Digital Rights Weekly | July 29 - August 2

[Team CommUNITY]

Hello Digital Rights Defenders!

Here is your weekly update on digital rights around the world for the
week of July 29 - August 2. As a reminder, you can submit your news
for the newsletter here:
https://www.digitalrights.community/weekly-newsletter

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### Team CommUNITY (TCU) ###

Digital Rights Weekly Town Halls Break In August - They Will Come Back
in September!

The Digital Rights Weekly Town Halls on Mattermost, also known as
Glitter Meetups, will have a break during August, and will resume in
September. We want to take the opportunity to thank all our featured
guests, who have made Glitter Meetups amazing, magical spaces for our
community!

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### Digital Rights in the Community ###

1. The Public Interest Technology Group Travel Fund

The Public Interest Technology Group (PITG) launched its Travel Fund
which aims to promote underrepresented voices in shaping the dialogue
in key Internet governance and standards bodies. Applications are
accepted on a rolling basis:

https://pitg.network/fund/


2. Calls Mount to Address Dangerous Flaws in Draft UN Surveillance Treaty

Calls from different corners are pushing to add critical human rights
protections to the proposed UN surveillance treaty. As written, the
treaty will jeopardize fundamental rights for people across the globe.
The proposed UN treaty is highly flawed and dangerous and must be
fixed. Check out the resources outlining why that is:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/07/calls-mount-principal-un-human-rights-official-business-and-tech-groups-address


3. Human Rights Watch Submission on Freedom of Opinion & Expression

Human Rights Watch (HRW) submitted their input to the United Nations
special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression.Their
submission centers issues concerning freedom of expression and armed
conflicts documented in their research on and related to the
Israel-Gaza hostilities since October 7, 2023, including suppression
of pro-Palestinian speech and peaceful protests, the safety of
journalists and press freedom in Gaza and Lebanon, and communications
blackouts and internet disruptions in Gaza.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/07/31/human-rights-watchs-submission-united-nations-special-rapporteur-freedom-opinion


4. Reports from Our Community

a) Tightening the Net: Iran’s New Phase of Digital Repression

This ARTICLE 19 report examines how the Iranian regime is
strengthening its hold over the internet through its Supreme Council
of Cyberspace (SCC), with ever-increasing powers and under a new
hardline leadership. While the election of the new president might
bring potential change in personnel for the body, the report outlines
that these repressive tactics will continue.

https://www.article19.org/resources/tightening-the-net-irans-new-phase-of-digital-repression/


b) Content Posted by Bot-like Accounts on X Gain Millions of Engagements

Global Witness released research on the spread of disinformation
online and the accounts driving the polarization. At the beginning of
July, Global Witness detected 10 bot-like accounts on X spreading
political messages around the UK election with a significant reach.

https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/investigation-reveals-content-posted-bot-accounts-x-has-been-seen-150-million-times-ahead-uk-elections/

A few weeks later, they also found a set of 45 bot-like accounts that
amplified partisan content before the election with even larger reach.

https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/no-ifs-many-bots-partisan-bot-accounts-continue-amplify-divisive-content-x-generating-over-4-billion-views-uk-general-election-was-called/


c) Saudi Arabia’s Digital Rights Hypocrisy

Check out this paper on Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, focusing
on its extensive digital rights abuses. It further explores specific
cases of digital rights violations, illustrating the Kingdom’s
pervasive surveillance and censorship infrastructure. The paper aims
to provide a comprehensive understanding of the implications of Saudi
Arabia hosting the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), highlighting the
inconsistencies and challenges in promoting digital rights in a
repressive environment.

https://www.ecdhr.org/saudi-arabias-digital-rights-hypocrisy/


d) Regulation or Repression? Government Influence on Political Content
Moderation in India & Thailand

This paper compares two contexts with different degrees of
illiberality: India and Thailand. Through desk research and interviews
with key stakeholders, it analyzes how the Indian and Thai governments
have used legal, economic, and political forms of coercive influence
to shape platforms’ moderation of political content.

https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/07/india-thailand-social-media-moderation?lang=en


e) Digital Rights in Bahrain Briefing Paper

This briefing paper looks at the dynamics surrounding digital rights
in Bahrain, emphasizing the country’s past, current policies, and
wider ramifications for both the advancement of digital activism and
human rights. The Bahraini government uses several measures, including
surveillance, internet censorship, and legal repression, to restrict
and control digital expression.

