Zeynep Tufekci

Writer, Professor, and Techno-sociologist

Matthew Prince

Co-Founder and CEO of CloudFlare

Matthew Prince (@eastdakota) is the co-founder & CEO of CloudFlare, the web performance and security company.

Matthew wrote his first computer program at age 7 when his mom would sneak him into university computer science courses. After attending law school, he worked as an attorney for one day before jumping at the opportunity to be a founding member of a tech startup. He hasn't looked back. CloudFlare is Matthew's third entrepreneurial venture. CloudFlare was named a 2012 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and selected by the Wall Street Journal as the Most Innovative Internet Technology company for the last two years running. Today, CloudFlare accelerates and protects more than 1.5 million customers.

Matthew holds a degree in English and Computer Science from Trinity College. He graduated with highest honors from the Harvard Business School where he was a George F. Baker Scholar and was awarded the Dubliner Prize for Entrepreneurship. He earned a JD from the University of Chicago and is a member of the Illinois Bar. He teaches technology law as an adjunct professor at the John Marshall Law School where he serves on the Board of Advisors for the Center for Information Technology and Privacy Law. He is also the co-creator of Project Honey Pot, the largest community of webmasters tracking online fraud and abuse. On the side, Matthew is a certified ski instructor, a former mountain guide, and a regular attendee of the Sundance Film Festival.

Michelle Bachelet

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Mohamed al-Maskati

Digital Security Consultant, Frontline Defenders

Edward Snowden

Board Member at the Freedom of the Press Foundation

Edward Snowden is a former intelligence officer who served the CIA, NSA, and DIA for nearly a decade as a subject matter expert on technology and cybersecurity. In 2013, he revealed the NSA was unconstitutionally seizing the private records of billions of individuals who had not been suspected of any wrongdoing, resulting in the largest debate about reforms to US surveillance policy since 1978. He has received awards for courage, integrity, and public service, and was named the top global thinker of 2013 by Foreign Policy magazine. Today, he works on methods of enforcing human rights through the application and development of new technologies. He joined the board of Freedom of the Press Foundation in February 2014.

Steve Huffman

CEO and Co-founder, Reddit

Kathy Brown

President and CEO of ISOC

Kathryn C. Brown joined the Internet Society as President and Chief Executive Officer in January 2014. A veteran of Internet policy development and initiatives that have aided in the Internet’s global expansion, Ms. Brown leads the Internet Society in its mission to keep the Internet open, thriving and benefitting all people throughout the world.

The Internet Society is at the center of the largest global network of people and organizations focused on ensuring the Internet continues to evolve as a platform for innovation, collaboration, economic development and social progress. As the Internet faces escalating challenges in the areas of privacy, security and governance, the Internet Society serves as a powerful voice for the Internet community as an internationally respected expert on Internet technical, development and policy issues.

Ms. Brown’s career spans the public and private sector, including serving in the United States National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and leading policy and global corporate social responsibility initiatives for telecom provider Verizon. She received her J.D., summa cum laude, from Syracuse University College of Law and her B.A., magna cum laude, from Marist College. Ms. Brown has served on the advisory boards of the Public Interest Registry (.ORG), the mPowering Development Initiative of the ITU, and the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab.

Nanjala Nyabola

Writer and political analyst

Steve Crown

Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Microsoft

Nighat Dad

Executive Director, Digital Rights Foundation

Nighat Dad is the Executive Director of Digital Rights Foundation, Pakistan. She is an accomplished lawyer and a human rights activist.Nighat Dad is one of the pioneers who have been campaigning around access to open internet in Pakistan and globally. She has been actively campaigning and engaging at a policy level on issues focusing on Internet Freedom, Women and technology, Digital Security and Women’s empowerment. Ms.Dad has been recently included in Next Generation Leaders List by TIME's magazine for her work on helping women fight online harassment.

Nathaniel Gleicher

Head of Cybersecurity Policy, Facebook

Nathaniel Gleicher is an engineer and a lawyer, and works at the intersection of technology, policy, and law. He has taught computer programming, built and secured computer networks, prosecuted cybercrime at the U.S. Department of Justice, and served as Director for Cybersecurity Policy at the National Security Council (NSC) in the White House. At the NSC, he developed U.S. government policy on key technology and cybersecurity challenges, including encryption, cyber deterrence, internet governance, and network security. Since leaving government, Nathaniel served as head of cybersecurity strategy at Illumio, and is currently the Head of Cybersecurity Policy at Facebook.

Salil Shetty

Secretary General at Amnesty International

Salil Shetty joined Amnesty International as the organization’s eighth Secretary General in July 2010.

A long-term activist on poverty and justice, Salil Shetty leads the movement's worldwide work to end human rights violations. Prior to joining Amnesty International, Salil Shetty was Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign from 2003 to 2010. He played a pivotal role in building the global advocacy campaign for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

From 1998 to 2003, he was chief executive of ActionAid, and is credited with transforming the organization into one of the world’s foremost international development NGOs.

Salil Shetty studied at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad and at the London School of Economics.

Kathryn Hume

Vice President Product & Strategy for integrate.ai

Kathryn Hume is Vice President Product & Strategy for integrate.ai, a SaaS startup applying AI to drive growth and customer satisfaction for large enterprises, and a Venture Partner at ffVC, a seed- and early-stage technology venture capital firm, where she advises early-stage artificial intelligence companies and sources deal flow. As the former Director of Sales and Marketing at Fast Forward Labs (Cloudera), Kathryn helped Fortune 500 companies accelerate their machine learning and data science capabilities. Prior to that, she was a Principal Consultant in Intapp's Risk Practice, focused on data privacy, security, and compliance. A widely respected speaker and writer on AI, Kathryn excels at communicating how AI and machine learning technologies work in plain language. She has given lectures and taught courses on the intersections of technology, ethics, law, and society at Harvard Business School, Stanford, the MIT Media Lab, and the University of Calgary Faculty of Law. She speaks seven languages, and holds a PhD in comparative literature from Stanford University and a BA in mathematics from the University of Chicago.

Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin

Chair, CNIL (French Data Protection Authority)

Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin graduated in France from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC), the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) and the Multimedia Institute. She held various posts within the “Conseil d’Etat” from 1986 and became a State Counselor (“Conseiller d’Etat”) in November 2001. She created and managed from 2001 to 2010 the French Internet co-regulation body. She was elected as Chair of the French Data Protection Authority (“CNIL - Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés”) in 2011. From February 2014 to February 2018, Isabelle has also been chairing the EU Article 29 Working Party (WP29), gathering the European Union’s national data protection authorities. In September 2017, she has been elected as Chair of the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners (ICDPPC) executive committee.

