RightsCon Program

RightsCon Session List

Explore the list of sessions on the agenda for RightsCon 2025 and start planning your opportunities to connect, discover, and collaborate!

Scroll to top

Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies

Investigating the place of AI in advancing digital rights through digital kinship

Host: Strathmore University, Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT)

Dialogue  |  online

Integrating global viewpoints for responsible genAI development

Host: Meta

Workshop  |  in-person

Navigating GeoAI for climate action: potential and pitfalls

Host: Digital Futures Lab

Dialogue  |  in-person

Fit for purpose: does the UN’s AI governance regime ensure a rights-respecting approach?

Host: European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) | Global Partners Digital (GPD)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Green futures: AI, ecology, and policies for people and the planet

Host: Heinrich Böll Foundation, Seoul Office

Dialogue  |  in-person

Towards linguistic equity in AI: developing best practices for building multilingual language models

Host: Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) | National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)

Roundtable  |  in-person

AI models as bottom feeders: a healthy diet for a factual generative AI

Host: Fundación Maldita.es

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Data and AI in development challenges

Host: Open Data Charter

Dialogue  |  in-person

Navigating neurotechnology governance: where are the digital rights advocates?

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  online

Ethics of care in AI-based healthcare: perspectives for the Global South

Host: Centre for Internet and Society (CIS)

Roundtable  |  online

Himalayan futures: curating a historical corpus for an inclusive web3

Host: Independent

Tech Demo  |  online

Open and transparent: secure digital media with blockchain

Host: Numbers Protocol

Tech Demo  |  in-person

AI red teaming: demystifying AI bias and fairness

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  online

Decentralizing Dweb – strategies to build transnational solidarity networks for a distributed, peer-to-peer, federated web

Host: DWeb

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Public AI as an infrastructure – democratizing the AI tech stack

Host: Bertelsmann Stiftung

Dialogue  |  in-person

Using AI to save new borns in rural setting

Host: Wadhwani AI

Tech Demo  |  online

AI can help cure neglected diseases, if we build the right open tools

Host: Ersilia Open Source Initiative

Lightning Talk  |  online

Building feminist AI in Latin America: experiences from the ground

Host: f<a+i>r América Latina & Caribe

Dialogue  |  online

Touch, see, hear: developing multi-sensory accessibility with AI and XR

Host: Stanford University

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Engineering perspective into the development of ethical AI standards & equitable data practices

Host: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Community perspectives for AI in natural resource governance: water and indigenous peoples

Host: Técnicas Rudas

Tech Demo  |  online

Business and Human Rights

The human sweat that waters AI

Host: Techworker Community Africa | Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR)

Dialogue  |  online

New Infrastructure for whistleblowing and ethical reporting

Host: Science & Design

Tech Demo  |  online

Advancing trust & safety for the global majority

Host: Trust and Safety Foundation (TSF)

Roundtable  |  in-person

Too much ‘bang’ for your buck? Leveraging investors’ power for responsible tech in conflict

Host: Access Now | Lucid Capitalism

Private Meeting  |  hybrid

CEOs of the new social media

Host: Web Foundation | Social Web Foundation

Dialogue  |  in-person

Auditing the AI value chain – from clickworkers & resource consumption to oligopolies & power abuse

Host: AlgorithmWatch

Roundtable  |  online

Invisible chains: exploring the negative impacts of AI on sex workers’ labour and human rights

Host: European Sex Workers' Rights Alliance

Workshop  |  in-person

Unlocking datasets for human and environmental rights in global supply chains

Host: Wikirate | Clean Clothes Campaign

Roundtable  |  in-person

Lessons learned from public human rights assessments of generative AI

Host: University of California, Berkeley, Human Rights Center (HRC) | BSR | European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Advancing human rights in business: insights and lessons from Central Asia

Host: World Benchmarking Alliance | (CIPI) Tajikistan | Civil Initiative on Internet Policy (CIIP) Kyrgyzstan | MediaNet Kazakhstan | Perspective Consulting Uzbekistan

Workshop  |  in-person

Children and digital marketing: co-creating industry guidance for responsible commercial engagement online

Host: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) | IKEA

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Empowering workers in the digital era: navigating labour rights and technology

Host: International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network (ILAW Network) | Solidarity Center

Dialogue  |  in-person

Living wages for gig workers: exploring options with the living tariff tool

Host: WageIndicator Foundation

Dialogue  |  online

Baduy and Kasepuhan Ciptagelar: how indigenous communities reject/embrace tech?

Host: digitally, tante | Common Room

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

African feminist manifesto on the future of work(ers)

Host: Pollicy

Workshop  |  online

In case of emergency: responsible [exit] entry

Host: Heartland Initiative | Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) | Rights Intelligence

Roundtable  |  in-person

The CLARITI Methodology: a community-led assessment of rights impacts in the tech industry

Host: Ranking Digital Rights

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Who wins the game? The distribution of game developers and publishers per country and HDI

Host: Pausing2Think | University of São Paulo (USP)

Lightning Talk  |  online

Digital Intimacy matters! Now there is a coalition defending it

Host: Digital Intimacy Coalition

Dialogue  |  online

Beyond staying or going: ensuring tech respect for human rights in the context of conflict

Host: Access Now

Workshop  |  online

Reverse engineering tools for data workers and the gig-economy

Host: Reversing Works

Lightning Talk  |  online

New partnerships for a new strategy: engaging investors towards corporate accountability for surveillance-related harms

Host: Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) | Heartland Initiative

Workshop  |  in-person

Due Diligence for Responsible AI: critiquing international guidance protecting workers rights in (in)visible supply chains

Host: IT for Change | OECD Watch

Dialogue  |  online

Demystifying digital trade agreements – how do trade agreements affect digital rights?

Host: Digital Trade Alliance

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Shared responsibility: human rights due diligence for tech developers and deployers

Host: BSR

Dialogue  |  in-person

Spill the tea! what are ‘meaningful’ explanations in automated decisions?

Host: The Greenlining Institute

Roundtable  |  in-person

Behind the apps: transparency regarding authority requests

Host: Access Now | R3D: Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales

Workshop  |  in-person

Charting a Path Forward: Kakao’s Commitment to responsible AI

Host: Kakao Corporation

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Forget about the price tag: using consumer rights to shape digital governance in the Asia-Pacific

Host: Public Citizen | Digital Trade Alliance

Dialogue  |  in-person

Leveraging shareholder responsibility to prioritize digital rights

Host: Internet Freedom Foundation | Ekō

Dialogue  |  online

Human rights and the global digital compact: private sector implementation and the evolving digital landscape

Host: Microsoft

Roundtable  |  online

POV: human rights & responsible AI

Host: Cisco

Dialogue  |  in-person

Reskilling for Tomorrow: navigating tech transformations and future jobs in the Global South

Host: International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Asia’s approach to internet freedoms: on paper vs in practice

Host: Cloudflare

Dialogue  |  online

Trade Regulations and Human Rights: effectiveness and engagement strategies

Host: Cisco | IBM

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Building trusted bridges: democracy, human rights, and governance and trust & safety communities

Host: Global Network Initiative (GNI)

Private Meeting  |  hybrid

Ad-vantage points: digital ad transparency through the lens of Asia’s trends and Europe’s rules

Host: Digitally Right | WHAT TO FIX | Reset.Tech Australia | Reset.Tech Europe

Dialogue  |  in-person

Conflict and Humanitarian Action

Four billion conversations: user-centred development of humanitarian language technology for marginalized language speakers

Host: CLEAR Global

Lightning Talk  |  online

Intersectional allies: building global feminist networks for women in conflict areas

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  online

Rethinking tech and data in humanitarianism: Shifting from a solutions-driven approach to a problem-centred process

Host: RMIT University

Roundtable  |  in-person

The prediction of peril: localized early warning technologies

Host: The Sentinel Project

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Assessing humanitarian AI: what M&E frameworks do humanitarians need in the face of emerging AI?

Host: MERL Tech Initiative

Dialogue  |  online

Tech Giants and Genocide: indigenous struggles for digital justice

Host: 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media

Dialogue  |  in-person

Don’t use my data against me: taking action against digital dehumanisation and automated decision making

Host: Stop Killer Robots

Dialogue  |  online

“Sisters in ‘digital’ arms: fighting digital violence against women in the MENA’s conflict zones”

Host: SecDev Foundation | International Development Research Center

Dialogue  |  in-person

Narratives under siege: social media’s role and responsibilities in protecting defenders

Host: Front Line Defenders

Dialogue  |  in-person

Leveraging Automatic Classifiers for Peace: artificial intelligence (AI) for digital peaceBuilding

Host: Build Up

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Accountability for Surveillance during Occupation: Is a feasible and effective model possible?

Host: Access Now

Workshop  |  in-person

Making feedback safer, actionable, and modern with Talk to Loop.

Host: Talk to Loop

Tech Demo  |  online

The optics of data in refugee crises – security or vulnerability?

Host: Center for Refugee Studies, Indiana University

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Never forgotten: the role of social media in documenting human rights violations during internal conflicts

Host: Beam Reports | Search for Common Ground | Meta

Roundtable  |  in-person

War propaganda and hate speech in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Host: International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

Roundtable  |  in-person

When the cannons are heard, are the muses silent? Wartime censorship

Host: Digital Security Lab Ukraine

Dialogue  |  in-person

Human rights restrictions after crises – where is the «exit» sign?

