Digital Rights Weekly | June 19 - 23

[Team CommUNITY]

Hello Digital Rights Defenders!

Here is your weekly update on digital rights around the world for the
week of June 19 - 23. As a reminder, you can submit your news for the
newsletter here: https://www.digitalrights.community/weekly-newsletter

### Team CommUNITY (TCU) ###

1. How we are Approaching Safety, Security and Challenges for the
Global Gathering

Find out how we are approaching the 2023 Global Gathering to address
real challenges that impact safety and security of participants. This
year’s edition is part of a  3-year vision to grow the GG in a
sustainable way. The event is less than three months away, and will be
used to collectively brainstorm not just how the GG will evolve, but
also the standards we want to see in our field of practice.

https://www.digitalrights.community/blog/2023-global-gathering-how-we-are-approaching-safety-security-and-challenges


2. RSVP for “The Wellbeing Monthly” series: Once a month join a
psychosocial educational workshop designed for digital rights
defenders!

Join "The Wellbeing Monthly", a monthly virtual educational workshop
series led by diverse mental health professionals. The online series
will run from June to December and are free of charge, and  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. Each month we will be announcing new
speakers, so check regularly! RVSP for the July and August workshops:

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

August 8, "Responding to Defeat and Creating Communities of Hope":
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/wellbeingmonthly3


3. 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

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### Digital Rights in the Community ###

1. Registration of the Virtual School on Internet Governance

The Group I Virtual School on Internet Governance English course is
now open for registration. The course starts on September 4th. Please
note that we will be contacting all the registered participants in
August 2023.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfmFwBT3qgA7aYZoTdrLRXu8GKbdr4Igef789tQICETSP852A/viewform


2. Tactical Tech: Applications for our Exposing the Invisible Summer
Workshops are open!

Participants will learn about investigating climate change adaptation,
mapping disinformation networks, geolocating images, and improving
digital safety. Apply by June 30!

https://exposingtheinvisible.org/en/news/summer-series-investigation-2023/


3. Digital Security Resilience Program for Africa Based Civil Society
Organizations

Resilience Technologies is organizing a Digital Security Resilience
Program for Africa-based Civil Society Organizations. This program
will help participating organizations build resilient digital security
systems against digital threats and attacks through a personalized and
immersive 6-week program. Participating organizations will receive
tailored security consultation, personalized resilience plan, security
assessment and training amongst other benefits.

https://resiliencetech.org/survey/


4. Gulf Centre for Human Rights Launches New Emergency Resources Hub

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) is pleased to announce the
launch of GCHR’s newly-designed website with an Emergency Resource
Hub. The new website is fully searchable and English and Arabic
content is linked. Human Rights Defenders at risk can contact GCHR for
help, or browse the Resource Hub where they can find links to
resources related to advocacy, safety, health and wellness, funding
and emergency grants, fellowships, and many specialized resources
catering to women human rights defenders.
https://www.gc4hr.org/gchr-launches-new-emergency-resources-hub-with-redesigned-website/


5. Digital News Report 2023

This year's report reveals new insights about digital news consumption
based on a YouGov survey of over 93,000 online news consumers in 46
markets covering half of the world's population. The report documents
how video-based content, distributed via networks such as TikTok,
Instagram and YouTube are becoming more important for news, especially
in parts of the Global South, while legacy platforms such as Facebook
are losing influence.
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2023

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### Digital Rights Resources ###

1. Impact of E-Marketing Gender Policies on Shaping Gender Expressions
on the Internet

Gender policies for e-marketing are an extension of the policies of
the marketing industry called gender-based marketing intended to build
marketing strategies and policies on two foundations.

https://masaar.net/en/impact-of-e-marketing-gender-policies-on-shaping-gender-expressions-on-the-internet/

2. A Procedural Guide to Palestinian Personal Data Protection Online
This reference was created to guide individuals, institutions, and the
private sector in the State of Palestine to better protect the right
to privacy in dealing with digital data based on Palestinian
legislation and International Human Rights Law. Furthermore, it taps
into the GDPR, to provide the best practices at this forefront.

https://ifex.org/a-procedural-guide-to-palestinian-personal-data-protection-online/


3. Accelerating Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals
After a participatory process with Association for Progressive
Communication (APC) member organizations, APC and the Latin American
Institute of Terraforming wrote a joint input for the new UN digital
governance process: the Global Digital Compact (GDC) where they
highlight the socio-environmental impacts of digitization.

https://terraforminglatam.net/accelerating-progress-on-the-sustainable-development-goals


4. What is Secure? An Analysis of Popular Messaging Apps

>From September 2022 through May 2023, Tech Policy analyzed popular
messaging apps–including Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram, Messages by
Google, Apple Messages and Meta’s Messenger–across a range of
dimensions, including technical security, user experience, how the
apps engage with users and developers, and their policies, terms and
conditions. They sought to understand how people form mental models of
their own digital security and corresponding threats. In addition, the
ways in which the technical and design decisions that the developers
of apps make can leave users vulnerable, and potential adjustments and
solutions.

https://techpolicy.press/what-is-secure-an-analysis-of-popular-messaging-apps/


5. Primer on Wellness Capitalism: Employee Health, the Benefits
Maze, and Worker Control
Employee health and wellness benefits in the United States have surged
in popularity over the past half-century, with proponents arguing that
when employers offer wellness benefits, everyone wins — workers are
healthier and more productive, and employers ultimately save money.
However, this primer stated that there are real problems with this
model: “We need to question not only the value of increasingly
invasive data collection in the name of wellness, but the promises of
wellness capitalism writ large”, the authors wrote.
https://datasociety.net/library/wellness-capitalism-employee-health-the-benefits-maze-and-worker-control/
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### Digital Rights in the Wider World ###