https://www.adhrb.org/2024/07/briefing-paper-digital-rights-in-bahrain/

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### Community Resources ###

Recomendaciones de Seguridad Durante la Cobertura de Procesos
Electorales (Español)

Si eres periodista y tienes la responsabilidad de cubrir eventos
electorales o cualquier otro como asambleas políticas, eventos de
campaña y protestas, ten en cuenta que existen múltiples riesgos y
amenazas físicas, digitales y emocionales a las que te puedes
enfrentar. En esta guía en español de Conexo podrás ver una lista de
medidas preventivas y recomendaciones para protegerte y mitigar esos
riesgos.

https://conexo.org/elecciones

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

1. Bangladesh Restores Mobile Internet After 11-Day Blackout to Quell Protests

Social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube,
however, remain restricted. The broadband internet connectivity was
restored, but a vast majority of internet users in Bangladesh rely on
mobile devices to connect with the world. The country’s security
officials killed more than 200 people in these protests.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/28/bangladesh-restores-mobile-internet-after-11-day-blackout-to-quell-protests

Check out this perspective on how Bangladesh fell into an information blackout.

https://www.techpolicy.press/how-bangladesh-fell-into-an-information-blackout/


2. Venezuela: Authorities & Internet Operators Severely Limited Access
to Information Ahead of Crucial Elections

Venezuela’s presidential elections on 28 July resulted in the official
declaration of Nicolás Maduro’s victory, but the opposition, numerous
international organizations, and certain regional governments
questioned the legitimacy of the results, calling for a thorough
review. Prior to the elections, the media landscape was heavily
controlled, with government oversight and self-censorship skewing
coverage. Local organization VE Sin Filtro reported that state-owned
CANTV and other private internet operators blocked key news portals
and NGO sites.

https://ifex.org/civil-society-under-strain-venezuelas-election-disputes-and-canadas-online-harms-act-debate/


3. Deadline for UK Digital Visas Still Leaves 4 Million at Risk of Losing Rights

The controversial rollout of digital visas in the UK for non-EU
migrants has been delayed, but without any change to the year-end
deadline. This leaves more than 4 million UK residents facing a race
against time to avoid effectively becoming undocumented migrants.
Having said people would be able to apply to access the new “eVisas”
from June, the Home Office is now advising that applications will open
“later in 2024”.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/27/cliff-edge-deadline-for-uk-digital-visas-still-leaves-4m-at-risk-of-losing-rights


4. Saboteurs Cut Internet Cables in Latest Disruption During Paris Olympics

Internet cables in France were cut in an act of sabotage, causing
disruption to internet services across the country. Multiple locations
around France were affected and have resulted in “localized
consequences” to fiber optic services and mobile internet
connectivity.

https://www.wired.com/story/saboteurs-cut-internet-cables-in-latest-disruption-during-paris-olympics/


5. AI Start-up Anthropic Accused of Data Scraping

Web publishers have accused the Artificial intelligence start-up
Anthropic of aggressively scraping data from websites to train its
systems, potentially breaching publishers’ terms of service in the
process.

https://www.ft.com/content/07611b74-3d69-4579-9089-f2fc2af61baa


6. Detroit Takes Important Step in Curbing the Harms of Face
Recognition Technology

The Detroit Police Department agreed to adopt strict limits on its
officers’ use of face recognition technology as part of a settlement
in a lawsuit brought by a victim of this faulty technology.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/07/detroit-takes-important-step-curbing-harms-face-recognition-technology


7. Olympics’ AI Security Stokes Backlash Over Mass Surveillance

The Paris Summer Olympics that began last week include among the most
public and controversial rollouts ever of algorithmic video
surveillance, an AI event-security technology that uses machine
learning to analyze video footage in real time to detect—and even
predict—threats and other anomalies.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/olympics-ai-security-stokes-backlash-over-mass-surveillance


8. US Senators Want to Prevent the Next Scarlett Johansson AI Voice Fiasco

In May, US actress Scarlett Johansson accused start-up OpenAI of
copying her voice to create an artificial intelligence system. OpenAI
said it “never intended” to mimic Johansson’s voice, and records show
that the company hired a different voice actress to generate the tool.
US senators are now working on legislation that would prohibit people
from making unauthorized AI replicas without the consent of whomever
they mimic.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/31/senators-want-prevent-next-scarlett-johansson-ai-voice-fiasco/


