From team at digitalrights.community Mon Aug 3 17:07:56 2026 From: team at digitalrights.community (Team CommUNITY) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2026 11:07:56 -0400 Subject: Digital Rights Weekly | July 27 to July 31 Message-ID: Hello Digital Rights Defenders! Here is your weekly update on digital rights around the world for the week of July 27 to July 31 As a reminder, you can submit your news for the newsletter here: https://www.digitalrights.community/weekly-newsletter ___________________ What is in this issue: TCU Community News NEW Job Opportunities Digital Rights in the Wider World Community Resources Events Calendar Grants, Fellowships, & Awards __________________________________________ ### TCU ### __________________________________________ Please note that the Digital Rights Newsletter and Digital Rights Socials will be on pause starting the week of August 3. The newsletter will resume the week of September 15, and the Socials will resume in October. We will continue updating the job board with openings received. As always, you can submit yours here: https://www.digitalrights.community/job-board-form __________________________________________ ### Community News ### __________________________________________ 1. NEW Report: Italy Blocks Reproductive Health Websites A new report documents the blocking of the reproductive health websites Women on Web (WoW) and Women Help Women (WHW) in Italy. The analysis of OONI data collected between November 2025 and June 2026 indicates that at least 6 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) began blocking access to both domains in mid-February 2026 through DNS tampering. The new OONI report, ?Abortion Access Denied: Investigating the Global Censorship of Women on Web.? was done in collaboration with WoW, a feminist nonprofit that facilitates access to abortion information and care. In the past, OONI collaborated with WoW on a 2019 report documenting the blocking of WoW in several countries, and was the first of its kind, as no other digital abortion provider had been known to face as many government-ordered blockages. https://ooni.org/post/2026-italy-blocks-wow-and-whw/ 2 Call for Applications: Information Controls Research Program OTF is accepting applications for their Information Controls Research program which supports applied research into how authoritarian governments in the most repressive information control environments are restricting the free flow of information, cutting access to the open internet, and implementing censorship mechanisms; and the ways in which these threats to internet freedom may be countered. Deadline is September 7. https://www.opentech.fund/research-2/icrp/ 3. Authoritarian Innovation: How China Is Building Control into Generative AI Systems A new report by Resilience Innovation Lab (RIL) and Strategic China Policy Group (SCPG), draws on official sources and technical standards to examine how China is embedding information control into large language models through its content security framework, standards, and model governance, impacting private sector?s behavior as well as China?s LLM models spreading abroad. https://resilienceinnovationlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Authoritarian_Innovation_2026.pdf 4. Msichana Festival Season Two 2026 Tanzania Women Changes Organization (TAWCO) is launching Msichana Festival Season Two 2026, which will take place September 1 to November 25 in Tanzania. The theme of the festival, designed as a girls' empowerment initiative, is ?You are stronger than you think!? Among the areas it will address is Gender-Based Violence (GBV). Activities will take place weekly, ranging from community dialogues to digital advocacy. https://www.instagram.com/tanzania_woman_changes/ 5. ERRC Legal Complaint Exposes Digital Discrimination Against Roma & Balkan Egyptians in Albania The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) has filed a legal complaint arguing Albania's increasingly digital-only public administration system creates systemic obstacles for Romani and Balkan Egyptian people from effectively exercising their digital and personal data protection rights. The complaint is lodged with Albania's Commissioner for the Right to Information and Personal Data Protection. https://www.errc.org/press-releases/errc-legal-complaint-exposes-digital-discrimination-against-roma-and-balkan-egyptians-in-albania 6. New Report: What is a Database? A Technical Guide to the Personal and Institutional Considerations of Government Data Consolidation A new report by the Center for Democracy and Technology shares that while efforts to improve data-sharing between government bodies have been tied to benefits such as reducing administrative burdens on individuals and preventing fraud, governments should evaluate when the practice is more harmful than good. The report argues that data consolidation - the mingling