Host: Digital Security Lab Ukraine

Dialogue  |  in-person

Whistleblowing in military tech: how whistleblowers, lawyers, and journalists are fighting against murderous machines

Host: Access Now | Psst

Workshop  |  in-person

False narratives, real blockades: the impact of disinformation on NGO financial channels

Host: Charity & Security Network

Workshop  |  in-person

Hate speech & information warfare in times of war: the case of Tigray War

Host: Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) | Tghat

Dialogue  |  in-person

Can you take a bot to The Hague? AI as potential inhuman shields from liability

Host: The Aspen Institute | Aspen Digital

Dialogue  |  online

Striving for Good?: How can we do less harm when building humanitarian tech

Host: Independent

Roundtable  |  in-person

Navigating a minefield? Roles and responsibilities of online platforms in times of war

Host: Access Now

Dialogue  |  in-person

Cyber in Conflict – upholding distinction when civilian hackers and companies are drawn into armed conflict?

Host: German Federal Foreign Office

Dialogue  |  in-person

Content Governance

Tech4peace: leveraging mobile technology for fact-checking and online safety

Host: Tech4Peace

Tech Demo  |  online

Safeguarding information integrity through ‘unique media identifiers’ – explore use cases, protection mechanisms and impact

Host: Global Media Registry (GMR)

Roundtable  |  in-person

Decoding digital hoaxes: rebuilding social trust in Africa’s democracy

Host: ChatVE

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Don’t delete art: why content moderation must account for artistic context

Host: Don’t Delete Art | National Coalition Against Censorship

Lightning Talk  |  online

T&S in gen AI: agreeing on principles for freedom and safety

Host: The Future of Free Speech

Dialogue  |  online

Beyond a TikTok ban: a rights-based approach to regulating platforms from authoritarian countries

Host: Freedom House

Roundtable  |  in-person

Risk management as content governance: how far are we from a global norm?

Host: Ofcom

Dialogue  |  in-person

Empowering collaboration: bridging the gap between Trust &Safety teams and CSOs in the Global Majority

Host: Trust and Safety Foundation (TSF)

Private Meeting  |  in-person

Silenced and misled: the twin threats of misinformation and censorship in SRHR

Host: Center for Intimacy Justice | Center for Countering Digital Hate | MSI Reproductive Choices

Dialogue  |  in-person

How do we fix Whatsapp? Exploring solutions to address its misinformation problem

Host: Odipo Dev

Dialogue  |  in-person

Discourse, data, disinformation – exploring ideas for protecting information integrity together

Host: ARTICLE 19 | Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Saving safe harbor: building consensus on internet preservation and regulation

Host: Internet Society (ISOC) | Internet Freedom Foundation

Dialogue  |  online

It’s that forkin h0rny AI again: AlgoSpeak and the evolution of talking about sex online

Host: SHARE | inroads | RNW Media | KIT (Royal Tropical Institute) | Share-Net International

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Crowd-sourced fact-checking in AI era – lessons learned by cofacts

Host: Cofacts 真的假的

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Beyond true and false: the emotional drivers of information disorder

Host: Centre for Internet and Society (CIS)

Roundtable  |  online

Covering the last mile of accountability and oversight: AI auditing

Host: International Association of Algorithmic Auditors

Dialogue  |  in-person

Decrypting the algorithm: Google’s impact on SRH website visibility

Host: Women First Digital

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Progress by any means necessary. Platform manipulations continue to obscure oppressed voices

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Digital trust and safety evolution: the role of industry standards in APAC and worldwide

Host: Digital Trust & Safety Partnership

Roundtable  |  in-person

Is AI silencing the south? Decolonizing abuse detection in AI-driven hate speech moderation

Host: IT for Change | <A+> Alliance for Inclusive Algorithms

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Passing the torch on the G20 information integrity agenda

Host: Digital Action

Private Meeting  |  hybrid

Information ecosystems and troubled democracy: what global research tells us

Host: Forum on Information and Democracy

Dialogue  |  online

From countering to building: finding the keys to promote information integrity online

Host: Wikimedia Foundation | Freedom Online Coalition | Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark | Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands

Roundtable  |  in-person

Safeguarding the right to authentic online discourse: detecting authoritatian propaganda on TikTok

Host: Taiwan Information Environment Research Center (IORG) | National Chung Cheng University

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Global giants, local influence: the role of international social media in shaping national discourse

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  in-person

Protecting the public from cybercrime: a multistakeholder model approach

Host: Taiwan Network Information Center

Dialogue  |  in-person

Supporting vulnerable users at scale

Host: Google

Roundtable  |  in-person

Tech solutions to counter tech-enabled information disorder: strategies for MENA and the Global South

Host: Arabi Facts Hub | Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Civil society and tech engagement to enhance content moderation in Southeast Asia

Host: Southeast Asia Collaborative Peace Network (SEA CPN)

Dialogue  |  in-person

All hands on deck: collaborative verification of AI generated content

Host: Tattle Civic Technologies

Tech Demo  |  online

Navigating hate speech and intolerance online: insights from the Oversight Board

Host: Oversight Board

Workshop  |  in-person

Access denied: resisting censorship, hate speech, and misinformation around SRHR content in the Arab region

Host: Center for Development Services (CDS Egypt) | Raseef22 | 7amleh

Roundtable  |  online

Meta amplified: deadly offline consequences of online hate in Ethiopia and Myanmar

Host: Amnesty International

Lightning Talk  |  online

Local vs. Global: addressing inequalities in content moderation

Host: Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT)

Roundtable  |  online

Missing the full picture: challenging gender-blind responses of platforms to disinformation

Host: Association for Progressive Communications (APC)

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Reaching the giants: experiences of coalition on freedom of expression and content moderation in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Host: Coalition on Freedom of Expression and Content Moderation in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Roundtable  |  in-person

Impact of the EU Digital Services Act on free expression and crime documentation in conflict

Host: Access Now | ARTICLE 19

Dialogue  |  in-person

How social media shape the boundaries of freedom of speech: focusing on Meta’s Oversight Board

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Empowering civic space: information integrity in the age of climate crisis

Host: Centro Popular de Comunicação e Audiovisual | Climate and Land Use Aliance

Dialogue  |  online

From content to payment: how social media companies are financially subsidizing disinformation

Host: WHAT TO FIX

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

GenAI, LLMs, COMO & TS: where do human rights and communities fit in today’s hottest acronyms?

Host: European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) | Discord

Roundtable  |  in-person

Life or death: tackling gendered health misinformation in a sexist and transphobic shitstorm!

Host: UltraViolet

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Data Protection

Protecting data subject rights everywhere: assessing extraterritorial enforcement of data protection frameworks across the globe

Host: Access Now

Dialogue  |  in-person

Data rights in the Bayous: building data protections for environmental justice in the Gulf South

Host: Local Data Futures Initiative | Voqal

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Local contexts: supporting indigenous cultural authority and data sovereignty

Host: Local Contexts

Tech Demo  |  online

Will generative AI turn into the next big ad platform?

Host: Mozilla Foundation

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Digital health governance forum: inputs on the open health issue

Host: Brazilian Institute for Consumer Protection (IDEC)

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Data has a beating heart: situating environmental data and rights in embodied landscapes

Host: Open Environmental Data Project

Roundtable  |  online

Handling personal data in authoritarian contexts. State and private enterprise in Venezuela

Host: Espacio Público

Lightning Talk  |  online

Roundtable with privacy regulators

Host: Social Web Foundation

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Odd coupling: should regulators partner with AI?

Host: Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Bermuda

Dialogue  |  online

What does it take to make data exchange participatory? Developing a governance framework

Host: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Workshop  |  online

Shifting powers through Afrofeminism: exploring data ownership and informed consent through an Afrofeminist lens

Host: Pollicy

Roundtable  |  online

Reimagining balancing individual and collective approaches to privacy and data protection and data-driven harms

Host: European Digital Rights (EDRi)

Roundtable  |  in-person

Data protection in the data supply chain from a DevSecOps perspective

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Bypass consent: loopholes make us lose control of health, location data, and even more

Host: Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR)

Roundtable  |  in-person

Protecting children: data governance innovations and opportunities

Host: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) | MyData Global | Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

Workshop  |  in-person

Emerging trends in data protection, privacy and surveillance across Africa

Host: Media Defence

Dialogue  |  online

Data extractivism and sexual and reproductive health apps: perspectives from the Global South

Host: University of Warwick

Dialogue  |  online

The price of bias: exposing gender discrimination in data-driven personalised algorithm pricing

Host: Ikigai Innovation Initiative | Tech Hive Advisory

Dialogue  |  online

Regulation of AI in Latin America, a race to the bottom? Technosolutionism and Brussels effect

Host: Al Sur

Roundtable  |  in-person

Exploring the Relationship between privacy, data protection, and democratic rights

Host: Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Dialogue  |  in-person

Community-oriented technology in migration; what does it look like and what can it solve?

