defeat
and hopelessness, trauma, and burnout and stress. The first workshop,
led by Fahad Awan, will take place on Tuesday, June 20 at 9am EDT /
1pm UTC and will focus on vicarious trauma, what happens to you when
you witness abuse, and what you can do for resilience and healthy
boundaries. The second workshop will focus on coping with survivor
guilt as an activist and exploring what survivor guilt looks like. As
speakers are confirmed each month, we will be updating you for your
RSVP.

RSVP for June 20, “The Impact of Witnessing Human Rights Abuses:
Vicarious Trauma”:
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/wellbeingmonthly1

RSVP for July 18, “Survivor Guilt, Regret Rumination, and How to Cope
with them as an Activist”:
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/wellbeingmonthly2

2. NEW Digital Rights Regional Briefs of May are Out!!

Every month, our Community Leads from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and
MENA, bring critical information about digital justice issues around
the globe, current opportunities for digital rights defenders,
community news, regional developments, and more! For May, learn about
the new bill in Colombia which will protect the labor rights of
delivery workers, the content moderators unionizing in Africa, Asian
platform workers strategizing during May Day, and how the Internet is
shrinking as a public sphere in Tunisia.

https://www.digitalrights.community/blog/regionalbriefsmay2023

3. Global Gathering Feira Applications - Apply through June 15th!

Given the number of people that are continuing to reach out to us
about applying for the Feira at the Global Gathering, we will be
accepting applications through June 15th, 2023. The extended deadline
will allow us to review our capacity and examine if we are able to
increase the event cap and will allow us to ensure we have more equal
participation reflecting the diversity of the digital rights
community.

Apply: https://www.digitalrights.community/blog/apply-feira-global-gathering

4. RSVP for the June Village's last 2 sessions: Perspectives from the
South: Interactive Discussions about Digital Rights in Asia, Africa,
LATAM and MENA

Are you interested in learning about how emerging issues are uniquely
showing up in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and
North Africa? Do you want to hear about what digital rights defenders
in each region are experiencing and thinking? Join us in the June
Village's last 2 sessions, led by TCU’s four Regional Community Leads,
where they share their learnings from the last 18 months doing
community building and research in their respective regions.

Jun 13: Africa with Mardiya Siba Yahaya
Jun 14: Commonalities between regions and global trends with Danae
Tapia and Úrsula Schüler

Check the full descriptions and RSVP on this link:
https://www.digitalrights.community/blog/digital-rights-perspectives-from-the-south

5. Resources and Actions to Support Sudan

Find out ways that you can support those in Sudan. We have created a
list of initiatives and resources, verified by trusted community
members, ranging from organizations doing security and relocation to
fundraisers and mental health resources. This blog post will continue
to be updated. If there are any resources or initiatives you think we
have missed, let us know.

https://www.digitalrights.community/blog/resources-and-actions-to-support-sudan

_________________________________________________

### Digital Rights in the Community ###

1. Applications for the Community Tech Discovery Fund are now open!
The Discovery Fund will offer 20 community businesses and
organizations the opportunity to put £12,000 towards their journey
with community tech – technology created by and for communities.
Deadline: 21 July 2023.
https://www.powertochange.org.uk/our-work/our-programmes/discovery-fund/

2. Sovereign Tech Fund Opens Three Challenges to Contribute Back to Open Source

Sovereign Tech Fund is looking for developers who use open source and
want to contribute back. For this, they are announcing three
challenges for you to work on FOSS with up to €300,000 per project.
The challenges will run up to 8 months in two 4-month rounds.
Application deadline: 6 July 2023.

https://sovereigntechfund.de/en/challenges/

3. Roundtable on Reframing AI Governance through a Political Economy Lens

IT for Change and Transnational Institute (TNI) invite interested
scholars, activists, and practitioners to examine the building blocks
of a transformative approach to AI governance. The aim is to unpack
the political economy considerations in AI governance and discuss new
institutional arrangements to advance AI as a catalyst of generative
and accountable economies and societies. The one-day event on 28 June
2023 seeks to bring together a small group of participants drawn from
various backgrounds and expertise for a hybrid meeting in Amsterdam.
Deadline to engage: 10 June 2023.

