Digital Rights Weekly | June 2 - 6

Thu Jun 5 15:55:04 CEST 2025

Hello Digital Rights Defenders!

Here is your weekly update on digital rights around the world for the week of June 2 - 6. As a reminder, you can submit your news for the newsletter here:
https://www.digitalrights.community/weekly-newsletter

What is in this issue:

Team CommUNITY
Community News
NEW Job Opportunities
Community Resources
Digital Rights in the Wider World
Statements from Our Community
Events Calendar
Grants, Fellowships, & Awards

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### Team CommUNITY (TCU News) ###
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1. Three Weeks Left Until the Final Deadline – Apply to the 2025 Global Gathering by June 20!

We have extended the Call for Applications for the 2025 Global Gathering (GG) to June 20. Join us in Estoril, Portugal, from September 8–10 for three days of networking and collaboration on the most urgent technology-related challenges affecting human rights, civil society, and journalists at local, regional, and global levels. Apply now:

https://www.digitalrights.community/blog/2025-global-gathering-application

2. Upcoming Digital Rights Town Halls and Community Knowledge Shares:

June 12 | Digitized Divides: Revealing The Trade-offs of a Tech-dependent World
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_12_2025_GM

June 17 | Outline + Psiphon Integration: A New Era in Circumvention Tech
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/outline_psiphon_meetup_june_17

Junio 18 | Tecnologías para la Autonomía: Construyendo Redes Comunitarias en América Latina (Digital Rights LATAM Meetup)
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/cks_latam_junio_2025

June 19 | 2025 Global Gathering Ask Me Anything (AMA)
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_19_2025_GM

June 25 | Digital Iran Reloaded: Iranian Gamers vs. Information Controls (Digital Rights MENA Meetup)
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/lessons_from_mena_june_2025

June 26 | The Social Networking Glitter Meetup
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_26_2025_GM

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### Community News ###
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1. Outline + Psiphon Integration: A New Era in Circumvention Tech (June 17)

Join us on June 17 @ 1:30pm UTC and hear from Outline and Psiphon regarding their recent integration - Outline SDK is now equipped with Psiphon fall back capabilities, and Psiphon now uses Outline's shadowsocks strategy in their app. Learn how the integration of both technologies provides fail-safe redundancies to empower service providers to keep users better connected.

https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/outline_psiphon_meetup_june_17

2. New York Times's News Safety Fellow

The New York Times is taking applications for a one-year paid News Safety Fellow on the Newsroom Safety team. The Fellow functions as an integral part of the interdisciplinary team of experts who help keep our journalists safe while out on assignment and while working online.

https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/thenewyorktimes/jobs/4559864005

3. Fellowship on AI for Human Reasoning

Future of Life Foundation (FLF)’s incubator fellowship on AI for human reasoning will help talented researchers and builders start working on AI tools for coordination and epistemics. FLF will provide fellows with a $25k–$50k stipend, the opportunity to work 12 weeks, from July 14 - October 3, in a shared office in the SF Bay Area or remotely, and other support. Deadline to apply: June 9, 2025.

https://www.flf.org/fellowship

4. SA Tech Challenge 2025, Innovation Bridge

The SA Tech Challenge is now open for applications to empower micro, small and medium technology enterprises from South Africa by providing a platform to showcase innovative solutions. Awards range R250,000 – R1 million for 6 winners. All category winners and top four finalists will be hosted at the G20 Digital Innovation Alliance (G20–DIA) summit which will be held in Cape Town. Deadline to apply: June 30, 2025.

https://innovationbridge.info/ibportal/g20/tech-challenge

5. The International Foundation 2025 Grant Program

US-based organizations that operate programs that serve communities in low- and middle-income countries are invited to apply. Eligible organizations must have demonstrated experience in delivering measurable, impactful programs in at least one of the following focus areas: Agriculture, Education, Environment, Health. Geographies: ‍Latin American & The Caribbean, Africa, South & Southeast Asia & Pacific. The grants up to USD $100,000. Deadline to apply: June 16, 2025.

https://www.intlfoundation.org/page/eligibility

6. Bread&Net 2025: Call for Proposals

This year’s call for Bread&Net proposals is now open! Contribute to a workshop, give a talk or a demo, or join forces in a roundtable on any topic where technology and social justice meet. Choose among 15 tracks/themes including Surveillance and Transnational Repression, AI and Emerging Tech, and Funding Uncertain Futures. Learn from fellow speakers as they address digital rights in West Asia and North Africa.