Alix Dunn

Executive Director, the Engine Room

Alix is a recovering researcher with a passion for applying creative solutions to difficult problems. She is a hunter and gatherer, identifying data and technology strategies that can empower social change initiatives around the world to maximise their impact and make the most of their resources. She co-founded The Engine Room and leads it to be a nimble organisation that provides direct support where, when, and how initiatives need it. She sits on the Advisory Council of Open Technology Fund, and the Technology Advisory Council of Amnesty International. She plays a mean game of chess

Harlem Désir

Representative on Freedom of the Media, OSCE

Harlem Désir was appointed as the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media on 18 July 2017 for a period of three years. Prior to this position, Désir (France) was French Minister of State for European Affairs, attached to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, since April 2014.

Harlem Désir was a Member of the European Parliament for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2014. He was a member of the Committee on Industry, Energy and Research, the Employment and Social Affairs and the Committee on Development. He was also Vice-President of the Delegation for relations with the United States (2002-2004), member of the Joint ACP-EU Parliamentary Assembly (2002-2009) and member of the Delegation for relations with India (2009-2014). Désir served as Vice-President of the Socialist Group of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009 and as First Secretary of the French Socialist Party from 2012 to 2014.

In October 1984, Harlem Désir co-founded the French not-for-profit association “SOS Racisme”, whose objective is to fight against racism, anti-Semitism and all other forms of discrimination. In 1989, he also co-founded the international federation of “SOS Racisme”. Désir was President of both “SOS Racisme” France and of the eponymous international federation. Harlem Désir holds a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy from the Paris I Sorbonne University. He has been awarded the Olof Palme Prize (Sweden, 1990) and the Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece, 2016).

Noomane Fehri

CEO, BiatLabs

Matt Chessen

Senior Technology Policy Advisor, U.S. Department of State

Matt Chessen is a career U.S. diplomat, technologist and author who is currently serving as a Senior Technology Policy Adviser in the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State. From 2016-2017, Matt was the State Department Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the George Washington University, where he researched the international implications of artificial intelligence, computational propaganda, cognitive security, and machine-driven communications. From 2014-2016, Matt was the Coordinator for International Cyber Policy for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs where he led the regional implementation of the US International Strategy for Cyberspace.   Matt holds a J.D. from Georgetown University, and an M.B.A. and B.A. from the University of Arizona. He has earned eight honor awards for his service at the Department of State, including Superior Honor Awards for his work on the Afghan Peace Process and his efforts advancing US international cyber policy.

Uri Rosenthal

Special Envoy for Cyberspace and Former Foreign Minister, Netherlands

He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet Rutte I from 14 October 2010 until 5 November 2012. He previously served as a Member of the Senate from 8 June 1999 until 14 October 2010 and the Parliamentary leader in the Senate from 5 May 2005 until 14 October 2010.

A professor of political science and public administration by occupation, he taught from 1980 until 2010 at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Leiden University.

Michel Forst

UN Special Rapporteur, Situation of Human Rights Defenders

Alex Walden

Counsel, Free Expression and Human Rights, Google

Alex Walden works on free expression and human rights at Google. Her work includes representing Google in the Global Network Initiative (GNI) and participating as a member of the Freedom Online Coalition's working group on transparency. Alex joined Google from The Raben Group, where she was a director focused on civil rights, women's rights, criminal justice reform issues, and nominations.

Prior to joining TRG, Alex worked at the Center for American Progress. She has also served as a law clerk for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights & Liberties and the U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary. Alex also worked with the U.S. EEOC, U.S. Department of Labor, and Bay Area Legal Aid during law school. Before attending law school, Alex spent almost four years working in the D.C. Office of Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund). Alex holds a B.A. in political science from American University and a J.D. from University of San Francisco School of Law.

Clément Voule

UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Assembly & Association

David Kaye

UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression

Prof. Kaye’s scholarship and teaching focus on public international law, especially international human rights law, international humanitarian law, accountability for violations of human rights, and the law governing the use of force. He is just as interested in efforts to translate international law—especially human rights law—in a domestic American context, whether in courts, legislatures, or the executive branches of government, at federal and state levels.Prof. Kaye has been appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to serve as Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, effective August 1, 2014, for three years. With the assistance of students in his International Justice Clinic, Prof. Kaye will report to the UN on some of the key issues in free expression worldwide, such as the safety of journalists, severe restrictions placed on Internet access and usage, the chilling effects of electronic surveillance, hate speech and incitement to violence. Prof. Kaye began his legal career with the U.S. State Department, handling such subjects as international claims, nuclear nonproliferation, international humanitarian law, and accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Prior to joining UC Irvine, he co-founded UCLA’s International Human Rights Program and founded its International Justice Clinic, working on projects dealing with accountability for international crimes around the world. In addition to his scholarship and teaching, Professor Kaye is an active member of the American Society of International Law, for which he served on its Executive Council and Executive Committee, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has also published essays and opinion pieces in mainstream publications such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. As a clinical teacher, Professor Kaye aims to help students discover and put to use tools to advocate for implementation of human rights law and accountability for serious violations and to assist those worldwide who are looking to build the rule of law in their own countries. He also believes in scholarship that helps advance our understanding of how international law operates—and in translating that scholarship, as much as possible, to the broader public and policymaking communities.

Julie Owono

Executive Director, Internet Sans Frontières

Julie Owono is a lawyer and the founder of start-up Feowl, a platform that produces data on energy in African cities. She is the head of the Africa Desk at Internet Sans Frontières (Internet Without Borders), where she focuses on Rights and Freedoms in the digital space, and develops the organization globally. She regularly writes columns for various publications, including Al Jazeera English and Quartz, on issues related to politics, law and innovation in the Gulf of Guinea. She often appears as a Gulf of Guinea expert on International TV channels (France 24 English, BBC World, Russia Today, Huff Post Live, etc).