https://itforchange.net/node/2357

4. Protect People & Elections, Not Big Tech

The Global Coalition for Tech Justice is a newly formed global
movement to ensure Big Tech plays its role in protecting elections and
citizens’ rights and freedoms across the world, particularly in the
global majority where companies have been negligent in dealing with
the impacts of their social media and messaging products. They call to
join the worldwide movement to demand Big Tech make online platforms
safe for us all.

https://yearofdemocracy.org

5. Human Rights Watch to India: Investigate Bias Alleged in Manipur Violence

Human Rights Watch states that Indian authorities should immediately
and impartially investigate ongoing killings by ethnic groups and
security forces in India’s northeastern Manipur state and work with
community leaders to restore security. The international organization
has also repeatedly urged the authorities throughout India to end
broad, indiscriminate internet shutdowns. The shutdowns undermine a
range of fundamental rights including to receive and impart
information, express views on political issues, contact relatives,
access medical care, and conduct e-commerce, online banking, and other
economic activities.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/30/india-investigate-police-bias-alleged-manipur-violence

6. Reports from our Community

a) OONI Explorer Features for Investigating Internet Censorship
Through Open Data

OONI Explorer is the world’s largest open dataset on internet
censorship. This data is contributed by OONI Probe users worldwide,
who run censorship measurement tests on their local networks,
contributing test results as open data in real-time.

https://ooni.org/post/2023-new-explorer-features/

b) OHCHR Report on Digital Tech & Civic Space in South-East Asia

The report draws attention to the many recent laws and regulations
governing online space in South-East Asia, several of which appear to
reinforce and expand pre-existing restrictions of freedoms of
expression, association and privacy.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2023/05/ohchrs-report-digital-tech-and-civic-space-south-east-asia

c) Navigating Data Governance in Uganda: Unveiling the Triad of Power,
Control, and Benefit

In this blog post, Pollicy delve into the imbalances and implications
inherent in the data economy in Uganda. From unequal access and
iniquitous decision-making power to the loss of control over personal
information, these challenges shape the landscape of data governance

https://pollicy.medium.com/navigating-data-governance-in-uganda-unveiling-the-triad-of-power-control-and-benefit-d8da9debb83f

d) The Role of Big Tech in the Israeli Occupation Economy

Big Tech’s Multinational Corporations (MNCs) work to bolster the
Israeli occupation economy through the provision of infrastructure,
technology, knowledge, and products to both civil and military
institutions. Who Profits’ new Dynamic Report centralizes profiles of
the Tech MNCs facilitating Israel’s violations of human rights of
occupied Palestinian and Syrian communities.
https://www.whoprofits.org/dynamic-report/the-role-of-big-tech-in-the-israeli-occupation-economy/

e) Unfreedom Monitor Report: Kenya

This report provides an overview of the most prolific instances of
digital authoritarianism in Kenya. The report debriefs the most
relevant actions and decisions taken by the Kenyan government in
recent years that leverage the internet and technology in order to
achieve certain political goals.

https://advox.globalvoices.org/2023/06/05/unfreedom-monitor-report-kenya/

f) How Do People Feel About AI?

AI’s rapid development has resulted in increased national attention on
AI and surrounding policy. In November 2022, the Ada Lovelace
Institute and The Alan Turing Institute conducted a nationally
representative survey of over 4,000 adults in Britain, to understand
how the public currently experience AI. Digging deeper into people’s
perceptions of AI shows that the British public hold highly nuanced
views on the specific advantages and disadvantages associated with
different uses of AI.

https://www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/report/public-attitudes-ai/

_____________________________________________

### Digital Rights Resources ###

1. CIVICUS’ Donor Finder

Are you having a hard time identifying and connecting with donors and
allies who can support your brave work? CIVICUS created two unique
directories of donors that will simplify your search for support and
resources. Use this curated list of progressive donors supporting
activists, civil society organizations and small, informal civil
society groups.
https://www.civicus.org/index.php/donor-finder

2. Check out the Interweave Newsletter

Interweave publishes thought pieces and weekly news round ups on
digital government news from Eurasia. Their topics include subjects
which might be relevant to the digital rights community, such as
CiviTech, surveillance, identity, and privacy initiatives. They also
conduct interviews with leaders in the field.