Host: Aapti Institute | SocialTIC

Dialogue  |  in-person

Online privacy invasions: how the law is tackling online invasion of women’s privacy

Host: Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), United Kingdom

Dialogue  |  online

Safeguards for digital public infrastructure: expert multistakeholder roundtable

Host: U.S. Department of State (DOS)

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Do you know what that camera is doing? An open standard for legible urban tech

Host: Helpful Places

Tech Demo  |  online

Nina: an AI-powered, transborder, collaborative and distribuited data system

Host: Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP)

Tech Demo  |  online

The right to be forgotten from machine learning

Host: University of California, Berkeley, School of Information

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Beyond compliance: impact of ethical & legal frameworks on health data research in the real world

Host: Ghent University | Vrije Universiteit Brussel | VU Amsterdam University

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Digital Security for Communities

Teaching dangerous technologies to keep us all safe

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  online

Champions of cyber safety

Host: Zambian Cyber Security Initiative Foundation

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Building digital resistance networks for reproductive rights

Host: SocialTIC | Digital Defenders Partnership | ONG Amaranta

Roundtable  |  online

Dissecting discretion: the spyware research community’s dilemma

Host: Amnesty International | Human Rights Watch | Recorded Future

Dialogue  |  in-person

Detecting malware for the organization

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  online

Learnings and unlearnings for digital security educators: using fellowships, simulations, and tabletop exercises in trainings

Host: Internews

Roundtable  |  in-person

Digital security wars; tackling new phishing trends

Host: Aiwadikat Technologies

Lightning Talk  |  online

Citizens for citizens : digital security supports in Taiwan from individual to regional project

Host: Open Culture Foundation (OCF)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Immersive cyber resilience: experiential strategies for digital security training

Host: National Democratic Institute (NDI) | Tibet Action Institute | Digital Society of Africa

Workshop  |  in-person

Introduction to digisec.wiki: strengthening digital security through collaboration

Host: EngageMedia

Tech Demo  |  online

Brave but exposed! Urgent digital wellbeing for women activists in Tanzania, Sri lanka, and Cameroon

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  in-person

The resilience model: a digital resilience intervention model for civil society organizations

Host: Resilience Technologies

Dialogue  |  online

Through the GESI lens: mainstreaming gender equality and social inclusion in safety trainings

Host: IREX

Roundtable  |  in-person

Learning from the majority world digital security helplines. how to intertwine digital and empathic care?

Host: Digital Rights Foundation | Vita Activa

Workshop  |  in-person

Aggressors without borders: development of reporting routes for international cases of digital violence

Host: Fundación Internet Bolivia

Private Meeting  |  hybrid

Encryption for activists: exploring threat models and secure tools

Host: Proton | The Campaign for Hong Kong

Roundtable  |  in-person

Collaborative solutions: addressing the challenges of helplines in conflict countries

Host: DigiSecLab

Dialogue  |  online

DIY cybersecurity: how to build your own VPN

Host: ExpressVPN | VPN Trust Initiative

Workshop  |  in-person

Digital security for indigenous human rights defenders: improving adherence

Host: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Quiet: a “Slackier Signal” built for newsrooms and abortion funds

Host: Quiet

Tech Demo  |  online

Organizing and reporting under repression: cybersecurity for transnational journalists, human rights defenders, and activist networks

Host: Citizen Lab | University of Toronto, Citizen Lab

Workshop  |  in-person

Building successful escalation channel for online safety: a framework to measure effectiveness

Host: Access Now

Private Meeting  |  in-person

Actionable intelligence: open source intelligence, LLM and knowledge graph for CSOs

Host: Open Culture Foundation (OCF) | Civil Society Cyber Shield

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Re-thinking digital security training from a feminist perspective and survivors’ experiences

Host: FLAME

Workshop  |  in-person

Empowering NGOs and activists with essential cybersecurity tools

Host: Nord Security

Workshop  |  in-person

Rehub: how we tried to organise an Eastern Europe digital security service providers’ network

Host: Human Constanta | Media Diversity Institute (MDI) Armenia | RESIDENT.ngo | Digital Security Lab Ukraine

Roundtable  |  in-person

Peer support within helpdesks: trauma-informed approach to resilience

Host: Access Now

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Multistakeholder progress to improve human rights defender safety online

Host: Access Now | U.S. Department of State (DOS)

Private Meeting  |  hybrid

Freedom of the Media

Restoring the impact of journalism: innovating with Web3 tools to combat digital decay and misinformation

Host: CTRL+X

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Crash landing on truth: the quiet fight for information in North Korea

Host: Unification Media Group (UMG)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Words at war: linguistic and editorial responsibility in conflict

Host: Access Now

Dialogue  |  in-person

VPN, theory and practice for press freedom in Southeast Asia

Host: Alliance for Vietnam's Democracy

Dialogue  |  in-person

Tech platforms: usage of independent standards to highlight journalistic contents

Host: Reporters Without Borders

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Surveillance and digital harassment against the press in Latin America

Host: Access Now | Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Cybercrime: the criminalization of expression online in sub-saharan Africa

Host: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) | Human Rights Journalists Network Nigeria

Dialogue  |  in-person

Battling shadows: the global struggle against attacks on journalists

Host: Digispace Africa

Roundtable  |  in-person

Building digital fortresses: enhancing digital resilience for women in media

Host: Pollicy

Workshop  |  in-person

Flipping the historical script: co-creating evidentiary archives with radical archivist communities to fight for justice

Host: OpenArchive

Dialogue  |  in-person

NEMO created a solution for empowering exiled media. Help us improve it!

Host: Network of Exiled Media Outlets (NEMO)

Roundtable  |  in-person

Our solution to bridging cloud services and investigative journalism? Collective action

Host: Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) | Journalism Cloud Alliance | Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)

Roundtable  |  online

Investigative journalism around the world: a global tour

Host: Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN)

Dialogue  |  online

Overcoming reporting silos between China and the Global South

Host: Global Voices

Dialogue  |  in-person

Civic media as a DAO

Host: CiviCue

Roundtable  |  online

AI development on autopilot: why whistleblowing is critical for AI safety

Host: Blueprint for Free Speech

Dialogue  |  online

Cellebrite, accessdata, and more: abuse of digital forensics tools as a threat to press freedom

Host: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) | University of California, Irvine School of Law (UCI Law)

Roundtable  |  in-person

How to report on China and not die in the process

Host: Radio Free Asia

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Securedrop workstation: improving the journalist experience of handling tips, leaks and document submissions

Host: Freedom of the Press Foundation

Tech Demo  |  online

Defending journalism: unpacking a DDoS attack and safeguarding journalism in conflict zones

Host: Cloudflare | Meduza

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Over-policing of protests in the U.S.: the impact on the freedoms of speech and press

Host: Whistleblower & Source Protection Program (WHISPeR), ExposeFacts

Dialogue  |  online

Digital risks for journalists during the Sudan war

Host: Internews

Dialogue  |  in-person

Defending free and objective reporting: the role of Hong Kong diaspora media against censorship

Host: International Republican Institute (IRI) | Flow HK

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Increasing media sustainability through the media growth lab

Host: IREX

Tech Demo  |  online

Guidelines for ensuring comprehensive security for whistleblowers in Latin America

Host: Fundar | Blueprint for Free Speech | ARTICLE 19 (Mexico and Central America) | R3D: Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales

Dialogue  |  online

Taiwan-Ukraine media dialogue: how not to lose anything in translation

Host: Global Voices | Dasheng Media | Radio Taiwan International

Dialogue  |  in-person

Green SLAPPs: how legal actions silence information on environmental matters

Host: Council of Europe

Roundtable  |  online

From Hong Kong to Gaza: digital resilience techniques

Host: Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ)

Workshop  |  in-person

Solidarity of the press: a strategy for the protection of journalism practice in authoritarian regime

Host: Centre for Collaborative Investigative Journalism | WikkiTimes

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Intersectionality and sustainability in journalism: experiences from the Global South

Host: Wikimedia Foundation | InternetLab

Dialogue  |  in-person

Disinformation & journalistic integrity in Mongolia: a decade after media self-regulation, what’s worked and what’s failed?

Host: Blueprint for Free Speech

Roundtable  |  online

Rethinking human rights journalism in the polarized world

Host: Public Interest Journalism Lab

Dialogue  |  in-person

Exiled media : an African perspective

Host: SUDDPRESS | Ayin Network

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Beyond headlines: media as part of critical security infrastructure

Host: Press Club Belarus

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Freedoms and Agency in the Age of Surveillance

The emerging super app model in East Africa: consolidated data extraction and fragmented digital governance

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

The counter-surveillance supply chain

Host: Meta

Roundtable  |  in-person

Where’s the “public” in digital public infrastructure? Surveillance and democracy in the age of “digital-forward

Host: Access Now | United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Workshop  |  in-person

The marginalized bodies navigating the risky digital landscape

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Highway to hell: the owners of surveillance software

Host: Digital Security Lab Ukraine

Lightning Talk  |  online

Mandatory digital identity: the human rights stakes of digital megaprojects

Host: Human Rights for Digital Identity (HR4ID) Coalition

Dialogue  |  in-person

Multistakeholder action to counter the proliferation and misuse of commercial spyware

Host: U.S. Department of State (DOS)

Dialogue  |  in-person

When spiders share webs: contending with surveillance database expansion in border management and externalisation

Host: Privacy International

Dialogue  |  online

Algorithmic transparency in the acquisition and deployment of emerging technologies by global majority governments

Host: ARTICLE 19 (Mexico and Central America) | Thomson Reuters Foundation

Dialogue  |  in-person

Global agendas on spyware accountability: where we’re winning, where we’re losing, where we’re going

Host: Spyware Accountability Initiative

Workshop  |  in-person

The border-industrial complex and the inevitable rise of the private sector in migration management

Host: Aapti Institute | Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH | Refugee Law Lab, York University