Dunja Mijatović

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

Dunja Mijatović was elected Commissioner for Human Rights on 25 January 2018 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and took up her position on 1 April 2018. Prior to her appointment as Commissioner for Human Rights, she has served as OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (2010-2017). She was appointed in 2010 by the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) as the Representative on Freedom of the Media. The Council gave her a political mandate to protect and promote freedom of expression and freedom of the media in the 57 OSCE participating States. For more than two decades she worked on human rights, media law and regulation, institution building in transition states and ways to deal with hate speech and dangerous speech in complex post-war societies. During this time she acquired extensive experience in promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms through international dialogue and cooperation, media law and policy and Internet governance. She has in-depth knowledge of new technologies with the emphasis on digitalisation, convergence and the Internet. As one of the founders of the Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1998 she helped to create a legal, regulatory and policy framework for the media in a complex post-war society. She was also involved in establishing a self-regulatory Press Council and the first Free Media Helpline in South East Europe. In 2007 she was elected President of the European Platform of Regulatory Agencies, the largest media regulators’ network in the world. She held this post until her appointment to the OSCE. She has chaired the Council of Europe’s Group of Specialists on freedom of expression and information in times of crisis, during which its Committee of Ministers adopted a Declaration on the protection and promotion of investigative journalism and Guidelines on protecting freedom of expression and information in times of crisis. Mijatović has also written extensively on “new media” topics. She has worked as a consultant on projects relating to media regulation and new technologies in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. She holds a Master’s degree in European Studies from the University of Bologna, the London School of Economics, University of Sarajevo and Sussex University. Mijatović was awarded the Médaille Charlemagne in 2015. The award honours a European personality who has made a unique contribution within the field of media, to the process of European unification and the development of a European identity. She is also the recipient of the City of Geneva PEC AWARD 2015 for her work on the issue of the safety of journalists and media freedom in Ukraine during the crisis and her "exceptional personal commitment for the promotion of freedom of information in the whole region." The International Peace Center in Sarajevo awarded her the "FREEDOM" prize in 2010 for her work and activities on the struggle for freedom, peace and development in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Europe and the world. Mijatović is Fluent English and German, has working knowledge of French and Russian with Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian as her mother tongues.

Michael Geist

Professor, University of Ottawa

Dr. Michael Geist is a law professor at the University of Ottawa where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law and is a member of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society. He has obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees from Cambridge University in the UK and Columbia Law School in New York, and a Doctorate in Law (J.S.D.) from Columbia Law School.

Dr. Geist serves on many boards, including the Canadian Internet Registration Authority board, Internet Archive Canada board, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation Advisory Board. He has received numerous awards for his work including the Kroeger Award for Policy Leadership and the Public Knowledge IP3 Award in 2010, the Les Fowlie Award for Intellectual Freedom from the Ontario Library Association in 2009, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award in 2008, Canarie’s IWAY Public Leadership Award for his contribution to the development of the Internet in Canada and he was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2003.

Japleen Prasicha

Founder & Editor-In-Chief of Feminism In India

Japleen Prasicha is the Founder & Editor-In-Chief of Feminism In India.com, a social movement to learn, educate and develop a feminist consciousness among the youth. It aims to serve as India’s first feminist portal for resource & documentation purposes for everything related to feminism in India and a new media community platform for people to break their silence and raise their voices. The platform deals with themes like feminism, women, gender, sexuality, intersectionality and brings forth the minority, marginalized and powerless voices.

Edward Santow

Human Rights Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission

Edward Santow has been Human Rights Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission since August 2016. Ed leads the Commission’s work on detention and implementing the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT); refugees and migration; human rights issues affecting LGBTI people; counter-terrorism and national security; modern slavery; freedom of expression; and freedom of religion. Ed’s areas of expertise include human rights, public law and discrimination law. He is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), and serves on a number of boards and committees, including the Australia Pro Bono Centre. In 2009, Ed was presented with an Australian Leadership Award, and in 2017, he was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. From 2010-2016, Ed was chief executive of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, a leading non-profit organisation that promotes human rights through strategic litigation, policy development and education. Ed was previously a Senior Lecturer at UNSW Law School, a research director at the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law and a solicitor in private practice.

Agnes Callamard

UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions

Jim Halloran

Global Lead, Strategy, Policy, and Narrative, Google

As GLAAD’s first-ever Chief Digital Officer, Jim oversees the organization's entire digital footprint including communications, operations, analytics, and multimedia. Prior to joining GLAAD, he was Head of Global Content Management at Twitter and served as the company’s corporate spokesperson and advisor on LGBTQ issues.

Additionally, Jim served on the White House LGBT Tech & Innovation briefing under President Obama and has provided contributions to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights. He currently serves on the advisory board for Lesbians Who Tech.

Peggy Hicks

Director, United Nations Human Rights

Sunita Bose

Head of Policy & Global Brand, Change.org

Alp Toker

Executive Director, Turkey Blocks

Alp Toker is founder of internet shutdown watchdog Turkey Blocks and chief technologist at TVHI Media Lab, the R&D group behind NewsKit, a suite of secure publishing, verification and investigative tools for journalists. Alp is currently heading up development of a technology platform that can detect and classify mass-scale social media censorship and internet restrictions in real-time to identify emerging threats to media freedom and freedom of expression online. Alp studied Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh and coordinates research on immersive storytelling, Virtual Reality and algorithmic journalism as part of his work at the lab. Over the last year he has run workshops with Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House and Columbia School of Journalism, writing and reporting for international news outlets on the intersection of conflict and cyber-security and working to enable the free and independent exchange of information online.

John Graham-Cumming

Chief Technology Officer, Cloudflare

Rebecca MacKinnon

Director, Ranking Digital Rights

Rebecca MacKinnon is director of the Ranking Digital Rights project at the New America Foundation, developing a system to rank the world's most powerful Internet, telecommunications, and other ICT sector companies on free expression and privacy criteria. Author of Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle For Internet Freedom (Basic Books, 2012) MacKinnon is co-founder of the citizen media network Global Voices Online, whose Board of Directors she presently chairs. She also serves on the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists and was a founding board member of the Global Network Initiative. She is also a visiting affiliate at the Annenberg School for Communication’s Center for Global Communications Studies. Before launching Ranking Digital Rights, she was a senior research fellow (2012-2013) and Bernard L. Schwartz senior fellow (2010-2012) at the New America Foundation. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, MacKinnon was CNN’s Beijing Bureau Chief from 1998-2001 and Tokyo Bureau Chief from 2001-2003. Since leaving CNN in 2004 she has held fellowships at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press and Public Policy, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, the Open Society Foundations, and Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy. For two years in 2007-08 she served on the faculty of the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media Studies Centre, and taught as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in Fall 2013. She received her AB magna cum laude from Harvard University and was a Fulbright scholar in Taiwan.