and combining data from multiple different sources to allow it to be analyzed or viewed as a whole ? is risky regardless of the purpose. https://statescoop.com/government-data-consolidation-risks-privacy-civil-rights/ 7. Australian Petition: Right to Refuse AI Scribes in Healthcare Clinics are installing AI scribes in the Australian health system, and this comes with significant risk to patient privacy, the quality of healthcare they receive, and to doctors? legal liability. Digital Rights Watch has launched a petition to join their campaign to get regulators and legislators to step-up and provide Australians with a legally-enshrined right to refuse AI systems without facing repercussions to their health. https://digitalrightswatch.org.au/campaigns/right-to-refuse/ _________________________________________ ### NEW Job Opportunities ### __________________________________________ These are new jobs we have received in the past week. You can access these and other jobs by visiting our job board: https://www.digitalrights.community/job-board +Fundraising Manager, Open Home Foundation +US +Digital Designer, ASL19 +Remote / Toronto GTA +Senior Systems & Reliability Engineer (VPN), Proton VPN +Barcelona, Spain; Geneva, Switzerland + CyberSecurity Technologist, SMEX - Beirut + Director, Open State Foundation - Amsterdam ______________________________________ ### Digital Rights in the Wider World ### ______________________________________ 1. Russia Charges Telegram Founder Pavel Durov With Terrorism and Puts Him on International Watchlist Russian officials have charged Pavel Durov, the founder and chief executive of the messaging app Telegram, with aiding terrorism. Among the many accusations, Durov is being charged with allowing Ukraine intelligence to recruit Russians for terrorist activities. Durov said earlier this year that Russian officials had opened a criminal investigation against him and he accused them of fabricating pretexts to restrict access to Telegram and ?suppress the right to privacy and free speech.? If brought to trial and convicted, he could face life in prison. The website says the company is based in Dubai and that Durov, who holds dual citizenship from France and the United Arab Emirates, lives there too. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/29/russia-accuses-telegram-founder-of-aiding-terrorism-pavel-durov 2. India's Gen Z Protesters Adapt to Internet Shutdown When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government cut mobile internet services at the site of youth-led protests in New Delhi, students found new ways to stay in touch. Thousands of young people have been protesting demanding changes to the education system after a series of irregularities to life-changing exams, including leaks of some papers. Some students simply switched to Bitchat -- a peer-to-peer messaging system that relies on Bluetooth to link people who are nearby into an ad-hoc network without using the internet. https://citizen.digital/article/indias-gen-z-protesters-adapt-to-internet-shutdown-n387069 3. Why the EU's 'Chat Control' Regulation is Sparking a Massive Digital Rights Battle EU governments have extended a controversial interim "chat control" regime until April 2028, intensifying a fierce debate between child safety advocates and digital privacy defenders. The measure, allows tech platforms to voluntarily scan user communications for child sexual abuse material. The temporary carve-out specifically excludes end-to-end encrypted services like Signal and WhatsApp, but sets the stage for a broader, potentially mandatory legislative framework known as Chat Control 2.0. The policy debate highlights a global tension between law enforcement capabilities and foundational privacy rights. The outcome of this legislative battle in Brussels will likely dictate the architectural future of internet messaging worldwide, serving as a template for regulators from Washington to Nairobi. https://streamlinefeed.co.ke/news/eu-chat-control-regulation-digital-rights-battle 4. The US Is Spending $1 Billion on 'Autonomous' Border Surveillance Towers The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to nearly triple the number of surveillance towers along U.S. borders over the next decade, according to a federal audit. An annual Government Accountability Office (GAO) assessment released this month on the DHS' acquisition oversight and risk management reported that the DHS plans to increase its "Integrated Surveillance Towers Program" from the 830 current towers to 2,300 by the year 2034. https://reason.com/2026/07/30/homeland-security-is-spending-1-billion-on-autonomous-border-surveillance-towers/ Additionally, police departments across the country are lining up to launch drone-as-first-responder (DFR) programs, and hundreds have cleared a necessary hurdle toward making deployment a reality, expanding aerial surveillance and data collection even in areas patrol officers typically can't reach. