Digital Rights Weekly | July 27 to July 31

Mon Aug 3 17:07:56 CEST 2026

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
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What is in this issue:

TCU
Community News
NEW Job Opportunities
Digital Rights in the Wider World
Community Resources
Events Calendar
Grants, Fellowships, & Awards

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### TCU ###
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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

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### Community News ###
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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/

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### NEW Job Opportunities ###
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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

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

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### Community Resources ###
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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

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### Events Calendar ###
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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
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### Grants, Fellowships, & Awards ###
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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/

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