1. World Bank/Jordan: Poverty Target Algorithms Harm Rights
An automated cash transfer program in Jordan developed with
significant financing from the World Bank is undermined by errors,
discriminatory policies, and stereotypes about poverty. Many people in
Jordan are not getting financial support because their hardships fall
outside an algorithm’s faulty model of poverty.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/06/13/world-bank/jordan-poverty-targeting-algorithms-harm-rights


2. Grindr’s Ex-Privacy Chief Accused Top Executives of Shrugging Off
System Bugs that Retained ‘Billions’ of User Photos

The former head of privacy at LGBTQ+ dating and social networking app
Grindr has accused the company of callously ignoring the app's storage
and sharing of user data, including intimate photos and HIV status.

https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-grindr-privacy-chief-company-shared-user-data-billions-nudes-2023-6?r=US&IR=T


3. Phishing Attacks Targeting Myanmar & Thai Activists

Recently, several human rights defenders and digital rights activists
from Thailand and Myanmar have been targeted by phishing attacks
through Telegram. Some of those targeted by phishing attempts have had
their accounts hacked and their digital security compromised.

https://engagemedia.org/2023/phishing-myanmar-thailand-activists/

4. Internet Shutdowns in Africa - A Recurring Threat to Digital Rights

Internet shutdowns are claimed to be a normal action by African
authorities to impose authority or limit free speech (many see it as a
truncation of democracy). Internet shutdowns are growing in prominence
as a political tool in Africa, with several African countries blocking
internet access during upheavals, particularly protests or large-scale
disturbances.

https://techbuild.africa/internet-shutdowns-africa-threat-digital-rights/
5. Twitter is Being Evicted from its Boulder Office Over Unpaid Rent
Twitter owes three months’ rent to its Boulder landlord, and a judge
has signed off on evicting the tech giant from its office there, court
documents show.

https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/14/twitter-is-being-evicted-from-its-boulder-office-over-unpaid-rent/

6. Ex-Twitter CEO accuses that India, Nigeria and Turkey threatened
with shutdown the platform
India, Nigeria and Turkey had threatened to shut Twitter down unless
it complied with orders to restrict accounts, co-founder Jack Dorsey
has alleged.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/13/india-threatened-to-shut-down-twitter-founder-says


7. Spyware: MEPs Call for Full Investigations and Safeguards to Prevent Abuse

In a resolution adopted last week, the European Parliament outlined
the reforms necessary to curb spyware abuse. Based on a year-long
investigation into the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance
spyware, MEPs argue that the illicit use of spyware has put “democracy
itself at stake” and call for credible investigations, legislative
changes and better enforcement of existing rules to tackle abuse.

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20230609IPR96217/spyware-meps-call-for-full-investigations-and-safeguards-to-prevent-abuse

Although dangerous AI surveillance is banned, this still does not
apply for migrant people at the borders.

https://www.accessnow.org/press-release/historic-vote-in-the-european-parliament-dangerous-ai-surveillance-banned-but-not-for-migrant-people-at-the-borders/


8. We are all AI’s Free Data Workers

The secret to making AI chatbots sound smart and spew less toxic
nonsense is to use a technique called reinforcement learning from
human feedback, which uses input from people to improve the model’s
answers.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/06/13/1074560/we-are-all-ais-free-data-workers/

_________________________________________________

### 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

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

European Artificial Intelligence & Society Fund
Ecosystem Grants Programme
Deadline: July 31, 2023
https://europeanaifund.org/newspublications/our-ecosystem-grants-programme-is-now-open/

The CYRILLA Collaborative: Call For Proposals
Deadline: July 31, 2023
https://smex.org/the-cyrilla-collaborative-call-for-proposals/

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 ###

Asia Meetup
Team CommUNITY
6am EDT / 10am UTC
June 28, 2023
Online
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_28_2023,_Asia_Meetup

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
Cope with them 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

Virtual School on Internet Governance
September 4 - November 25, 2023
Online
https://www.virtualsig.org/2023/05/30/vsig-registration-now-open/

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

✎  Program Coordinator | OpenArchive
+  Remote
https://open-archive.org/jobs/program-coordinator

✎  Director of Programs | Mnemonic
+  Berlin, Germany
https://mnemonic.org/en/about/jobs/director-of-programs/

✎  Holistic (Digital, Physical, and Psychosocial) Security Consultancy
| Freedom House
+  Remote
https://phe.tbe.taleo.net/phe01/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=FREEHOUS&cws=1&rid=1374

✎  ICD Fellowship Program | Iran Cyber Dialogue (ASL19)
+  Remote
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-7Ua6a0MrGbTegrcFwtbbnoBF1O2XGYT4tE65Qk3PS4/edit?usp=sharing

✎  Director of External Communications | Tides
+  Remote in USA
https://cultivateteam.hire.trakstar.com/jobs/fk0xtvs/

✎  Social Media Manager | Tides
+  Remote in USA
https://cultivateteam.hire.trakstar.com/jobs/fk0x7eb

✎  Digital Director | Tides
+  Remote in USA
https://cultivateteam.hire.trakstar.com/jobs/fk0x7ek

✎  Project Assistant – Civic Freedoms & HRDs | Business & Human Rights
Resource Centre
+  Remote
https://bhrrc.bamboohr.com/careers/53?source=aWQ9MTk%3D

✎  Head of U.S. | Open Contracting Partnership
+  Remote in USA
https://open-contracting-partnership.breezy.hr/p/8ca11dbd2b40

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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### 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
Organizers of the Global Gathering
PGP: 2E1D CC33 A362 0BD6 236E  540A F60A 89AD 6FF9 7A2F

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