Roundtable  |  in-person

Avengers assemble! An intercontinental approach to strategic litigation for inclusive digital ID

Host: Haki na Sheria Initiative

Workshop  |  online

Initiative for enhancing self-sovereign identity as digital civic infrastructure in Taiwan

Host: Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA), Taiwan

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Countermeasures for CSOs and HRDs traveling in the age of surveillance

Host: Asia Citizen Future Association

Roundtable  |  in-person

Casteist colonial histories of biometric surveillance

Host: Criminal Justice and Police Accountabiity Project (CPA Project)

Workshop  |  in-person

Scaling the walls of border externalization: transnational research against the everywhere border in the Americas

Host: R3D | Institute for Law, Innovation and Technology, Temple University | Surveillance Resistance Lab

Dialogue  |  in-person

Movement building in the modern age: how protest surveillance and advocacy intersect

Host: Surveillance Technology Oversight Project

Dialogue  |  online

Digital oppression and cyber surveillance in Palestine

Host: Örebro University

Dialogue  |  online

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: transnational policing and human rights

Host: University of Toronto, Citizen Lab

Dialogue  |  in-person

Transnational repression and surveillance: the Uyghur genocide in a digital age

Host: World Uyghur Congress (WUC)

Dialogue  |  in-person

What’s the harm in child safety? Experts on protection, agency, and resilience for youth online

Host: Signal

Dialogue  |  in-person

Countering commercial spyware: measuring joint statement signatory action and mapping the road ahead

Host: Access Now | Freedom House | Knight Institute | Amnesty International

Private Meeting  |  in-person

Prying open the age-gate: crafting a human rights statement against age verification mandates

Host: Software Freedom Law Center, India (SFLC.in) | European Digital Rights (EDRi) | Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | Open Net

Roundtable  |  in-person

Countering China’s use of digital transnational repression to silence refugees and dissidents globally

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  in-person

Digitally undetected: the cost of refusing or opting out of digital identities

Host: Internews Network Zambia

Dialogue  |  in-person

Who’s watching whom? Online disobedience and digital surveillance in climate activism

Host: European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) | Asian Forum for Human Rights Development (FORUM-ASIA) | Universal Rights Group (Latin America and the Caribbean)

Dialogue  |  online

Surveillence, cities and civic participation: working toward a rights-based future for digital governance

Host: University of Warwick

Roundtable  |  online

Obstructed justice: pathways to redress for victims of state misuse of spyware

Host: Access Now | R3D: Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales | Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University

Dialogue  |  online

Alt, ctrl, resist: building community resilience against surveillance

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Command centers and data integration in “safe cities”: a cross-regional look at the evolving risks

Host: Atlantic Council, Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) | National Endowment for Democracy (NED) | International Forum for Democratic Studies

Dialogue  |  in-person

Following the money: unraveling the web of the surveillance industry

Host: Access Now | FI-ND | Amnesty Tech

Roundtable  |  in-person

Erosion of societal trust through online vigilante initiatives: governmental and internet platform support for digilantism

Host: University of Wisconsin

Lightning Talk  |  online

Dissenting behind China’s great firewall

Host: Freedom House (Asia Regional Office)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Stalker state: how the state is using facial recognition against protesters

Host: OVD-info

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

What’s your handle? Contextual, mutable, and self-determined digital identity for a more just world

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  online

The data and identity barter: how much more can the stateless offer?

Host: Nationality For All

Dialogue  |  in-person

Cut the purse strings: investor responsibilities and the proliferation of spyware

Host: Access Now

Dialogue  |  in-person

Change fast. Go deep. Are decentralized public spaces possible under total surveillance?

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Regulating spyware: implementing the PEGA committee report and beyond the EU

Host: Human Rights Centre, University of Minnesota Law School

Roundtable  |  in-person

Futures, Fictions, and Creativity

Leveraging films and creative content for civic engagement and inclusive democracy

Host: Public and Private Development Centre

Workshop  |  online

Undersea cables in Africa: New frontiers of digital colonialism

Host: Green Screen Coalition

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Grief tech and AI resurrections: fictional presence as a dystopia or utopia?

Host: Code for Science and Society | Widows in the Wild

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

China, Iran, and beyond: graphic novels and political comics in an age of disruptive tech

Host: Doublethink Lab | Index on Censorship

Dialogue  |  in-person

Ancestral futurities: embodied memory, indigenous data, and Amazonian self-determined mapping in Bolivia’s climate changing landscapes

Host: Jasy Renyhê

Workshop  |  in-person

SecuraSext: teen safe and joyful digital explorations

Host: JAAKLAC Initiative | Conexión Educativa | Acoso.Online | Ser Valiente en Red

Workshop  |  in-person

A toolkit on surveillance tech in fiction

Host: Fight for the Future | COMPOST Magazine

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Intersection of futures, indigenous cultures, and environmental challenges

Host: Artists at Risk Connection

Dialogue  |  online

Play before the music dice: a dice-controlled musical instrument to warn us against AI profiling

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  online

Towards a more ‘heartful determinism’ in movement technologies

Host: Independent | Information Ecology

Workshop  |  online

AI meets the unconscious, an artistic proposal

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Transfeminist karaoke against gender violence / Karaoke transfeminista contra la violencia de género

Host: amigashacker.club

Workshop  |  in-person

Art in the time of resistance: digitally archiving art in human rights movements

Host: Independent

Roundtable  |  online

“Shah Iyo Sheeko”: the adoption of art and cultural pratices for digital rights advocacy

Host: Haki na Sheria Initiative

Workshop  |  in-person

If you have the data, you have a story: crafting good stories for advocacy

Host: Curious Shapes

Workshop  |  in-person

Crafting digital futures: innovating from and for Central America

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  in-person

Birosca: care, women and technology, a video-documentary about a transfeminist project, in the early 2000s

Host: Birosca

Dialogue  |  in-person

Cultural rights as human rights… also on the internet!

Host: Fundación Karisma | UNESCO | Ministério da Cultura-Brasil

Dialogue  |  in-person

EUREKA MOMENT: feminism, culture, and AI to reimagine our futures

Host: Data-Pop Alliance

Workshop  |  in-person

Vernacular art for critical AI activism: a league of youth approaches GenAI

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  online

Data protection and privacy through play

Host: Técnicas Rudas

Workshop  |  online

Grassroot voices through ethical AI in a solar punk vision of a post capitalist era

Host: Independent

Workshop  |  in-person

(Digital) cultural heritage protection as an act of resistance: connecting Palestine to EGOV

Host: United Nations University, Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV) | Palestine Cultural Fund

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Global Cyber Norms and Encryption

Is your app traffic encrypted?

Host: Princeton Center for IT Policy | University of Toronto, Citizen Lab

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Cyber synergy in the Indo-Pacific: building capacity, overcoming challenges

Host: Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Jailed and killed based on metadata: what can privacy-enhancing technologies do better?

Host: Tor Project

Dialogue  |  online

The notorious UNSC: leveling up the United Nations Security Council for the digital age

Host: Access Now | The Stimson Center

Dialogue  |  in-person

Unveiling North Korea’s cyber threats: safeguarding human rights

Host: Interlab | People for Successful Corean Reunification (PSCORE)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Encryption and child protection: consensus for creating a Latin America political agenda

Host: Institute for Research on Internet & Society (IRIS)

Dialogue  |  online

Integrating gender, equality, social inclusion (GESI) in global cybersecurity capacity building (CCB)

Host: University of Oxford | Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre (GCSCC)

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Enhancing cyber resilience and cyber-education amid rising threats

Host: NordVPN

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Crafting strategy, building community! Meeting of the Global Encryption Coalition (GEC)

Host: Global Encryption Coalition (GEC)

Private Meeting  |  in-person

Governance, Politics, and Elections

Formulating effective, common strategies for addressing disinformation in the Indo-Pacific

Host: Deakin University

Dialogue  |  online

Code and constitution: empowering African parliamentarians in digital Africa

Host: African Parliamentary Network on Internet Governance (APNIG)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Can the law stop the far right? The case of Germany

Host: Society for Civil Rights / Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF)

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

People-centered digital governance: experiences from the Global South

Host: Open Government Partnership

Dialogue  |  in-person

Advocating for democracy and elections in Africa: effective advocacy and a closing digital divide?