https://interweavegov.substack.com/

3. Exploring Intersections: A Feminist Perspective on Digital & Foreign Policy

Not even ten years after being mentioned for the very first time,
feminist foreign policy has made it into the political mainstream: the
guidelines ‘Shaping a Feminist Foreign Policy’ of the German Federal
Foreign Office outline a strategic shift in German foreign politics.
At the same time, digital policy has become more and more
international.

https://eu.boell.org/en/2023/06/01/feminist-digital-foreign-policy

_________________________________________________

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

1. Microsoft Fined $20 million for Retaining Children’s Data Without
Parental Consent

Microsoft, which wants to lead the AI revolution, is struggling with a
children’s online privacy protection problem. It will pay $20 million
for failing to secure parental consent to retain -for longer than
necessary- personal data of children aged under 13 collected from
accounts created before 2021.

https://qz.com/microsoft-to-pay-20-mn-childrens-privacy-violation-1850509448

2. India’s Tech Obsession May Leave Millions of Workers Without Pay

The Modi government is forcing low-paid workers to use a glitchy new
digital registration system that fails in places with weak internet.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/india-tech-obsession-millions-workers-without-pay

3. Saudi Arabia Warns Snapchat Users that ‘Insulting’ Regime is a
Criminal Offense

Saudi state media issued an explicit warning that it is a criminal
offense to “insult” authorities using social media apps such as
Snapchat, the California-based messaging app whose chief executive
recently forged a new “cooperation” deal with the kingdom’s culture
ministry.
The threat – which was originally televised in April and then deleted
– has gained new resonance as more cases emerge in which Snapchat
users and influencers in the kingdom have been arrested by authorities
and, in some cases, sentenced to decades-long prison sentences.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jun/04/snapchat-social-media-saudi-arabia-authorities

4. Internet Turned Off in Iraq to Combat Cheating on Exams

As the scheduled final exams commenced on June 1st, Iraq experienced a
widespread internet disruption across the country. Turning off the
internet seems to be the Iraqi government’s go-to solution to thwart
students from smuggling mobile phones into state tests and curb
cheating in exams. Disruptions of similar types were also registered
during previous years.

https://cybernews.com/news/internet-outage-iraq-student-exams/

5. Social Media Restricted in Senegal Amid Political Unrest

NetBlocks metrics confirm the restriction of Facebook, Twitter,
WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Telegram and other social media
platforms in Senegal on 1 June 2023. The measure comes amid widespread
protests over the sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.

https://netblocks.org/reports/social-media-restricted-in-senegal-amid-political-unrest-W80QkaAK

6. Signal President: Empower Users and Workers to Tackle AI Threats

Current efforts to regulate AI risk being overly influenced by the
tech industry itself, said Meredith Whittaker, president of the Signal
Foundation. Privacy laws and labor organizing offer the best chance to
curb the growing power of big tech and tackle artificial
intelligence's main threats. The former Google AI researcher sounded
the alarm about AI harms years before the current boom. She calls for
'meaningful' AI regulation.

https://www.context.news/ai/signal-president-empower-users-workers-to-tackle-ai-threats

Complementarily, this opinion piece from the Financial Times titled
“We Need to Keep CEOs Away from AI Regulation” makes a similar
argument.

https://www.ft.com/content/5f8b74f7-68b1-4a6c-88bf-d0dd03579149 (paywall)

7. What are some ways that AI has gone rogue?

AI-Controlled Drone ‘Kills’ Human Operator in USAD Simulated Test. The
Air Force's Chief of AI Test and Operations said "it killed the
operator because that person was keeping it from accomplishing its
objective."

https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a33gj/ai-controlled-drone-goes-rogue-kills-human-operator-in-usaf-simulated-test

8. Referring to AI, War Crime Evidence Erased by Social Media Platforms

Evidence of potential human rights abuses may be lost after being
deleted by tech companies. Platforms remove graphic videos, often
using artificial intelligence - but footage that may help prosecutions
can be taken down without being archived. Meta and YouTube say they
aim to balance their duties to bear witness and protect users from
harmful content.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65755517