https://breadandnet.secure-platform.com/site/

7. Registration for DRAPAC25 Is Now Open – Review the Important Upcoming Deadlines!

Join DRAPAC annual flagship event, bringing together passionate advocates working to advance human rights in the digital age across Asia and the Pacific. You can also submit your session ideas and apply for a fellowship by June 20. Interested in volunteering? Apply by July 31 for a chance to gain invaluable experience in international event organizing and contribute directly to the digital rights community.

https://drap.ac/25/

8. Join the RESOCIAL Workshop: Vulnerability on Social Media

The RESOCIAL Project is hosting a workshop on "Vulnerability on Social Media" on June 20th or July 4th at Leiden University in the Netherlands. The session will explore the experiences of individuals facing vulnerability online and work toward design and policy solutions. They’re looking for experts and digital rights defenders in Europe who can tell them about a variety of voices of populations in situations of vulnerability. If you, or your organisation, are a good fit for their workshop, please send them a message to receive the formal invitation!

https://resocialproject.nl/workshop-vulnerability-on-social-media-call-for-experts/

9. By Default, Signal Doesn't Recall

Signal Desktop now includes support for a new “Screen Security” setting that is designed to help prevent your own computer from capturing screenshots of your Signal chats on Windows. This setting is automatically enabled by default in Signal Desktop on Windows 11.

https://signal.org/blog/signal-doesnt-recall/

10. Coalition Building Workshop for a European Day of Action Against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation

Greenpeace International, the Movement Hub, Coalition against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) and the wider movement for climate and social justice invite you to a coalition building workshop for a European day of action against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) on 10 June 17:00-19:00 (CEST). They want your ideas for how this Day of Action can be organised in your city, amplified by each other, and connected across borders and movements. Register by signing up on their website and please share this invite in your networks:

https://www.themovementhub.org/events/european-day-of-action-against-slapps/

11. Reports from Our Community:

a) WireWatch: Measuring the Security of Proprietary Network Encryption in the Global Android Ecosystem

This paper by the Citizen Lab examines the network security of Android apps. The authors found that a large portion of popular Chinese apps use broken proprietary network protocols instead of TLS.

https://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings-article/sp/2025/223600d916/26hiVQjbZqE

b) Digital Democracy in a Divided Global Landscape

A global shift is taking place. Leaders recognize that tech innovation equals power, and they are marshaling their resources accordingly. Countries are working to create technological advantages for themselves at the expense of digital cooperation across borders.

https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/05/digital-democracy-in-a-divided-global-landscape?lang=en

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### NEW Job Opportunities  ###
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✎ Executive Director | People Vs BigTech
+ Remote in UK or Europe
https://peoplevsbig.tech/job-advertisement-people-vs-bigtech-executive-director/

✎ Director of Digital and Information Security | Open Briefing
+ Remote
https://openbriefing.org/blog/job-director-of-digital-and-information-security/

✎ Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) - Email | The Calyx Institute
+ Remote in USA
http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/calyxinstitute/jobs/4740692007

✎ Tech Advocacy Officer | Privacy International
+ London, UK
http://privacyinternational.org/opportunities/5594/tech-advocacy-officer

✎ Engineering Manager, SecureDrop | Freedom of the Press Foundation
+ Remote in USA
http://freedom.press/careers/job/?gh_jid=4571168005

✎ Freelance Graphic Designer | Gisa Group
+ Remote (East Africa or MENA Preferred)
http://www.gisa.media/jobs

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### Community Resources  ###
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1. How Surveillance Pricing Leaves People with Disabilities At Risk

As understanding of surveillance pricing becomes more widespread, its likely negative effects are also becoming increasingly clear, including invasions of privacy, increased prices, and unfair competition by the dominant companies that can amass and process the necessary volume of data to engage in these practices. These effects may disproportionately impact marginalized groups, including people with disabilities.

https://www.techpolicy.press/priced-out-how-surveillance-pricing-leaves-people-with-disabilities-at-risk/

2. Violencia Vicaria Digital en Chile

La más reciente investigación de ONG Amaranta explora la violencia vicaria digital: una forma silenciosa —pero cada vez más común— de agresión que afecta a mujeres madres, especialmente en contextos de separación o disputas judiciales.

https://amarantas.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/informe-violencia-vicaria-digital-2.pdf

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### Digital Rights in the Wider World ###
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1. Egypt Illegally Detaining Alaa Abd el-Fattah, UN Investigators Find

An independent UN panel has confirmed after an 18-month investigation that the British-Egyptian human rights activist and software developer Alaa Abd el-Fattah is being illegally detained by the Egyptian government. The UN group gave a withering verdict on the standards of justice in Egypt, including the suppression of free speech.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/28/egypt-illegally-detaining-alaa-abd-el-fattah-un-investigators-find

2. The US Government Appears to be Building an Unprecedented Spy Machine That Could Track Citizens

A new report shines light on contracts with tech company Palantir, which could create data profiles of Americans to surveil and harass them.

