RightsCon 2020: Human Rights in the Digital Age

Internews staff members will be presenting from July 27-31 at RightsCon 2020, the world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age, which will be held online for the first time this year.

Censoring Without Getting Caught

Tuesday, July 28 | 3:15-4:15PM EDT
As internet shutdowns have increased worldwide, civil society’s focus has remained largely on the overt style of wholesale internet disconnection recently seen in Ethiopia and Myanmar. A panel titled, “Censoring without getting caught,” aims to bring attention to the increasingly used, but more insidious form of network interference, throttling, the intentional slowing of Internet service.
By decelerating speeds, both governments and corporations can halt Internet service to the point that it is unusable. Proving a government is intentionally throttling the internet is difficult due to technical challenges in detection and verification, which in turn makes advocacy more difficult.
Panel members:

  • Jon Camfield, Director of Global Technological Strategy at Internews
  • Laura Schwartz-Henderson, Senior Program Officer- Global Technology Programs at Internews
  • Experts from Latin America
  • Lai Yi Ohlsen, Project Director at mLab
  • Charlie Ngounou Founder/CEO of AfroLeadership;
  • Mishi Choudhry, Legal Director at the Software Freedom Law Center

Ensuring Users Have a Voice

Thursday, July 30 | 10:15AM – 11:15AM EDT
For several years, Internews has partnered with digital security trainers, design experts, and open source tool teams to improve the usability and accessibility of open source privacy and security tools. Valuable user feedback collected from across the globe has ensured that users have a voice in the design and development of the tools they rely on.
Ensuring users have a voice: collecting and integrating user feedback,” is a panel comprised of digital security trainers and designers who have experience collecting feedback from at-risk users as well as open source tool teams who have implemented usability and accessibility improvements based on user feedback. An accessibility expert will speak on how to prioritize accessibility without compromising security.
Panel members:

  • Ashley Fowler, Technical Program Officer – Global Technology Program at Internews
  • Nancy Reyes, Founder of Accessibility Lab
  • Mario F, Director of Conexo
  • Helen Nyinakiiza, Digital Security Trainer
  • Zaituni K, Executive Director of the Zaina Foundation
  • Carrie Winfrey, Founder + Design Lead at Okthanks.

What Happens between SAFETAG-based Audits in NGOs?

Friday, July 31, 2020 | 1:00PM – 2:00PM EEST
In organizational security, context security assessment by itself has a very limited use.

This panel – “What happens between SAFETAG-based audits in NGOs? Long term tech support” – with Internews partner Digital Security Lab Ukraine, will share how audit findings and risk reduction plans can be converted into post-audit change; how long-term support and engagement with organizations can significantly boost both accuracy of security modeling and adoption of the best and context-relevant security practices; and what successes and failures we have experienced playing “long game” organizational security.