Host: Afrobarometer

Dialogue  |  in-person

Rights-respecting regulation with the global online safety regulators network

Host: Global Online Safety Regulators Network

Roundtable  |  in-person

WhatsUp with elections? Safeguarding encrypted messaging apps from election manipulation

Host: NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights

Dialogue  |  in-person

Tainan city council AI chatbot: using AI to lower barriers of civic engagement

Host: Tainan Sprout

Tech Demo  |  online

Disinformation, AI, and restoring youth’s faith in democracy

Host: Human Rights Foundation

Dialogue  |  online

Unlocking progress through inclusive and rights-respecting digital public infrastructure

Host: Freedom Online Coalition

Dialogue  |  in-person

Trends in gendered disinformation in digital media during elections

Host: Meedan | Digital Rights Foundation | Africa Women Journalism Project | Ecofeminita

Roundtable  |  in-person

Upholding rights in the digital age: unpacking the best interests of the child principle

Host: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) | Cetic.br | Digital Futures for Children

Roundtable  |  in-person

Deepfakes with Chinese characteristics– how Beijing’s influence operation is going to look like in 2025

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

The civic-tech experimental field in Taiwan: the potential, value and limit of digital civic participation

Host: Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA), Taiwan

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Alliance for algorithms: the Roundtable for AI, Security, and Ethics (RAISE), a global multistakeholder dialogue

Host: Microsoft | United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Public code as a critical digital infrastructure: achiventing software openness and interoperability among governments

Host: Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA), Taiwan

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Monitoring international aid in Lebanon environmental sector

Host: Gherbal Initiative

Tech Demo  |  in-person

“Year of democracy:” Civil society’s recommendations for platform accountability

Host: Accountable Tech | Center for American Progress | Protect Democracy

Dialogue  |  online

Information integrity and integrity of information spaces: states’ role in ensuring a healthy information ecosystem

Host: OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media

Workshop  |  in-person

Technology to defend democracy in elections

Host: Redes Ayuda | Haz La Tarea

Dialogue  |  online

Challenging the digital welfare state: trends and opportunities for global collaboration

Host: Lighthouse Reports

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Free trade agreements made in the dark: enhancing transparency and inclusivity in digital trade negotiations

Host: Research ICT Africa

Roundtable  |  in-person

Scaling the unscalable? Building voting advice applications for every election, everywhere, all at once

Host: VOTO gemeinnützige UG

Tech Demo  |  in-person

How to achieve diverse democracy for LGBTI+ in the digital age

Host: Taiwan Equality Campaign

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Accountability on the net: building tools for a meaningful multistakeholder cooperation

Host: European Commission | European University Institute

Workshop  |  in-person

Blurred reality: AI, deepfakes, and external influence. Lessons from the 2024 elections

Host: CHESNO Movement

Roundtable  |  in-person

Shared election monitoring digital infrastructure across the EU

Host: Commit Global

Tech Demo  |  online

Democracy and the “detection gap”: identifying and responding to GenAI in 2024 election cycle

Host: Neiman Foundation for Journalism, Harvard University

Dialogue  |  in-person

Can AI detect cartel and state violence? Scaling violence news monitoring

Host: Data Cívica

Roundtable  |  online

Digital memory activism: building inclusive and participatory counter-narratives under repressive environments

Host: Hong Kong Action Archives

Roundtable  |  in-person

AI and democracy: battling disinformation in Asia’s 2024 elections

Host: Hashtag Generation | Asia Democracy Network

Dialogue  |  in-person

Gender-based disinformation targeting politicians and leaders: a neglected risk to democracy

Host: Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom

Dialogue  |  in-person

How gender justice impacts elections and campaigns; insights from African governance and politics

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  online

Collective strategy session: the road to WSIS+20 and other internet governance-related processes

Host: Global Partners Digital (GPD)

Private Meeting  |  in-person

Strategising feminist tactics to counter far right election wins

Host: Noor

Workshop  |  in-person

Fostering digital inclusion and resilience in the age of AI

Host: Global Affairs Canada

Roundtable  |  in-person

The precarious future of the global multi-stakeholder model for cyber and digital governance

Host: Global Affairs Canada

Dialogue  |  in-person

Domestic election observation – leveraging technology for electoral integrity

Host: European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE)

Roundtable  |  in-person

Human Rights: the insurance for multistakeholder digital governance

Host: Atlantic Council, Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab)

Roundtable  |  online

Is truly global alignment on AI safety possible?

Host: Chatham House

Dialogue  |  in-person

Roundtable on transgender issues in artificial intelligence policy

Host: Independent

Roundtable  |  online

Civil society participation in AI policymaking in Asia and Latin America

Host: International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL)

Dialogue  |  in-person

You’re blocked! Public officer’s use of social media and free speech

Host: Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLiP)

Roundtable  |  online

Human Rights-Centered Design

AI-based assistive technologies in Africa

Host: Strathmore University, Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT)

Dialogue  |  online

Satellite imagery show human rights violation in Myanmar

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Crip and digital intimacies: looking outside the able-bodied lines of technology

Host: Revival Disability, India

Workshop  |  in-person

Glitches and gremlins – addressing and identifying harmful design in emerging technologies

Host: Stanford University

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Gaming for abortion rights: bridging technology, innovation, and human rights

Host: SocialTIC | Women in Gamex | Iniciativa IDEA | Planned Parenthood Social Innovation Lab

Dialogue  |  online

Measuring what matters: improving digital rights measurement through collaboration

Host: Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) | The Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS)

Roundtable  |  in-person

Continuing edge-ucation: using design from the margins to learn from Palestine, Iran, Mexico, Kenya, Ethiopia

Host: The De|Center

Dialogue  |  in-person

AI at school. Capacity building to identify bias in language models with high school teachers

Host: Vía Libre Foundation

Workshop  |  online

Black-centered birth workers: securing maternal health data infrastructures

Host: Data & Society Research Institute

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

From the idea to action: developing infocraft

Host: Women in Gamex | SICDOS

Workshop  |  online

Measuring the health of open source projects in public health

Host: GitHub | World Health Organization (WHO)

Workshop  |  in-person

Putting people first : community-based approaches to accessible language technologies

Host: Whose Knowledge?

Dialogue  |  in-person

The role of meaningful stakeholder engagement across the AI value chain

Host: The Dialogue

Workshop  |  in-person

Building trauma-informed tech: using feminist methodologies to combat gender based violence

Host: GRIT | Mapa do Acolhimento

Workshop  |  in-person

Digital targeting and policing of LGBTQ+ in MENA: how can platforms help?

Host: Access Now | The De|Center

Private Meeting  |  hybrid

Casteist by Design: how Indian digital platforms encode and reproduce caste

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Size really does matter: rethinking AI development to avoid marginalizing the marginalized

Host: Alan Turing Institute | Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) | University of Cordoba

Workshop  |  in-person

Decolonising digital rights and data

Host: Manushya Foundation | ASEAN Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship

Dialogue  |  in-person

Bridging the economic and human rights promise of digital public infrastructure

Host: Access Now | Tech Global Institute

Dialogue  |  in-person

Compounding taxes: overlapping impacts of intersectionality

Host: The MITRE Corporation

Workshop  |  online

How to identify human rights risks of digitalization in financial cooperation? A practical demo

Host: KfW Development Bank

Tech Demo  |  online

Product counseling: you’re in the hot seat

Host: Meta | Article One

Roundtable  |  in-person

Leveraging on technology to advance access to education for the deaf and visually impaired youth

Host: Southern Africa Youth Forum

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Monitoring digital rights Vvolations: Digital freedoms monitoring tool

Host: Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN)

Tech Demo  |  in-person

From bytes to burdens: decoding intergenerational trauma in tech

Host: Innova Quantum Leap

Roundtable  |  online

Actions for environmental justice from autonomous and community-based technological infrastructures

Host: Sursiendo | May First Movement Technology

Roundtable  |  in-person

Keeping control of your data in digital payments: TALER as the free software, privacy-perserving solution

Host: Homo Digitalis | Eindhoven University of Technology

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Safer swipes – designing dating apps from the margins

Host: The De|Center | University of Michigan

Dialogue  |  in-person

Does your product steal my data? Building better tech with criteria for global gender privacy

Host: Open Data Collaboratives | Superbloom | Women’s Rights Online | TechSocietal | United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) | Government of the United Kingdom, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) | Numun Fund

Workshop  |  in-person

Empowering digital safety: unveiling the gendered data privacy framework

Host: TechSocietal

Workshop  |  in-person

A digital sector sustainable by design : how digital governance can support ecodesign principles?

Host: Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques, des Postes et de la distribution de la Presse (ARCEP)

Roundtable  |  online

Internet Access and Inclusion

Digital rights and accessibility for persons with disabilities

Host: Koneta Hub

Lightning Talk  |  online

Enhancing African digital inclusion for sustainable development

Host: Pan African Youth Ambassador for Internet Governance

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Determining the role of humanitarian agencies in disserminating computer skills education to high school drop-outs

Host: Creative Noble Tech

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Digital rights advocacy within constrained civic spaces

Host: East West Management Institute

Dialogue  |  in-person

Why the internet may not converse in your language? How can you help?

Host: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

Dialogue  |  online

Delivering civic education in times of conflict

Host: Digital Public Square

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Connectivity as aid: digital inclusion or digital capitalism

Host: University of Massachusetts Amherst | University of Southern California (USC)

Roundtable  |  hybrid

A not-so-world wide web: shared lessons from countries with repressive internet controls

Host: Unification Media Group (UMG)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Empowering youth through robotics: bridging the digital divide

Host: LYBOTICS

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

You have the right to be on the map… or to be digitally invisible

Host: Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team

Roundtable  |  in-person

Africa knowledge initiative: revolutionizing access to African indigenous languages

Host: Africa Knowledge Initiative

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

The global state of net neutrality

Host: epicenter.works | Mediamana | ARTICLE 19

Dialogue  |  in-person

Concrete steps towards aligning cybersecurity challenges with digital development

Host: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden | Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) | Microsoft

Roundtable  |  hybrid

In their best interests: bridging tech innovation and environmental care from a child’s rights perspective

Host: Alana Institute

Dialogue  |  in-person

How community networks connect rural populations and drive digital inclusion in Haiti

Host: Internet Society (ISOC), Haiti

Roundtable  |  online

#Equalonline: decolonial imaginations of digital autonomy for women, queer folx, persons with disabilities

Host: Point of View | Centre for Communication Governance, National Law University Delhi

Workshop  |  in-person

China index dialogue: protecting digital freedoms in the Indo-Pacific

Host: ARTICLE 19 | Doublethink Lab

Dialogue  |  in-person

Accessing connection: bridging the digital divide for LBGTI communities worldwide

Host: The Engine Room | ILGA World

Dialogue  |  online

Advancing digital inclusion for women with disabilities across Africa & beyond

Host: Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) | Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Measuring inclusion in digital public infrastructure

Host: Co-Develop

Roundtable  |  in-person

Understanding aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ experiences using Wikipedia on the continent of Australia

Host: Wikimedia Australia | Macquarie University

Lightning Talk  |  online

How can infrastructure help resiliency? Building up with quilombolas and communities under threats

Host: Coordenação Nacional dos Quilombos | Instituto Nupef | Movimento Interestadual das Quebradeiras de Coco Babaçu

Dialogue  |  in-person

The real impact of building technology from the Global South

Host: Wingu

Lightning Talk  |  online

Is internet governance inclusive? The importance of digital literacy and awareness for older adults

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  online

Sustainability of the internet in the era of AI in the African continent

Host: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Ethical and responsible AI on education: challenges from the elementary level to higher education

Host: Institute for Research on Internet and Society (IRIS) | Center for Teaching and Research on Innovation, Getulio Vargas Foundation

Dialogue  |  online

A 2025 update: how’s digital rights for deaf and blind people going?