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/trump-palantir-surveillance-americans-rcna210017

3. The Board Overturns Meta in Case About Content Targeting a Human Rights Defender in Peru

The Oversight Board overturned Meta’s decision to keep up a post targeting a Peruvian human rights defender, calling it a “veiled threat” under the Violence and Incitement policy. The post, likely altered with AI, was shared by a member of La Resistencia, a group known for targeting activists and spreading disinformation. The Board warned of underenforcement of such threats and recommended that Meta clarify its policy on coded violence and conduct annual reviews.

https://www.oversightboard.com/decision/FB-28M1TLXL/

4. New York Times Partners With Amazon for First AI Licensing Deal

The New York Times is allowing Amazon to use its editorial content for artificial intelligence products such as Alexa, marking the publisher's first licensing deal tied to generative AI.
The multi-year agreement lets Amazon use news articles from The Times and content from NYT Cooking and sports website The Athletic, the publisher said last week, without disclosing the financial terms of the deal.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/new-york-times-amazon-sign-ai-licensing-deal-2025-05-29/

5. OpenAI's 'Smartest' AI Model Was Explicitly Told to Shut Down — And It Refused

An artificial intelligence safety firm has found that OpenAI's o3 and o4-mini models sometimes refuse to shut down, and will sabotage computer scripts in order to keep working on tasks.

https://www.livescience.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openais-smartest-ai-model-was-explicitly-told-to-shut-down-and-it-refused

6. Africanising Chinese Surveillance Technology

While Chinese loans and subsidies make Chinese technology attractive for many budget-constrained African nations, these states have often failed to introduce regulatory frameworks that adequately safeguard privacy and data protection. This enables surveillance technologies to be misused. There is a subsequent need for stronger data protection laws, ratification of African Union cybersecurity conventions and investment in technical capacity to address emerging digital governance challenges.

https://eastasiaforum.org/2025/05/30/africanising-chinese-surveillance-technology/

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### Statements from Our Community ###
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1. Jordan: Lift Ban on News Sites and Protect the Right to Freedom of Expression

Jordan recently blocked at least 12 independent news sites, but the country’s media commission failed to give a solid legal reason for ordering Internet Service Providers to block access. The timing is suspicious, given recent investigative reports alleging that official institutions in Jordan profited from the coordination of humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza.

https://www.article19.org/resources/jordan-lift-ban-on-news-sites-protect-free-expression/

2. Open Letter: Reopening the GDPR is a Threat to Rights, Accountability, and the Future of EU Digital Policy

121 civil society organisations, academics, companies and other experts are concerned about the proposals to reopen the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). They are calling on the European Commission to protect people’s rights and dignity in a data-driven world by reaffirming the GDPR as the cornerstone of EU’s digital law.

https://edri.org/our-work/open-letter-reopening-the-gdpr-is-a-threat-to-rights-accountability-and-the-future-of-eu-digital-policy/

3. WSIS+20 Five-Point Plan Follow-up: Eight Practical Recommendations

This document builds on the Five-Point Plan –endorsed by 114 organisations and 57 individual experts– to offer practical recommendations to ensure transparency, inclusivity, and meaningful stakeholder engagement in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 review process.

https://www.derechosdigitales.org/25361/wsis20-five-point-plan-follow-up-eight-practical-recommendations/

4. Meta: Shut Down Your Invasive AI Discover Feed. Now.

Meta recently launched an AI assistant with a social “Discover Feed” — a public stream of conversations users had with the AI. The result? Incredibly sensitive, deeply personal messages are ending up online, tied to real people’s profiles. Meta says users consented to share, but some users say they had no idea their AI conversations could be made public. The Mozilla community is calling on Meta to shut down the Discover feed until protections are in place.

https://www.mozillafoundation.org/en/campaigns/meta-shut-down-your-invasive-ai-discover-feed-now/

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### Events Calendar ###
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South-to-South AI Accountability CoLab
The Pulitzer Center
June - July, 2025
https://pulitzercenter.org/south-south-ai-accountability-colabs-peer-learning-circle

How does a Resilient Civil Society Defend Democracy Against Information Operations of Authoritarian Regimes
Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom - Global Innovation Hub
Brussels
June 12, 2025
9am GMT+2
https://www.freiheit.org/taiwan/register-our-panel-june-12-how-does-resilient-civil-society-defend-democracy-against

Digitized Divides: Revealing The Trade-offs of a Tech-dependent World (Glitter Meetup)
Team CommUNITY
June 12, 2025
9am EDT /1pm UTC
Online
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_12_2025_GM