Jackeline Stewart

Vice President, Spitfire Strategies

Jackeline Stewart is a crisis communication specialist with experience in creating and disseminating transformative narratives in the face of opposition to help advance immigration reform, racial justice, criminal justice reform and Obama administration technology and green priorities. She has collected invaluable experience working with national nonprofits and thought leaders to develop dynamic strategies that not only reach, but engage diverse audiences to spark change. Her clients include the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Ford Foundation’s Civil Rights Table and the New Americans Campaign. Before joining Spitfire, Jackeline worked with the Opportunity Finance Network to launch Venturize, a national campaign designed to help women small business owners and entrepreneurs of color access fair and affordable loans from responsible lenders. She also modernized the organization’s communication strategies, leading efforts to create a unified brand experience and create relevant and relatable messaging. Jackeline served in the Obama administration as press secretary at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), securing top-tier media placement and using social media to provide the American people with the critical policy and program information they need and expect from a 21st century government. A reporter tweeted that GSA is “one of the coolest agencies in federal government.” In less than 140 characters, his message was testament to successful communication and marketing strategies that transformed public opinion of the government agency. The combination of Jackeline’s love of writing and passion for social justice fuels her drive to tell powerful stories. Jackeline started her career working on health care, immigration reform, and education issues at the National Council of La Raza. She then helped develop the Latino worker narrative at the Service Employees International Union and was a writer for the 2012 Democratic National Convention Committee.

Melissa Tidwell

Vice President & General Counsel, Reddit

Melissa Tidwell is Vice President and General Counsel at Reddit, advising on a wide range of legal and business matters and managing the company’s Legal, Policy, and Communications groups. Previously, Melissa was Senior Counsel at Google, advising the Product, Engineering, Business Development, and Sales teams on a variety of Google products. She started her legal practice at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York before moving to Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco. Melissa earned her J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.A in American Studies from Georgetown University.

Mario Oetheimer

Head of Sector Information Society, Privacy and Data Protection, EU FRA

Dr. Mario Oetheimer (PhD) is Head of Sector Information Society, Privacy and Data Protection at the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). Mario is managing the Agency’s research project on National intelligence authorities and surveillance in the EU. His areas of expertise with respect to the FRA’s work include: data protection and freedom of expression and international human rights, in particular the European Court of Human Rights’ case law. Mario coordinates the cooperation between the FRA and the Council of Europe. He previously worked for the Council of Europe for thirteen years – first with the Council of Europe media division, human rights directorate and then with the European Court of Human Rights research division. Mario Oetheimer studied law, and is the author of the book Harmonisation of Freedom of Expression in Europe (2001) in French. He has authored several articles on freedom of expression and the European Court of Human Rights.

Ei Myat Noe Khin

Digital Rights Program Manager, Phandeeyar

Ei Myat Noe Khin currently leads digital rights activities at Phandeeyar ("Creation Place"), an ICT Hub where the tech community comes together with Civil Society Organizations, media, and others to build the apps, tools, and content to accelerate change and development in Myanmar.

Ron Deibert

Director of the Citizen Lab, author, and co-founder of Psiphon

Ron Deibert (PhD, University of British Columbia) is Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary research and development hothouse working at the intersection of the Internet, global security, and human rights. He is a co-founder and a principal investigator of the OpenNet Initiative and Information Warfare Monitor (2003-2012) projects.

Deibert was one of the founders and (former) VP of global policy and outreach for Psiphon Inc. Deibert has published numerous articles, chapters, and books on issues related technology, media, and world politics. He was one of the authors of the Tracking Ghostnet report that documented an alleged cyber-espionage network affecting over 1200 computers in 103 countries, and the Shadows in the Cloud report, which analyzed a cloud-based espionage network. He is a co-editor of three major volumes with MIT Press: Access Denied: The practice and policy of Internet Filtering (2008), Access Controlled: The shaping of power, rights, and rule in cyberspace (2010), and Access Contested: Security, Identity, and Resistance in Asian Cyberspace (2011). He is the author of Parchment, Printing, and Hypermedia: Communications in World Order Transformation (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), and the forthcoming book Black Code: the battle for the future of cyberspace (forthcoming: McClelland & Stewart, 2013). He has been a consultant and advisor to governments, international organizations, and civil society/NGOs on issues relating to cyber security, cyber crime, online free expression, and access to information. He presently serves on the editorial board of the journals International Political Sociology, Security Dialogue, Explorations in Media Ecology, Review of Policy Research, and Astropolitics.

Deibert is on the advisory board of Access Now, Privacy International, and is a member of the board of directors of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper.

Deibert was awarded the University of Toronto Outstanding Teaching Award (2002), the Northrop Frye Distinguished Teaching and Research Award (2002), and the Carolyn Tuohy Award for Public Policy (2010). He was a Ford Foundation research scholar of Information and communication technologies (2002-2004).

Hillary Hartley

Chief Digital Officer, Province of Ontario

Lea Kaspar

Executive Director, Global Partners Digital

Gabriella Coleman

Wolfe Chair Scientific & Technological Literacy, McGill

Gabriella (Biella) Coleman holds the Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy at McGill University. Trained as a cultural anthropologist, she researches, writes, and teaches on computer hackers and digital activism. Her first book on Free Software, Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking has been published with Princeton University Press.

She has given numerous talks on hackers, digital activism, open source production and intellectual property law. Her new book, Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous, published by Verso, has been named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2014.

Brett Solomon

Executive Director and Co-Founder, Access Now

Brett Solomon is the co-founder and Executive Director of Access—a non-profit human rights organization focused on digital freedom. The Access mission is to ensure open global internet access and an uncensored and secure digital sphere, working to create a world where citizens can be active participants in their future by freely seeking, receiving and imparting information digitally. Prior to Access, he was the Campaign Director at the 6.5 million member strong Avaaz.org, and before that the first Executive Director of GetUp!, an Australian grass roots political organization with over 430,000 members. Solomon completed a Bachelors of Law at the University of Sydney, a Masters in International Law at the University of NSW, founded the International Youth Parliament and worked for many years at both Oxfam Australia and Amnesty International Australia.

Gbenga Sesan

Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative

Gbenga Sesan is the Executive Director of Paradigm Initiative. Originally trained as an Electronic & Electrical Engineer at Obafemi Awolowo University, Gbenga completed Executive Education programs at Lagos Business School, New York Group for Technology Transfer, Oxford University, Harvard University, Stanford University, Santa Clara University and University of the Pacific. His consulting experience includes assignments completed for numerous institutions, including Microsoft, Harvard University and United Nations agencies, among others, in over 30 countries. A Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year (2014) and former member of the United Nations Committee of eLeaders on Youth and ICT, he is a CyberStewards Fellow, Crans Montana Forum Fellow, Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow, Ashoka Fellow, Our Common Future Fellow and Cordes Fellow. Gbenga served as a member of the Presidential committees on Harmonization of Information Technology, Telecommunications and Broadcasting Sectors (2006) and Roadmap for the Achievement of Accelerated Universal Broadband Infrastructure and Services Provision (2013), and was listed by CNN as one of the Top 10 African Tech Voices on Twitter and by Ventures Africa as one of 40 African Legends Under 40.