Host: digitally, tante

Dialogue  |  online

Access to “direct to cell via satellite internet” for Iran: opportunities & obstacles for marginalized communities

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  online

Measuring internet performance with open data

Host: Measurement Lab

Workshop  |  in-person

Internet Shutdowns and Disruptions

Butter box, life without the internet made smoother

Host: Guardian Project

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Cross-border data flows and connectivity in conflict zones: a role for satellite internet?

Host: CyberHUB | Lodz Cyber Hub

Dialogue  |  online

Count the opportunities, not the problems: DPI detection and availability monitoring of VPN protocols

Host: RosKomSvoboda | RKS Global

Roundtable  |  in-person

Browsers unbounded: leveraging the power of browser-based volunteer proxies to combat internet censorship

Host: Lantern

Tech Demo  |  online

Don’t call it a VPN: unblocking news in venezuela with ‘noticias sin filtro’ app

Host: Conexión Segura

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Sudan’s conflict: the life-and-death impact of internet shutdowns

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  in-person

Destination unreachable: characterizing internet outages and shutdowns

Host: Georgia Institute of Technology

Lightning Talk  |  online

Why keep documenting internet shutdowns? Experiences from Latin America

Host: Fundación Karisma | Digital Defenders Partnership

Roundtable  |  online

Documenting internet shutdowns around the world: challenges, opportunities, and solidarity

Host: Access Now | Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) | IODA

Workshop  |  in-person

Decolonizing shutdown circumvention: strategy and skill for circumvention training in shutdown areas

Host: Independent | Activate Rights

Workshop  |  in-person

Power in numbers and collaboration: #Keepiton community meetup

Host: Access Now

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Blocky: testing and detecting websites blocked by the Great Firewall of China (GFW)

Host: GreatFire.org

Tech Demo  |  online

Strategic litigation as a tool to combat internet shutdowns in Central Asia

Host: Centre for Law and Democracy | Eurasian Digital Foundation

Dialogue  |  in-person

Democratic election disruption through internet censorship and the role of VPNs in upholding electoral integrity

Host: Surfshark

Dialogue  |  in-person

Taiwan’s digital lifeline: the resilience and security of its undersea cable infrastructure

Host: Stanford University, Global Digital Policy Incubator (GDPi) | Stanford University

Dialogue  |  in-person

Navigating the information maze: how people consume reliable news and face limitations in Myanmar

Host: ATHAN, Freedom of Expression Activist Organization

Dialogue  |  in-person

Internet shutdowns and disruptions during elections in Africa: the case of dictatorial regimes

Host: Digital Access

Dialogue  |  online

Control & corruption: the secret scheme of internet censorship in Turkmenistan

Host: Access Now | Tor Project

Dialogue  |  in-person

Shutdown-resilient tool distribution through satellite data-casting and p2p networks

Host: ASL19

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Navigating the impact of internet shutdowns

Host: Digital Rights Kashmir

Dialogue  |  in-person

Measuring and circumventing internet censorship

Host: Tor Project | Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI)

Workshop  |  online

Tackling internet shutdowns trends: the Freedom Online Coalition’s Task Force on Internet Shutdowns

Host: Access Now | Global Network Initiative (GNI) | Freedom Online Coalition Task Force on Internet Shutdowns

Dialogue  |  in-person

Justice, Litigation, and Documentation

Open source researchers as war crimes investigators: what have we learned?

Host: Mnemonic | Global Human Rights Clinic (GHRC), University of Chicago

Dialogue  |  in-person

Bring up the bodies: identifying and preserving mass graves of human rights vilations

Host: Congress of Nations and States

Dialogue  |  online

Fighting back: a victory for freedom of expression in the Turkish constitutional court

Host: Automattic

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Enhancing human rights analysis through Bayanat, an open-source data management solution

Host: Bayanat | Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC)

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Reconstructing history: tools for justice and truth

Host: SITU Research

Dialogue  |  in-person

Information wars: bridging the gap in accountability for digital rights and free expression violations

Host: ARTICLE 19 | Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

Dialogue  |  online

Documenting law enforcement agencies’ use of advanced technologies through freedom of information requests and more

Host: Open Net Korea | University of California, Irvine, International Justice Clinic | University of Southampton, Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology

Roundtable  |  in-person

From servers to scandals: judicial forensics in AI data architecture

Host: Observatorio de Derecho Informático Argentino (ODIA)

Lightning Talk  |  online

Data-driven defense: empowering migrants with Testimo

Host: Human Rights First

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Attacks against healthcare in Ukraine, Palestine, Sudan – leveraging tech and authenticated footage for accountability

Host: eyeWitness to Atrocities

Dialogue  |  online

SLAPP defense for civil society, activists, and media organisations

Host: Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLiP) | European Center for Press and Media Freedom | Pan-African Lawyers Union | Reporters Shield | Vance Center for International Justice

Workshop  |  in-person

Teamwork makes dreams work: building an ecosystem of complementary and interoperable human rights documentation tools

Host: Horizontal

Dialogue  |  online

Transforming war documentation: leveraging technology for provision of legal evidence

Host: Infoscope | Ukraine War Archive

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Spyware accountability in the courts: the case laws in the Americas

Host: InternetLab | Digital Civil Society Lab (DCSL), Stanford University

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Criminalization of Tor in Ola Bini´s case? Lessons for digital experts in the Global South

Host: Access Now | Tor Project | Centro de Autonomía Digital (CAD) | Observation Mission of the Ola Bini Case

Dialogue  |  online

Harmonizing open source data platforms to benefit & empower human rights investigations

Host: Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS)

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Preserve: documenting and safeguarding digital human rights data as evidence

Host: HURIDOCS

Roundtable  |  in-person

Empowering defenders: a resource hub for lawyers and civil society defending freedom of expression

Host: Media Defence

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Triangulating the truth in troubled times: OSINT hackathon

Host: University of California, Berkeley, Human Rights Center (HRC)

Workshop  |  online

Cajar case: the right to defend human rights and informational self-determination versus global digital surveillance

Host: Amnesty International | Fundación Karisma | R3D: Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales | Center for Justice and Internacional Law (CEJIL) | Colectivo de Abogados y Abogadas "José Alvear Restrepo" (CAJAR)

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Stratigic litigation against a porn tech-giant: this is #StopDataPorn

Host: #StopDataPorn

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

How do we use Wikimedia and open-source technology to preserve cultural heritage in crisis?

Host: Wikimedia Foundation | Wikimedia UK | Wikimedia Georgia | Wikimedia Poland | Wikimedia Sverige | Wikimedia Ukraine

Dialogue  |  online

How a collaborative approach and AI help turn an ocean of data into powerful evidence

Host: Mnemonic

Workshop  |  in-person

Taking spyware to court: challenges and opportunities of spyware litigation

Host: Media Defence

Dialogue  |  in-person

Right to not be subject to automated decisions: challenges and regulations in the judicial sector

Host: Derechos Digitales | Hiperderecho | R3D: Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales | Instituto Panamericano de Derecho y Tecnología (IPANDETEC) | Sulá Batsú | Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Courting digital authoritarianism: the Global South strategic litigation handbook to internet and platform shutdowns

Host: Internet Freedom Foundation | Paradigm Initiative | TrustLaw (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

Workshop  |  online

Using open source information for environmental activism

Host: Digital Investigations Network, University of California

Workshop  |  in-person

Tweetdeck is trapped, now what? Preparing a next generation of open source investigators

Host: University of California, Berkeley, Human Rights Center (HRC)

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Civic space case-tracker: strengthening our community of litigants and advocates

Host: Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights

Tech Demo  |  online

Online Hate and Violence

Securing tomorrow: navigating online safety for children and youth

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  in-person

A digital room of one’s own: online platforms as hostile territories for women

Host: University of Buenos Aires

Lightning Talk  |  online

Breaking the silence: youth, survivor, and cybersecurity perspectives insights on child sexual abuse in the digital age

Host: Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Czechia | Brave Movement

Lightning Talk  |  online

Protecting shared societies in the digital space: countering hate, upholding democracy

Host: Club de Madrid (CdM) | Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE)