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/07/hundreds-drone-first-responder-programs-could-soon-be-launched-across-country ______________________________________ ### Community Resources ### ______________________________________ 1. The Hacker Who Humiliated Spyware Makers and Was Never Caught Several mysterious hackers have captured the public?s imagination, but none quite like Phineas Fisher?the most prolific and public hacker who hacked the controversial spyware makers FinFisher and Hacking Team. https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/25/the-hacker-who-humiliated-spyware-makers-and-was-never-caught/ 2. How Cyberattacks Became a Censorship Tool The internet is a haven for journalism in countries where press freedom is endangered. Exiled outlets report from abroad, beyond the reach of domestic regulators and press laws. But no space is truly safe: in recent years autocracies have innovated to promote their agendas online, exploit social media algorithms, and block critical media. Cyberattacks are increasingly a weapon of choice for authoritarian governments targeting digital media. This year alone, at least seven exiled Belarusian media sites have been hit by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Staff at the targeted sites say the increasingly frequent attacks appear to be an extension of transnational repression linked to their coverage of political issues. In Serbia, a coalition of media freedom organizations recently warned that DDoS attacks on news websites have emerged as a new form of censorship, alongside coordinated bot attacks and online smear campaigns https://www.techpolicy.press/how-cyberattacks-became-a-censorship-tool/ 3. AI Is Hyper-Scaling Digital Inequality Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming part of everyday infrastructure. Yet, each new wave of ?transformative? technology lands on a landscape already stratified by connectivity, skills, and institutional capacity. The current AI wave is no exception. If anything, it amplifies those underlying fractures. In addition, the AI ecosystem is one where a small number of states and firms host the computational engines that power globally deployed systems. https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-digital-divide _____________________________________ ### Events Calendar ### ______________________________________ Did you know you could submit your events for inclusion in our newsletter? It takes a few minutes to submit: https://www.digitalrights.community/weekly-newsletter Additionally, we maintain a calendar of events in our wiki: https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=Calendar_of_Events Global Gathering September 4 to 6, 2026 Portugal https://www.digitalrights.community/blog/applications/global-gathering-2026-applications-open RightsCon September 22 https://www.rightscon.org/rc26-continues/ Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica) September 28 to October 1 Mauritius https://internetfreedom.africa Trust and Safety Research Conference 2026 October 1?2, 2026 Currently accepting proposals here: https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/trust-and-safety-research-conference #PrivacyCamp26: Call for Sessions October 13, 2026 https://edri.org/our-work/privacycamp26-call-for-sessions/ Circuit Breaker 26 October 17-18 New York https://techworkerscoalition.org/circuit-breakers/ Digital Commons:Infrastructures, Design, and the Ethics of Autonomy October 8 to 10 Athens, Greece www.digicommons.org __________________________________________ ### Grants, Fellowships, & Awards ### __________________________________________ Cross-Border Collaborative Investigations on the Impact of AI July 22 https://www.freepressunlimited.org/en/current/grants-cross-border-collaborative-investigations-impact-ai Digital Rights Exchange Program August 2 https://www.forus-international.org/en/pdf/final-call-for-applications-cade-digital-rights-exchange-programme Creative Internet Freedom Programs Working in Iran July 28. https://dti.grantplatform.com/ __________________________________________ ### Know someone that wants to subscribe to our newsletter? ### They can sign up here: https://www.digitalrights.community/weekly-newsletter ### 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 <3 -- Team CommUNITY at ARTICLE 19 www.digitalrights.community PGP: 2E1D CC33 A362 0BD6 236E 540A F60A 89AD 6FF9 7A2F You can now submit your news for the Digital Rights weekly directly. To post your job opportunities, submit your opportunities to our Job Board. Keep up with the latest news and opportunities on our other platforms: TCU BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/teamcommunity.bsky.social TCU LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/teamcommunity TCU Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/digitalrightscommunity