Carmelyn Malalis

Chair and Commissioner, NY City Commission on Human Rights

Carmelyn P. Malalis was appointed Chair and Commissioner of the New York City Commission on Human Rights (the Commission) by Mayor Bill de Blasio in November 2014 following more than a decade in private practice as an advocate for employees' rights in the workplace. Prior to her appointment, Commissioner Malalis was a partner at Outten & Golden LLP where she co-founded and co-chaired its Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Workplace Rights Practice Group and its Disability and Family Responsibilities Discrimination Practice Group; and successfully represented employees in negotiations, agency proceedings, and litigation involving claims of sexual harassment, retaliation, and discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, pregnancy, disability, and religion. Throughout her career, Ms. Malalis has demonstrated a fierce commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion and preventing and prosecuting discrimination and intolerance. Since she assumed her role as Chair and Commissioner at the Commission in February 2015, Commissioner Malalis has revitalized the agency, making it a recognized venue for justice for all New Yorkers through increased enforcement and robust public education and outreach to prevent discrimination in New York City. She is currently a member of the New York City Bar Association's Executive Committee and previously served on Human Rights Watch's Advisory Committee of the LGBT Rights Project, the American Bar Association's Section on Labor and Employment Law Committee on Diversity in the Legal Profession, the New York City Bar's Committee on LGBT Rights, and the board of Queers for Economic Justice. Commissioner Malalis earned her J.D. from the Northeastern University School of Law and received a B.A. in Women's Studies from Yale University. She and her wife live in Brooklyn with their two children.

Tara Denham

Director, Democracy Unit, Global Affairs Canada

Tara Denham is the Director of the Democracy Unit at Global Affairs Canada, which includes the Digital Inclusion Lab. Her team is responsible for supporting the department in defining and advancing democracy through various policies and programming initiatives, including looking at how technology can be used in innovative ways to advance foreign policy priorities. The Digital Inclusion Lab focuses on engagement, research, analysis, and testing of tools in order to understand the rapidly evolving intersection of technology and foreign policy. Previously, she managed programming teams within the Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force, including the portfolios of the Middle East, Afghanistan, democracy and human rights, and peace support operations. She has also been deployed to Afghanistan as the Chief of Staff to the Representative of Canada to Kandahar (2009-2010). She has worked with the Department for 14 years, and previously worked in the non-governmental sector. Ms Denham has a Masters degree from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, with a focus on conflict studies.

Rohinton Medhora

President, Centre for International Governance Innovation

Cindy Cohn

Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Cindy Cohn is the Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. From 2000-2015 she served as EFF’s Legal Director as well as its General Counsel. Ms. Cohn first became involved with EFF in 1993, when EFF asked her to serve as the outside lead attorney in Bernstein v. Dept. of Justice, the successful First Amendment challenge to the U.S. export restrictions on cryptography.

The National Law Journal named Ms. Cohn one of 100 most influential lawyers in America in 2013, noting: "[I]f Big Brother is watching, he better look out for Cindy Cohn." She was also named in 2006 for "rushing to the barricades wherever freedom and civil liberties are at stake online." In 2007 the National Law Journal named her one of the 50 most influential women lawyers in America. In 2010 the Intellectual Property Section of the State Bar of California awarded her its Intellectual Property Vanguard Award and in 2012 the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists awarded her the James Madison Freedom of Information Award.

Renu Mandhane

Chief Commissioner, Ontario Human Rights of Ontario

Renu Mandhane was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission in October 2015. She is the former Executive Director of the award-winning International Human Rights Program at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. She has an LL.M in international human rights law from New York University. Renu began her practice focused on criminal law, and in that capacity she represented many survivors of sexual violence and prisoners. Renu sits on the Canada Committee of Human Rights Watch, and has appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada and the United Nations. Most recently, Renu was recognized by Canadian Lawyer magazine as one of Canada’s most influential lawyers for her advocacy related to solitary confinement.

Thomas Drake

Whistleblower

Thomas Drake is a former senior executive at the National Security Agency, where he blew the whistle on massive multibillion-dollar fraud, waste and abuse; the widespread violations of the rights of citizens through secret mass surveillance programs after 9/11; and also 9/11 intelligence failures. As retaliation and reprisal, the Obama administration very publicly indicted Drake in 2010 as their signature case (and first whistleblower since Daniel Ellsberg), charged under the draconian U.S. Espionage Act. Drake faced 35 years in prison, as the government turned him into an Enemy of the State for his oath to support and defend the Constitution. In 2011, the government’s case against him collapsed and he went free in a plea deal. Drake is the recipient of the 2011 Ridenhour Truth Telling Prize, the 2011 Sam Adams Associates Integrity in Intelligence Award and the 2012 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award. He is featured in the “Silenced” documentary as well as the PBS Frontline special “The United States of Secrets”. In 2017, Drake received his PhD in public policy and administration with a specialization in public management and leadership. His dissertation “Eyewitness to History in Devolution of Democracy and Constitutional Rights Following 9/11” focused on the centrality of the post-9/11 security driven world and the price paid by those who speak truth to and about power with the erosion of our precious human rights and freedoms. He is now dedicated to the defense of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Uffa Modey

Co-Founder, Digital Grassroots

Malachy Browne

Senior Producer, The New York Times

Eva Galperin

Director of Cybersecurity, EFF

Milton Mueller

Professor, Georgia Tech School of Public Policy

Milton Mueller is an internationally prominent scholar specializing in the political economy of information and communication. The author of seven books and scores of journal articles, his work informs not only public policy but also science and technology studies, law, economics, communications, and international studies. His books Will the Internet Fragment? (Polity, 2017), Networks and States: The global politics of Internet governance (MIT Press, 2010) and Ruling the Root: Internet Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace (MIT Press, 2002) are acclaimed scholarly accounts of the global governance regime emerging around the Internet. Mueller’s research employs the theoretical tools of institutional economics, STS and political economy, as well as historical, qualitative and quantitative methods.

Dr. Mueller’s prominence in scholarship is matched by his prominence in policy practice. He is the co-founder and director of the Internet Governance Project (IGP), a policy analysis center for global Internet governance. Since its founding in 2004, IGP has played a prominent role in shaping global Internet policies and institutions such as ICANN and the Internet Governance Forum. He has participated in proceedings and policy development activities of ICANN, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and regulatory proceedings in the European Commission, China, Hong Kong and New Zealand. He has served as an expert witness in prominent legal cases related to domain names and telecommunication policy. He was elected to the Advisory Committee of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) from 2013-2016, and appointed in 2014 to the IANA Stewardship Coordination Group. Dr. Mueller has also been a practical institution-builder in the scholarly world, where he led the creation of the Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet), an international association of scholars.