Dialogue  |  online

Is traditional media fueling online violence against women? Evidence from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  online

From paint to deepfakes: intimate-image abuse harming women and gender-diverse people in Latin America

Host: DataGénero | Data-Pop Alliance

Dialogue  |  in-person

Citizen fighting online hate : #iamhere’s case and the strength of counter speech

Host: I Am Here International

Lightning Talk  |  online

Survivor-centred solutions to AI-facilitated GBV: a global roundtable of practitioners

Host: HateAid | Equality Now | Cyber Rights Organization | Data Wo | Joyful Heart Foundation | Sexual Violence Prevention Association | University Complutense of Madrid

Roundtable  |  in-person

Shifting the blame: the real causes and impacts of “self” censorship

Host: The Syria Campaign (TSC)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Digital discrimination: voices of Central Asian women

Host: MediaNet International Centre for Journalism

Dialogue  |  in-person

Open source intelligence to combat Rohingya hate speech in Malaysia and Indonesia

Host: Manushya Foundation | ASEAN Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship

Dialogue  |  online

Voices from the Global South: defending human rights against violent extremism online

Host: United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI)

Roundtable  |  in-person

AI for counterspeakers: global perspectives and local solutions

Host: Dangerous Speech Project | Center for the Study of Organized Hate

Dialogue  |  online

Can we turn trolls into triumph’s? Rising above online hate to champion LGBTIQ+ rights

Host: Chapter Four

Roundtable  |  online

Safe sex (workers) online: mapping the digital evolution of sex work in South Asia

Host: Point of View | Digital Futures Lab

Dialogue  |  online

The perpetrators gaze: seeking to understand perpetrators of OGBV

Host: Fundación Karisma | Pollicy | Sulá Batsú | TEDIC | Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET)

Roundtable  |  in-person

Navigating online spaces as LBQ women: perspectives from Asia

Host: Outright International

Dialogue  |  in-person

Taiwan’s next step: how to end online discrimination and hate speech without compromising civic space?

Host: Amnesty International (Taiwan)

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Data weaponization: gendered vulnerabilities and perpetual harm

Host: Independent

Lightning Talk  |  online

Online violence against women, queer and BIPOC people in politics

Host: Center for Technology and Society (CTS-FGV)

Roundtable  |  in-person

Safe digital futures: designing for thriving children’s mental health

Host: Safe Online

Dialogue  |  in-person

Empowering Southeast Asian women and LGBTI defenders: tackling gendered digital violence at the regional level

Host: Amnesty International (East, South East Asia, and the Pacific Regional Office)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Social surveillance in promoting online hate and gender-based violence

Host: ARTICLE 19 | KRYSS Network

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Zuzi: AI chatbot transforming justice for GBV survivors in South Africa

Host: GRIT | Gender Rights in Tech (GRIT)

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Cyber safe: empowering Ukrainian youth in online safety

Host: Advocates for Youth | NGO Stop Sexting

Lightning Talk  |  online

#Genderedcyberwars: female politicians under attack

Host: ProBox

Dialogue  |  online

What strategies can prevent online hate from fueling offline violence against HIV-affected communities and allies?

Host: The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Roundtable  |  in-person

Mapping and mitigating online gender-based violence in Africa: insights from KICTANet’s OGBV map

Host: Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet)

Roundtable  |  hybrid

Shhor AI: intersectional solution combating code-mixed hate speech in Indian context

Host: Shhor AI

Tech Demo  |  in-person

The price of hate: evaluating the economic impact of online hate speech on digital platforms

Host: Shhor AI

Roundtable  |  in-person

Countering anti-black hate speech on Chinese social media platforms

Host: Independent

Workshop  |  in-person

Combating hate speech utilizing digital technologies: detection tool demo

Host: Boğaziçi University | Hrant Dink Foundation | Sabancı University

Tech Demo  |  online

Suicide prevention on the internet

Host: Vita Alere Institute

Roundtable  |  online

Tackling tech-facilitated gender-based violence by closing the gap between advocates and technology and security professionals

Host: Independent

Roundtable  |  online

Resistance & resilience: collaborative responses to online attacks on environmental defenders

Host: Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI) | Intervozes

Roundtable  |  online

Safety beyond surveillance: exploring survivor-informed approaches to addressing AI-generated online violence in india

Host: Breakthrough Trust

Dialogue  |  online

The Trans Thrive Project: there is power in your truth

Host: Asia Pacific Transgender Network

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Deepfakes in court of law and public opinion: the dangers of forged audios and videos

Host: Chayn

Dialogue  |  in-person

Researching and monitoring online hates and disinformation

Host: Red Flag

Private Meeting  |  hybrid

Defying digital discrimination: gender-based AI oppression in the Arab region

Host: 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media

Workshop  |  in-person

The place of digital literacy in combating technology-facilitated online gender violence

Host: SafeOnline Women Kenya (SOW-KE)

Lightning Talk  |  online

Organizational Capacity and Funding

“Smoke please” – fostering narratives of oppositional mindset within Central Asia’s civil societies

Host: Independent | The Churchill Fellowship

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Community-centred funding for strategic litigation on digital rights

Host: Access Now | Center for Intimacy Justice | Digital Freedom Fund

Workshop  |  in-person

Funding strategies for Palestine and emerging crises: a closed-door roundtable discussion

Host: WITNESS

Private Meeting  |  in-person

Finding solutions to integrating the gender equity and social inclusion approach into organizational development

Host: Counterpart International

Dialogue  |  online

Fundraising Without Burnout: How To Mobilize Resources Without Losing Your Mind

Host: Radhacal Good

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

Affecting change in changing environments

Host: AI Collaborative

Roundtable  |  in-person

Autonomisation des communautés autochtones : renforcement des capacités, financement et défense des droits

Host: Initiative de Promotion de l'éducation des Batwa pour le Développement Durable (IPREBAD)

Workshop  |  online

Private meeting: the MENA alliance for digital rights

Host: SMEX

Private Meeting  |  in-person

Advancing together: roadmap and funding strategy for the Global South alliance

Host: Aapti Institute | Paradigm Initiative | Data Privacy Brasil | Global South Alliance

Private Meeting  |  online

Mind the generational gap: building intergenerational dialogue in democracy movements

Host: AGO (Article Group Org)

Lightning Talk  |  online

Philanthropy and civil society meet & greet

Host: Access Now

Private Meeting  |  in-person

Impossible crowdfunding. How to make your media sustainable, when your business model is destroyed

Host: Meduza

Lightning Talk  |  online

Managing a consortium: test kitchen or too many cooks?

Host: OpenUp

Dialogue  |  in-person

Centering communities’ visions of success: data feminist approach to impact evaluation in digital rights partnerships

Host: Center for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship (CESeC)

Workshop  |  in-person

Inclusive facilitation fundamentals: creating enabling environments for inclusion

Host: 3×3

Workshop  |  online

Enhancing philanthropic funding for media and information in the Global South: an ecosystemic approach

Host: Trust, Accountability & Inclusion Collaborative (TAI)

Lightning Talk  |  online

From modest starts to major transformations: virtual strategies for enhancing participatory grantmaking practices

Host: Mama Cash | Red Umbrella Fund

Workshop  |  in-person

Walking the talk: building healthy and equitable structures for global organisations

Host: The Engine Room

Workshop  |  online

Building resilient ecosystems: a playful learning approach to cultivating organizational co-leadership models

Host: The Engine Room

Workshop  |  in-person

How to find meaning in our work while the world is ending

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  online

Tactics and Contexts for Activists

AI narratives: feminist training for fair tech

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  online

Tactical Mapping: a digital tool to advance human rights

Host: Center for Victims of Torture (CVT)

Tech Demo  |  online

Governance situationships: building a regional civil society alliance for digital rights

Host: Tech Global Institute

Private Meeting  |  in-person

Resisting repressive regulations: CSO strategies from across the Indo-Pacific

Host: Media Matters for Democracy | ODI (Think Change) | Judicial Reform Foundation (JRF) | Open Development Cambodia (ODC) | Thai Netizen Network (Thailand)

Workshop  |  in-person

Crisis response: interactive workshop on the Gaza experience

Host: WITNESS

Workshop  |  in-person

Glory to Hong Kong: deteriorating digital rights at China’s periphery

Host: ARTICLE 19 | Hong Kong Watch | The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Community based programs generating evidence, managing knowledge

Host: Metzineres SCCL

Lightning Talk  |  online

The collective power playbook

Host: FabRiders

Workshop  |  online

Coalitions on the move: civil society joint efforts to preserve migrants’ privacy and dignity

Host: Access Now | Centro LATAM Digital

Workshop  |  in-person

Youth power: digital rights in climate crisis

Host: HACEP-Ghana (Hats Community Empowerment Programme) | AID4Girls | Ibeeza Company Limited

Dialogue  |  online

Placing care at the centre of technologies from a feminist perspective

Host: Numun Fund | Urgent Action Fund Latin America and the Caribbean UAF-LAC

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

The Blue Bird Action in Taiwan: Building a decentralized movement for parliament transparency

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  in-person

Digital activism for the right to decide about our bodies: Latin American feminist resilience

Host: JAAKLAC Initiative

Dialogue  |  in-person

Queer over fear: cross-regional strategies and community resistance for LGBTQ+ activists fighting against digital authoritarianism

Host: Access Now | Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

Workshop  |  in-person

Building a movement that keeps abortion, abortion activists and pregnant people SAFE