9. Far-Right Hindu Nationalist Use of Digital Propaganda to
Delegitimize India’s Wrestler Protests

For months now, Indian wrestling athletes, including Olympic
medallists, have been leading protests in the capital of New Delhi.
The wrestlers’ struggle for justice, dignity and a safe sporting
environment has gained support from civil society groups, opposition
parties and farmers’ unions. Far-right Hindu nationalists loyal to the
government and its Hindutva ideology have attempted to bully and
discredit the protesters.
https://theconversation.com/far-right-hindu-nationalists-are-using-digital-propaganda-to-delegitimize-indias-wrestler-protests-206747

10. Amnesty International: States Must Urge the United Arab Emirates
to Reform its Dismal Rights Record to Help Ensure a Successful Climate
Meeting

According to  Amnesty International, states participating in a climate
meeting starting on 5 June in Bonn, which will help set the agenda for
the COP28 in Dubai later this year, should urge the United Arab
Emirates to improve its dismal human rights record to ensure a
successful conference.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/06/uae-states-must-urge-the-united-arab-emirates-to-reform-its-dismal-rights-record-to-help-ensure-a-successful-climate-meeting/

Amnesty International released a brief identifying key human rights
risks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that threaten the success of
COP28, including the suppression of the right to freedom of expression
and a closure of civic space, the danger of digital espionage and
monitoring, and the host country’s opposition to the rapid phasing out
of fossil fuels.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde25/6755/2023/en/

11. Elon Musk says Twitter has ‘No Actual Choice’ About Government
Censorship Requests

Criticized for giving into governments’ censorship demands, Elon Musk
claimed that Twitter has “no actual choice” about complying with those
requests. The comment comes after Musk has previously called himself a
“free speech absolutist” and said he wanted to buy Twitter to bolster
users’ ability to speak freely on the platform.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/29/tech/elon-musk-twitter-government-takedown/index.html

In other forms of restrictions, Tracy Chou launched the Twitter app
Block Party in 2021 to help users escape targeted harassment campaigns
that she knew from personal experience could ostracize vulnerable
voices from the public conversation. But last week, Block Party closed
its doors, becoming the latest victim of soaring new bills imposed by
a struggling Twitter under new owner Elon Musk.

https://time.com/6284494/block-party-twitter-tracy-chou-elon-musk/

Check out Free Press’s explainer on how Musk’s so-called love of hate
and disinformation tanked Twitter’s business.

https://www.freepress.net/blog/twitter-ceo-musk-bad-for-business

12. Meta Threatens to Pull News Content in California if Law to Pay
Publishers Passes

Proposed bill would require ‘online platforms’ to pay a fee to state
news providers whose work appears on their services.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/01/california-news-publishers-law-meta-google

_________________________________________________

### 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

Democratic Inputs to AI
OpenAI, Inc.
Deadline: June 24, 2023 9:00 PM Pacific Time.
https://openai.com/blog/democratic-inputs-to-ai

Three Challenges to Contribute Back to Open Source
Sovereign Tech Fund
Deadline: July 06 2023
https://sovereigntechfund.de/en/challenges/

Strategic Litigation to Advance Digital Rights in Europe Support
Digital Freedom Fund
Deadline: July 20, 2023
https://digitalfreedomfund.org/grants/

Power to Change
Discovery Fund
Deadline: July 23 2023
https://www.powertochange.org.uk/our-work/our-programmes/discovery-fund/

Lacuna Fund
Deadline: Multiple Depending on Topic
https://lacunafund.org/apply/

Digital Rights Research Grant
PrivacyCo
Deadline: Rolling
https://www.top10vpn.com/research-grant/

Sovereign Tech Fund
Deadline: Rolling
https://sovereigntechfund.de/en/applications/

Incident Emergency Fund
Digital Defenders Partnership
Deadline: Rolling Basis
https://www.digitaldefenders.org/incident-emergency-fund/

Safety Net Fund
Deadline: Ongoing
https://wphfund.org/whrds-safety-net/

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/

Urgent Action Fund - Asia & Pacific
Deadline: Rolling
https://www.uafanp.org/our_grants

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

_________________________________________________

### Events Calendar ###

Digital Rights Perspectives from the South Village
Team CommUNITY
June 6 - 14, 2023
Online
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/perspectivesfromthesouth

North American School of Internet Governance
June 10 - 11, 2023
Washington DC, USA
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdST3GSV-nNF-8j7H9hO9ZDCaWMHJylM-oo9Z1VSpzUORhoig/viewform