Maryam Al-Khawaja

Bahraini human rights activist

Maryam Al-Khawaja is a Bahraini human rights activist and the co-director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR).

Scott Busby

Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of State

Scott Busby serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC, where he oversees the Bureau’s work in East Asia and the Pacific as well as on multilateral and global issues, including U.S. engagement on human rights at the United Nations, democracy, civil society and governance, disability rights, LGBTI rights, internet freedom, and business and human rights. Previously, he served as Director for Human Rights on the National Security Council in the White House from 2009 to 2011 where he managed a wide range of human rights and refugee issues. From 2005 to 2009, he was Coordinator of the Intergovernmental Consultations on Migration, Asylum and Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland. Prior positions include Director of the Office of Policy and Resource Planning at the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration in the Department of State (2000-2005), Director for Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs at the National Security Council under President Clinton (1997-2000), counsel at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) (1995-1997) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (1992-1995). He got his start in federal service as an Asylum Officer at INS. Scott holds advanced degrees in sociology and law from the University of California at Berkeley and received his B.A. from Amherst College.

Jen Castro

Program Coordinator, Digital Democracy

Jen Castro is a community organizer and artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has been using digital and IRL tech to bring communities closer to where they want to go. Her work has largely centered reframing projects to uphold dignity and traditional ways of being in the communities whose rich culture and history is generally overlooked or imposed on by uninvited external forces. In Canada, this has meant acting in service of indigenous communities through digital media and event support. Jen’s work is grounded/rooted in active investigation of how industry, migration, displacement and social constructs intersect and impact both communities and individuals. Her cross-movement work with communities has recently included offering facilitation and training for people working towards social justice. In Vancouver, much of her work feeds or is fueled by community-based artistic practices and storytelling. _____ Talk to me about grassroots community connections, remote working lifestlye and, if you are a POC, how decolonization can impact your life.

Cathleen Berger

Global Engagement Lead, Mozilla

Cathleen Berger currently works with Mozilla where she is leading their strategic engagement with Global Internet Fora. In this position she is in charge of identifying emerging trends around privacy and security, digital inclusion and literacy, openness and decentralisation in order to remain aware and ahead of global tech policy developments. Prior to this role, she worked within the International Cyber Policy Coordination Staff at the German Foreign Office, where she was tasked with devising strategies for internet governance, promoting human rights and freedom online, and drafting policy concepts for capacity building and digital development. Before joining the Foreign Office, she worked as a research assistant with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), examining practices of data exchange in the EU, and as a visiting lecturer at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. Cathleen was also a fellow at the Centre for Internet and Human Rights (CIHR), an associate at Stiftung Neue Verantwortung (snv) and a Global Governance Futures fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi).

Ramy Raoof

Technologist and Privacy Researcher

Ramy is a technologist, privacy and security researcher. He interacts with a wide spectrum ranging from NGOs, journalists, lawyers, politicians, and artists on the intersection of tech and social causes, mainly on privacy and security, by devoting his skills as a techie and passion for free/open culture. Ramy develops privacy protocols, and in his research he focuses on surveillance patterns and holistic privacy. In the course of his work, he has provided and developed digital security plans and strategies for NGOs and members of the media, emergency response in cases of physical threats, support on publishing sensitive materials, secure systems for managing sensitive information, and operational plans for human rights emergency response teams, in Egypt and the MENA region. Most recently, Ramy has been volunteering with different NGOs and civil liberty groups in Central & South America, to enhance their privacy and security through means of behavioral change based on understanding surveillance and threat models in their own contexts and environments. In October 2017, Ramy received the international award Heroes of Human Rights and Communications Surveillance, "for exhaustive efforts to reveal invasive and harmful surveillance tactics that are being used to harm users at risk.", by Access Now. In May 2016 he received the international Bobs Award - Best of Online Activism in recognition for his work in digital security and privacy. In January 2016, he was named in the World Top 100 Info Security Influencers list by CISO Platform in India. In 2012, he was ranked number 10 by the Newsweek Magazine in the Revolutionaries list of the Digital Power Index, after being ranked number 14 by Forbes Middle East in Top 100 Arab Presence on Twitter a year earlier.

Deborah Brown

Global Policy Advocacy Lead, APC

Deborah Brown is APC's global policy advocacy lead. She focuses on internet rights advocacy and fostering good internet governance. She leads APC's engagement in various UN processes, and has represented APC at the UN Human Rights Council, UN General Assembly, World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the International Telecommunication Union, among others. Deborah also represents APC on the Civil Society Information Society Advisory Council (CSISAC) at the OECD Committee on Digital Economy Policy, and serves as a member of the Collaborative Council for Coding Rights and as a research advisor for the Global Commission on Internet Governance. Previously, Deborah worked at Access Now, the United Nations Foundation, and the National Democratic Institute. Deborah received her master’s degree from Georgetown University in Democracy and Governance and Arab Studies, and her bachelor’s degree from Barnard College, Columbia University in Political Science and Human Rights.

Michael Posner

Director of NYU Stern Center for Business & Human Rights

Michael Posner is the Director of the Center for Business and Human Rights and the Jerome Kohlberg Professor of Ethics and Finance at NYU Stern. From September 2009 until March 2013, he served in the Obama Administration as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S. State Department. From 1978 to 2009, he was the Executive Director and the President of Human Rights First, a U.S.-based human rights advocacy organization. As Assistant Secretary of State, Michael traveled to more than 40 countries where he represented the U.S. government on a wide range of human rights issues. He has played a major role in shaping U.S. policy from inside and outside of government on issues ranging from refugee and asylum law and policy, national security and human rights, Internet freedom, and business and human rights. Michael played a key role in proposing and campaigning for the first U.S. law providing for political asylum, which became part of the Refugee Act of 1980, as well as the Torture Victim Protection Act, which was adopted in 1992. Michael holds a JD from the University of California, Berkeley Law School, and a BA with distinction and honors from the University of Michigan.