9. Social Media’s Untapped Potential in the Climate-Change Fight

Social-media platforms’ role as distributors places them as important
actors in the media environment when it comes to climate change; they
have a duty to avoid harming the public good and an opportunity to
actively support it. Platforms must actively promote credible
climate-change news for the sake of the public interest.

https://www.freepress.net/blog/social-medias-untapped-potential-climate-change-fight


10. The AI Keeps the Score

The governing body of international gymnastics has pushed for an
AI-assisted aid for judges. But what justifies the tremendous expense
for such a system? The World Gymnastics Championship held an answer,
and it might not have anything to do with gymnastics at all.

https://www.theverge.com/c/24182327/olympics-gymnastics-ai-judging-fujitsu-jss-fig

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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://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Fundraising_Opportunities

BOLT Grant Program
Deadline: August 6, 2024
https://www.isocfoundation.org/2024/07/announcing-the-2024-bolt-grant-program-empowering-innovation-for-global-internet-access/

Public Interest Technology Fund
Deadline: Rolling
https://pitg.network/fund/

Digital Rights Fund for WANA Region
Deadline: Rolling
SMEX
https://smex.org/digital-rights-fund/

FOSS United
Deadline: Rolling
https://fossunited.org/grants

Open Tech Fund
Deadline: Rolling
https://apply.opentech.fund

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 Feminist Activism
Deadline: Rolling Basis
https://urgentactionfund.org /

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

Apoyos de Respuesta Rápida
Fondo Acción Urgente
Deadline: Rolling
https://fondoaccionurgente.org.co/es/que-hacemos/apoyos-de-respuesta-rapida

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

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### Events Calendar ###

Escuela Virtual de Gobernanza de Internet (Español)
2 de agosto - 25 de septiembre, 2024
Fecha límite para postular: 28 de julio, 2024
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdK-10SQo99_xoTX_dAKe1kyw-wbSmVj5ol02SuHxi6YigH1Q/viewform

Digital Rights in the Asia-Pacific Assembly
EngageMedia
August 18 & 19, 2024
Taipei, Taiwan
Deadline to apply: June 15, 2024
https://engagemedia.org/2024/drapac24-taipei/

2024 Digital Rights Summer School
August 25 - 31, 2024
Perast, Montenegro
https://www.sharefoundation.info/en/apply-for-the-2024-digital-rights-summer-school/

FIFAfrica24
September 25-27, 2024
Dakar, Senegal
https://internetfreedom.africa/now-open-call-for-session-proposals-and-travel-support-applications/

4D European Conference
Fundacio Cat & XNet
October 9th, 2024
Barcelona, Spain
https://4d.cat/en/conference/

13th Edition of RightsCon
Access Now
February 2025
East Asia and online
Deadline to apply: June 2, 2024
https://www.rightscon.org/program/

Check out a list of our virtual events here:
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Calendar_of_Events

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### 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

✎ Full-stack developer | Open State Foundation
+ Amsterdam, Netherlands
https://openstate.eu/nl/2024/07/vacature-developer-medior-t-m-senior-met-passie-voor-transparantie/

✎ Threat Analyst | NGO-ISAC
+ Remote in USA
https://www.ngoisac.org/careers-threat-analyst

✎ Development Director | Hand in Hand
+ Remote
https://movementtalent.org/opportunity-board/

✎ IT Infrastructure and Development Specialist (Freelance) | Accelerate Change
+ Remote (USA)
https://bit.ly/46oVYrQ

✎ Technical Specialist - Digital Security (STTA) | Democracy International
+ Remote
https://recruitingbypaycor.com/career/JobIntroduction.action?clientId=8a78826757e082f20157e44efef80218&id=8a78859f90e6dc870190ea79bc336627

✎ Strategic Finance and Ops Associate: part-time (m/f/d) | Mastodon gGmbH
+ Remote
https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/mastodon/f38df483-da29-4bab-9f0c-5d1b11e7c1d0

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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get in touch at team at digitalrights.community. We are always looking
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(((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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