Outline + Psiphon Integration: A New Era in Circumvention Tech (CKS)
Team CommUNITY, Outline, and Psiphon
June 17, 2025
9:30am EDT / 1:30pm UTC
Online
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/outline_psiphon_meetup_june_17

Tecnologías para la Autonomía: Construyendo Redes Comunitarias en América Latina (Digital Rights LATAM Meetup)
Team CommUNITY
June 18, 2025
5:30pm EDT / 9:30pm UTC
Online
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/cks_latam_junio_2025

2025 Global Gathering Ask Me Anything (AMA) (Glitter Meetup)
Team CommUNITY
June 19, 2025
9am EDT /1pm UTC
Online
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_19_2025_GM

Digital Iran Reloaded: Iranian Gamers vs. Information Controls (Digital Rights MENA Meetup)
Team CommUNITY
June 25, 2025
9am EDT / 1pm UTC
Online
https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/lessons_from_mena_june_2025

The Social Networking Glitter Meetup
Team CommUNITY
June 26, 2025
9am EDT /1pm UTC
Online
https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=June_26_2025_GM

2025 Oxford Media Policy Summer Institute
Jesus College, Oxford
July 28 - August 8, 2025
https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/oxford-media-policy-summer-institute

HOPE_16
August 15 - 17, 2025
St. John's University in Queens, New York City, and online
https://hope.net/

The Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly (DRAPAC)
August 26 - 27, 2025
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
https://drapac.net/25/

Online Course: Threat Sharing and Digital Forensics from a Feminist and Human Rights Perspective
Digital Defenders Partnership
September - December, 2025
https://www.digitaldefenders.org/online-course-threat-sharing-and-digital-forensics-from-a-feminist-and-human-rights-perspective/

Global Gathering 2025
Team CommUNITY
September 8 - 10, 2025
Estoril, Portugal
https://www.digitalrights.community/blog/2025-global-gathering-application

MyData 2025 Conference
Helsinki
September 24 - 26, 2025
https://conference.mydata.org/2025

Hold Before You Send It
Digihub Africa 2025
October 8 - 9, 2025
Johannesburg, South Africa
https://www.digihubafrica.org/events/

SEEDIG Youth School 2025
October 10 - 11, 2025
Athens, Greece
https://seedig.net/youth-school/

Bread&Net
SMEX
October 29 - 31
Beirut, Lebanon
https://www.breadandnet.org/en/

Mozilla Festival 2025
November 7 - 9, 2025
In Barcelona, Spain
https://www.mozillafestival.org/en/

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

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### Grants, Fellowships, & Awards ###
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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

New York Times's News Safety Fellow
https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/thenewyorktimes/jobs/4559864005

Global Agrifood Innovation Challenge 2025
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Deadline: June 7, 2025
https://unfao.brightidea.com/GlobalAgriInnoChallenge2025

Fellowship on AI for Human Reasoning
Deadline: June 9, 2025
https://www.flf.org/fellowship

Spyware Accountability Initiative Call for Proposals
Deadline: June 13, 2025
https://stopspyware.fund/apply

DDP's Sustainable Protection Fund for East Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia
Deadline: June 13, 2025
https://www.digitaldefenders.org/sustainable-protection-fund-open-call-for-applications-from-eecca-2025/

Tech For Good Investment for Startups
Bethnal Green Ventures
Deadline: June 15, 2025
https://www.bethnalgreenventures.com/apply

The International Foundation 2025 Grant Program
Deadline: June 16, 2025
https://www.intlfoundation.org/page/eligibility

EU Action Grants: Detecting Influence Campaigns and Boosting Societal Resilience
Deadline: June 16, 2025
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/funding/detecting-influence-campaigns-and-boosting-societal-resilience

EU Action Grants: Boosting the Visibility of Fact-checking Content in Europe
Deadline: June 16, 2025
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/funding/boosting-visibility-fact-checking-content-europe

Digital Good Research Fund ‘Building the Digital Good’
Deadline: June 26, 2025
https://digitalgood.net/digital-good-research-fund-round-3-building-the-digital-good-call-for-applications/

SA Tech Challenge 2025, Innovation Bridge
Deadline: June 30, 2025
https://innovationbridge.info/ibportal/g20/tech-challenge

Grants for Investigative Stories
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN)
Deadline: June 30, 2025
https://birn.eu.com/news-and-events/birn-invites-journalists-to-apply-for-grants-for-investigative-stories/

Connecting the Unconnected Funding Program
Internet Society
Deadline 2nd window: from 15 July to 27 August, 2025
https://www.internetsociety.org/funding-areas/connecting-the-unconnected

Are you looking for grants, fellowships and funds open on a rolling basis? We curate a long list of opportunities on our wiki: https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Fundraising_Opportunities

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