Nicole Karlebach

Global Head, Business and Human Rights, Verizon and Verizon Media

Nicole Karlebach is Yahoo’s Senior Legal Counsel, Business & Human Rights, leading and executing Yahoo’s efforts to promote privacy and free expression on the Internet and to identify innovative solutions to human rights challenges. Prior to joining Yahoo, Nicole worked as an attorney at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP in New York, as an international policy fellow at Human Rights First examining issues of business and human rights and national security law and policy and as a human rights consultant to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons. Nicole has also worked at the UN in the Office of the Legal Counsel and at the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Special Department for War Crimes in Sarajevo. Nicole received her LL.M. in International Legal Studies from New York University School of Law, her J.D. from Boston College Law School and her B.A., magna cum laude, in Politics and Sociology from Brandeis University.

Deji Bryce Olukotun

Head of Social Impact, Sonos

Bassem Awad

Deputy Director for Intellectual Property Law and Innovation, CIGI

Bassem Awad is deputy director of international intellectual property (IP) law and innovation with the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Canada. At CIGI, Bassem manage number of research projects on the governance of IP rights; preferential trade agreements; and IP and disruptive technologies such as AI and big data. Bassem has served for several years as a head tutor and professor at the Master’s Degrees organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization Academy; a judge at the Appeal Court in Egypt; a consultant for the African Union; and a counselor at the Judicial Department of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Mark Surman

Executive Director at the Mozilla Foundation

Sam Gregory

Program Director, WITNESS

Avery Davis-Roberts

Associate Director, Democracy Program, The Carter Center

Kaja Ciglic

Director, Digital Diplomacy, Microsoft

Fabrice Houdart

Human Rights Officer, United Nations

Fabrice works on the Free & Equal campaign, an unprecedented United Nations global public education campaign for LGBT equality. He also leads a project on global LGBTI standards of conduct for Business on tackling LGBTI discrimination with the support of more than 100 of the largest global corporations. The standards are being rolled out in the World in 2018. Previously, Fabrice was Senior Country Officer at the World Bank where he worked from 2001 to 2016. At the Bank, Fabrice also managed a "Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Development" grant which provided a first estimate of the economic cost of homophobia and funded socio-economic surveys of LGBTI people. He has authored analyses on Yemen, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Tunisia and provided contributions to the 2012 Gender World Development Report (WDR) and the 2011 Conflict, Security, and Development WDR. He holds a B.A. in economics and management from Dauphine University in Paris and an MBA from American University in D.C. Fabrice is on the Board of Alturi, a non-profit organization devoted to elevating the LGBTI community globally and a Trustee of ICWA which identifies and cultivates rare potential by immersing promising young professionals in the study of a globally important issue. He lives in New York City with twin sons Maxime and Eitan. Email:[email protected] Twitter: @HoudartUN

Courtney C. Radsch

Advocacy Director, Committee to Protect Journalists

Dr. Courtney C. Radsch is the Advocacy Director at the Committee to Protect Journalists. As a veteran journalist, researcher, and free expression advocate she writes and speaks frequently about the nexus of media, technology, and human rights. She is the author of Cyberactivism and Citizen Journalism in Egypt: Digital Dissidence & Political Change (Palgrave Macmillan 2016) and several other book chapters and articles about the Arab Spring, media, terrorism, and human rights. Her commentaries and articles have been published in The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Al Jazeera, Columbia Journalism Review, and the Huffington Post. She is regularly sought out for her expertise by a range of media outlets including the BBC, MSNBC, PBS Frontline, Voice of America, and others.

Dr. Radsch has participated in expert consultations at the United Nation, OSCE and E.U. on countering violent extremism, online violence against women, and journalist safety, and has led advocacy missions to more than a dozen countries, U.N. bodies, and the Internet Governance Forum. Prior to CPJ she worked with UNESCO's Section for Freedom of Expression, where she coordinated strategy in the Arab region and edited the flagship publication "World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development." Dr. Radsch previously managed the Global Freedom of Expression Campaign at Freedom House, where she edited Policing Belief: The Impact of Blasphemy Laws on Human Rights. She has worked as a journalist for The New York Times, Al-Arabiya in Dubai, and the Daily Star in Lebanon and was a freelancer in Egypt. Dr. Radsch holds a Ph.D. in international relations from American University, a master's of science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a bachelor's degree with highest honors in mass communication from the University of California, Berkeley. She speaks Arabic, French, and Spanish and can be found on Twitter at @courtneyr.

Megha Rajagopalan

World Correspondent, BuzzFeed News

Matt Mitchell

Director, Digital Safety & Privacy, Tactical Tech

An Xiao Mina

Director of Product, Meedan

Lorena Jaume-Palasi

Founder & Executive Director, AlgorithmWatch

Lorena is the executive director of AlgorithmWatch, a non-profit organisation to evaluate and shed light on algorithmic and automatization processes that have a social relevance. Her work focuses on philosophy of law and ethics of automatization and digitization. Lorena has been appointed by the Spanish government as a member of the Council of the Wise on Artificial Intelligence and Data Politics. 2018 she was elected by the Cotec Foundation as a member of its 100 experts for social change and innovation for her work on automatization and ethics. Lorena is a Bucerius Fellow of the Zeit Stiftung. She is a founder of the Dynamic Coalition on Publicness of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum. She also serves as the head of the secretariat of the German Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and on the expert advisory board of the Code Red initiative against mass surveillance. She has been consulted by international institutions, governments and corporations and testified before several governmental committees in diverse countries. Lorena has co-authored several books on Internet Governance and lectures and writes regularly on data protection, privacy, discrimination and the public sphere.

Mira Milosevic

Executive Director, Global Forum for Media Development

Ms Mira Milosevic is the Director of the Brussels-based Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) since March 2017. Mira is a media expert who was a Director of Media Development Programmes at WAN-IFRA (World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers), has served as Chief Platform Officer at Indie Voices and as a Director of the Belgrade based Media Center. More recently, she is the author of the World Press Trends reports, the most authoritative global source of data in the international newspaper industry, published by WAN-IFRA. She holds a Master’s degree in Communications from Westminster University in London.

Chenai Chair

Researcher, Research ICT Africa

Chenai's focus is on the impact of ICTs on end users and evidence-based policy development. She is currently working on trying to get young people a.k.a the youths involved in internet governance policy processes. Her most recent projects include an assessment of youth and internet access and use in Rwanda, Nigeria, and Tanzania. Chenai interested in problematising access and gendered issues of internet governance.

Maryant Fernandez Perez

Senior Policy Advisor, European Digital Rights (EDRi)

Maryant is a Senior Policy Advisor at European Digital Rights (EDRi) and a lawyer admitted to the Madrid Bar association. Maryant defends human rights and fundamental freedoms online in the European Union. She works on surveillance and law enforcement, intermediary liability (e-commerce, hate speech, counter-terrorism, child protection), digital trade, net neutrality and transparency. Maryant is the author of several publications and speaker at multiple conferences in Europe and around the world.