Glitter Meetup: Abolitionist Creativity - Seizing Knowledge Production
in Solidarity with Palestine
Team CommUNITY
9am EDT / 1pm UTC
June 15, 2023
Online
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_15_2023_GM

The Wellbeing Monthly: The Impact of Witnessing Human Rights Abuses:
Vicarious Trauma
Team CommUNITY
9am EDT / 1pm UTC
June 20, 2023
Online
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/wellbeingmonthly1

Africa Monthly Meetup
Team CommUNITY
9am EDT / 1pm UTC
June 22, 2023
Online
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_22_2023,_Africa_Meetup

Glitter Meetup: The Labor Reform and gig economy in Colombia -
advances and pendings
Team CommUNITY
9am EDT / 1pm UTC
June 22, 2023
Online
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_22_2023_GM

Alexander Von Humboldt Institute for Internet
The Theory of
Artificial Immutability: Protecting Algorithmic Groups under
Anti-Discrimination Law
10:30am UTC / 12.30 pm CET
June 27, 2023
Online & in Berlin
https://www.hiig.de/events/lunch-talk-the-theory-of-artificial-immutability-protecting-algorithmic-groups-under-anti-discrimination-law/

MENA Monthly Meetup
Team CommUNITY
10am EDT / 2pm UTC
June 28, 2023
Online
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_28_2023,_MENA_Meetup

LATAM Monthly Meetup
Team CommUNITY
6:30pm EDT / 10:30pm UTC
June 28, 2023
Online
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=28_de_Junio,_2023_LATAM

Glitter Meetup: The Internet Standards Almanac by ARTICLE 19
Team CommUNITY
9am EDT / 1pm UTC
June 29, 2023
Online
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_29_2023_GM

The Wellbeing Monthly: Survivor Guilt, Regret Rumination and How to
Cop it as an Activist
Team CommUNITY
9am EDT / 1pm UTC
July 18, 2023
Online
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/wellbeingmonthly2

Oxford Media Policy Summer Institute
July 31 - August 11, 2023
Oxford, USA
http://pcmlp.socleg.ox.ac.uk/oxford-media-policy-summer-institute-2023/

The Wellbeing Monthly: Responding to Defeat and Creating Communities of Hope
Team CommUNITY
9am EDT / 1pm UTC
August 8, 2023
Online
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/wellbeingmonthly3

Freedom Not Fear
September 1- 4, 2023
Brussels
https://freedomnotfear.org

The Global Gathering
Team CommUNITY
September 15 - 17, 2023
Portugal
https://www.digitalrights.community/blog/announcing-team-communitys-global-gathering

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 sent to us 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

✎ Strategic Technologist | Internews
+ Remote
https://phf.tbe.taleo.net/phf04/ats/careers/v2/viewRequisition?org=INTERNEWS&cws=38&rid=2007

✎ Android Developer | The Tor Project
+ Remote
https://www.torproject.org/about/jobs/android-developer/

✎ Data Researcher | ADL
+ Remote in USA
https://careers-adl.icims.com/jobs/2032/data-researcher%2c-online-hate-and-harassment%2c-center-for-technology-and-society/job

✎ Engineer #2 | Equal Care Co-op
+ Remote or Manchester, UK
https://join.equal.care/engineer-2

✎ Research Team Intern | The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting
Project (OCCRP)
+ Remote
https://www.occrp.org/en/occrp-jobs/research-team-intern

✎ Site Reliability Engineer (Traffic) | Wikimedia Foundation
+ Remote
https://grnh.se/8072ce8a1us

✎ Android Developer | The Tor Project
+ Remote
https://www.torproject.org/about/jobs/android-developer/

✎ Principal Product Manager, Wikimedia Enterprise | Wikimedia Foundation
+ Remote
https://grnh.se/b5e1e1bd1us

✎ Creative Director | Wikimedia Foundation
+ Remote
https://grnh.se/ed1895d81us

✎ Engineering Manager - Abstract Wikipedia | Wikimedia Foundation
+ Remote
https://grnh.se/580d3ecb1us

✎ Senior Site Reliability Engineer | Wikimedia Foundation
+ Remote
https://grnh.se/983dd4ce1us

If you feel like sending some digital glitter our way, or need further
assistance, feel free to reply to this message.
_________________________________________________

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They can sign up here:
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### Want to partner with us?###

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
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