Prior to joining EDRi in 2014, she gained experience at the law firm CCA-ONTIER, Décathlon, the Spanish Ministry of Public Works, the European Law Moot Court Society and the CEU San Pablo University. Maryant received her education from the CEU San Pablo University, the Université Catholique de Lille, the Instituto de Empresa and the Universidade Católica Portuguesa. She holds an LLM in Law in a European and Global Context. Maryant is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

Ursula Wynhoven

Representative to the United Nations, ITU

Anahi Ayala Iacucci

Senior Humanitarian Director, Internews

Anahi Ayala Iacucci leads the Internews Humanitarian team as the Senior Director for Humanitarian Programs. Anahi plays a key role in developing Internews’ global Humanitarian program strategies; while also closely supporting teams in the field and managing Internews Emergency Response Program. Since 2006 Anahi has been consulting for NGOs and international organizations like UNOCHA and the World Bank on the use of ICT4D, new technologies and crisis mapping, merging her skills in Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid with her technical expertise on the use of technology for development. She worked with Internews as a Media Innovation Advisor for the Africa Region, Health and Humanitarian Media, based in Nairobi, Kenya and working in Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Ghana and Haiti for 4 years; and as the Senior Innovation Advisor for the Internews Center for Innovation and Learning for 2 years. Anahi moved back to the field in 2014 as Internews Country Director for the Ebola Response in Liberia, where she set up the first Rumors Tracking project, which was then replicated in Internews Humanitarian Projects in Nepal, Haiti, Greece and Bangladesh. In 2015 Anahi became the Humanitarian Director for Internews South Sudan, where she managed a multi-million dollars portfolio of different projects before moving to her current position in 2017. Anahi holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Bologna; a Master Degree in International Affairs from Colombia University; a Master in Human Rights from the University of Padova; and a Post-Graduate Degree on Humanitarian Assistance from the Center for the Rights of People of the Padova University. She is also the co-founded of the Standby Task Force, a member of the International Network of Crisis Mappers and an Advisory Board Member of Elva.

Hans de Zwart

Executive Director, Bits of Freedom

Hans de Zwart is the Executive Director of the Dutch digital civil rights organisation Bits of Freedom, fighting for freedom of communication and privacy on the internet. In the past he was Shell’s Senior Innovation Adviser for Global HR and Learning Technologies, before that a Moodle consultant for Stoas Learning and he started his career as a Physical Education teacher at a high school in Amsterdam.

He operates on the intersection between technology (which he prefers to be “open”) and society, often viewing issues through a civil rights lens. He knows that technology is always political and believes in the power of design.

Ann Cavoukian

Former Three-Term Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario

Dr. Ann Cavoukian is recognized as one of the world’s leading privacy experts. She is presently the Distinguished Expert-in-Residence, leading the Privacy by Design Centre of Excellence at Ryerson University. Dr. Cavoukian is also a Senior Fellow of the Ted Rogers Leadership Centre at Ryerson University, and a Faculty Fellow of the Center for Law, Science & Innovation at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Dr. Cavoukian served an unprecedented three terms as the Information & Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada. There she created Privacy by Design, a framework that seeks to proactively embed privacy into the design specifications of information technologies, networked infrastructure and business practices, thereby achieving the strongest protection possible. In 2010, International Privacy Regulators unanimously passed a Resolution recognizing Privacy by Design as an international standard. Since then, PbD has been translated into 40 languages.

Dr. Cavoukian has received numerous awards recognizing her leadership in privacy, including being named as one of the Top 25 Women of Influence in Canada, named among the Top 10 Women in Data Security and Privacy, named as one of the ‘Power 50’ by Canadian Business, named as one of the Top 100 Leaders in Identity, she was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the Governor General of Canada for her outstanding work on creating Privacy by Design and taking it global (May, 2017), named as one of the 50 Most Impactful Smart Cities Leaders, (November, 2017), and most recently, was named among the Top Women in Tech.

Bertrand De La Chapelle

Executive Director, Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network

Bertrand de La Chapelle is the Director and Co-Founder of the Internet & Jurisdiction Project. He served as a Director on the ICANN Board from 2010 to 2013. From 2006 to 2010, he was France’s Thematic Ambassador and Special Envoy for the Information Society, participating in all WSIS follow-up activities and Internet governance processes, including in particular the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), and was a Vice-Chair of ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). Between 2002 and 2005, he actively participated in the World Summit on the Information society (WSIS) to promote dialogue among civil society, private sector and governments, including as Director of the collaborative platform WSIS-online.

An engineer, diplomat and civil society actor, he also has nine years of private sector experience, including as co-founder and President of Virtools, now a subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes. Bertrand de La Chapelle is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique (1978), Sciences Po Paris (1983) and Ecole Nationale d’Administration (1986).

Sandro Gianella

Head, EMEA Policy, Stripe

Katie McInnis

Policy Counsel, Consumer Reports

María Paz Canales

Executive Director, Derechos Digitales

Maria Paz Canales is a Chilean antitrust lawyer and UC Berkeley Master of Laws with a Certificate of Specialization in Law & Technology. She is the Executive Director of Derechos Digitales.

Seamus Tuohy

Director of Information Security, Human Rights Watch

Dia Kayyali

Program Manager, Tech+Advocacy, WITNESS

Daphne Keller

Director, Intermediary Liability, Center for Internet and Society

Mary Bridger

Head of Operations and Engagement for Equal Measures 2030

Mary Bridger is Head of Operations and Engagement for Equal Measures 2030, a new cross-sectoral partnership focused on connecting data and evidence with advocacy and action to drive gender equality progress across the SDGs.  In this role, she leads on external engagement and collaboration with stakeholders and broader audiences, while also overseeing partner relationships. She is also responsible for driving internal operations, resource mobilization and project management for Equal Measures 2030.  Previously, Mary worked with Plan International and UN Women and is a graduate of both the School for Oriental and African Studies and University of Toronto.

Wolfgang Schulz

Director, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society

Khaled Sellami

Director General, e-Government Unit, Government of Tunisia

Melanio Escobar

Executive Director, RedesAyuda

Chloe Poynton

Principal & Co-Founder, Article One

Sarkis Darbinyan

Founder, RosKomSvoboda

Natalie Cadranel

Founder & Director, OpenArchive

Keesha Gaskins Nathan

Director, Democratic Practice Program, Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Jason Pielemeier

Policy Director, Global Network Initiative

Dragana Kaurin

Founder & Director, Localization Lab

Tonei Glavinic

Director of Operations, Dangerous Speech Project