Host: Supporting Abortions for Everyone (SAFE)

Dialogue  |  in-person

Connecting the dots: mapping global AI militarism and green extractivism

Host: European Digital Rights (EDRi) | Green Screen Coalition | University of Cambridge

Workshop  |  in-person

Tear down the wall: strategies of resistance & empowering narratives of hope

Host: Human Rights in China

Dialogue  |  in-person

Movements vs tech giants: movements for food, territory, rights, ecology and justice confronting tech titans

Host: ETC Group | Scan the Horizon

Dialogue  |  online

Emotional activism: re-humanizing digital spaces and narratives for collective care action

Host: Open Net Korea | The Asia Foundation | DAKILA – Philippine Collective for Modern Heroism | Digital Narratives Studio, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Workshop  |  in-person

Search our better selves in wasteland: Taiwan sexual minorities’ strategies against corporate digital enclosure

Host: Lezismore

Dialogue  |  in-person

Stories in/around the machine

Host: Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford

Dialogue  |  in-person

Against AI nationalism: towards an East Asian civic AI network

Host: AI Ethics Newsletter Korea

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

5 Years Facing the Ocean: advancing rights to Information, gender equality, youth engagement in East-Asia

Host: g0v.tw | Code for Japan | Code for Korea

Dialogue  |  in-person

Digital transnational repression against exiled human rights defenders: exposing harms, finding responses, building resilience

Host: Freedom House | University of Toronto, Citizen Lab

Dialogue  |  online

Building bridges: connecting Global South digital rights advocates through a digital library

Host: Global South Alliance (Aapti Institute | Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC) | Bolo Bhi | Center for Communication and Governance at NLU Delhi| CIPESA | Data Privacy Brasil | Derechos Digitales | Digital Rights Foundation | Internet Bolivia | KICTANET | Paradigm Initiative | POLLICY | Research ICT Africa)

Tech Demo  |  in-person

How trade rules shape global digital regulation and why we need to challenge it?

Host: Indonesian Civil Society Coalition for Economic Justice (MKE) | Transnational Institute (TNI)

Roundtable  |  online

Cyber security for activists: challenges and best practices

Host: Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)

Dialogue  |  in-person

All great and green?! Challenging extractive digital infrastructures

Host: Independent

Dialogue  |  in-person

Data is everything, everywhere, all the Time

Host: Data4Change

Workshop  |  in-person

Digital resistances in the Francophone world

Host: Digital Defenders Partnership | LabDelta

Dialogue  |  online

Navigating authoritarian state disinformation and solidarities

Host: Kawaakibi Foundation

Dialogue  |  in-person

What do they say about you? Literature review on human rights defense and digital technologies

Host: Canada Research Chair in Media Education and Human Rights (EMDH) | Université TÉLUQ

Lightning Talk  |  in-person

From Geneva to the ground: translating upr recommendations into digital rights victories

Host: Curious Shapes | UPROAR

Dialogue  |  in-person

Don’t take abortion offline: fighting censorship and abortion information removal globally

Host: Amnesty International | Women First Digital | Women on Web | Amnesty International (USA) | Plan C | Reproaction

Roundtable  |  in-person

The death penalty: inappropriate for a democracy

Host: Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP)

Lightning Talk  |  online

Decolonizing impact, how can we reform activism in the Arab world?

Host: The Valve Studio

Roundtable  |  online

Witness VR and living the war VR: delivering justice for atrocities in Ukraine

Host: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ukraine | Upstream XR

Tech Demo  |  in-person

Silencing voices in Tunisia : the battle of freedom of expression in a context of oppression

Host: ARTICLE 19

Roundtable  |  in-person

Breaking the digital rights barrier: engaging non-tech audiences through creative content

Host: Fundación Internet Bolivia | ONG Amaranta | Democracia en Red | Cultivando Género

Workshop  |  in-person

Will digital authoritarianism be detrimental to the future of data?

Host: Global Voices

Dialogue  |  online

Generative AI and its impact on democracy in authoritarian regimes

Host: Innovation for Change (I4C)

Dialogue  |  in-person

From the river to the c: digital resiliency for Palestine organizing

Host: Arab Resource and Organizing Center

Workshop  |  in-person

China’s whisper in Latin America’s information space

Host: ProBox

Workshop  |  in-person

Lessons learned convenant on digital awareness online living environment

Host: Digital Rights House

Dialogue  |  in-person

What can you achieve with the RightsCon program

The RightsCon program is built to facilitate cross-sector connections, foster productive collaboration, and ultimately, turn conversation into concrete outcomes. Each session is designed with a distinct goal in mind to help you move your work forward and achieve your outcomes. Choose one of the 6 formats below that best serves your session goal: 

Dialogue

Explore perspectives around a thematic or regional issue area

Roundtable

Consult and collect input from participants on a project, practice or policy

Workshop

Build skills, co-create resources, and develop tactics


Private Meeting

Collaborate and build support with invited stakeholders

Lightning Talk

Deliver a concise call to action

Tech Demo

Showcase a tool, technology, or technical project

Program Highlights

Regulating online platforms

The Manila Principles, a civil society initiative established at RightsCon Manila (2015), set out guidelines on internet intermediary liability. Since then, the push for platform accountability has led to deeper partnerships between company decision-makers, such as Facebook’s Strategic Response team, and activists in our summit space.

Program Highlights

Responding to shutdowns

The #KeepItOn coalition, a network of more than 220 organizations from 99 countries, was formed at RightsCon Silicon Valley (2016). The summit also marked the first international consensus on the definition of an internet shutdown.

Program Highlights

Healthcare on the internet

With internet pharmacies and telemedicine on the rise, the Prescription Justice Institute developed the Brussels Principles to ensure safety and quality in the sale of medical products online. Named for RightsCon Brussels (2017), the principles continue to inform approaches to digital health, including responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Program Highlights

Human rights principles in AI

At RightsCon Toronto (2018), Access Now and Amnesty International launched a landmark declaration on the right to equality and nondiscrimination in machine learning. The Toronto Declaration addresses the risk of human rights harms associated with artificial intelligence technology.

Program Highlights

Combating hate speech

Equality Labs released a report at RightsCon Tunis (2019) detailing the failures of Facebook India’s content moderation policies to protect caste, religious, gender, and queer minorities from hate speech. The report has been cited widely, most recently in an open letter that prompted the resignation of policy chief Ankhi Das.

Program Highlights

Digital ID

Created in a closed-door Solve My Problem session at RightsCon Tunis (2019), the #WhyID coalition asks key decision-makers to consider the human impact of digital identity programs. Signatories include Audrey Tang, (Digital Minister, Taiwan), and Charles Mok (Legislative Councillor on IT, Hong Kong).

Program Highlights

Ban Biometric Surveillance

During RightsCon Online 2021, 25 new civil society organizations, and over 500 individuals, joined the #BanBS global coalition, a powerful new network working together to ban biometric surveillance. The coalition had evolved from a Solve My Problem session at RightsCon Online 2020.

Program Highlights

Developing a technologist code of ethics

United States Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power and New America Foundation CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter launched an initiative at RightsCon Online 2022 to develop a technologist code of ethics, in an effort by civil society and technologists to build a rights-respecting digital future.

Program Highlights

Safeguarding from harmful technologies

UN experts present at RightsCon Costa Rica (2023) issued a joint statement calling for greater transparency, oversight, and regulation to address the negative impacts of new and emerging digital technologies.

Meet our community

Every year, the RightsCon program is sourced through our annual Call for Proposals. Over 600 organizations hosted sessions for RightsCon Costa Rica. Meet a selection of our session organizers below:

Amazon
Amnesty International
Cisco
Digital Security Lab
Discord
Global Partners Digital
Human Rights Watch
Internews
Meta
Wikimedia
Center for Democracy & Technology Logo
Association for Progressive Communications Logo
Berkman Klein Center for internet & society at Harvard University Logo
CIPESA Logo
Dangerous Speech Project Logo
Freedom House Logo
Open Net Logo
Privacy International Logo
Small Media Logo
The Engine Room Logo

Frequently Asked Questions

Check out our answers to frequently asked questions. If you are unable to find the information you are looking, get in touch with us at [email protected]

What is RightsCon’s approach to a “hybrid” program?

Hosted both online and in-person, RightsCon 2025 will mark our second hybrid summit. The program will support six session formats intended to foster moments of connection and collaboration, and a schedule which will enable live participation across different time zones.

Based on how you anticipate joining us for RightsCon 2025, you can choose to host your session online or in-person. Online sessions are run entirely on our custom summit platform, while in-person sessions are held at our venue (to be announced in May). You can pick either option, but once you submit the proposal form, your selection is final.

Based on timezones, budgetary, and team capacity constraints this year, we have decided to reduce the amount of sessions that include hybrid elements. For the roundtable and private meeting formats only, there will be a select number of sessions that will be elevated to support a two-way exchange between online and in-person participants. If you are a session proposer for these formats, and are interested in being considered for hybrid elevation, we want to know why bringing both online and in-person participants together is necessary to support your session goals. Please note that unlike online sessions, hybrid sessions will only be hosted from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. local time, and so may not be ideal for the timezones you intend to reach to participate. 


For more information on our program structure and strategy this year, check out our Call for Proposals launch blog, where you can find the changes we’re making for this RightsCon cycle thanks to the valuable feedback we received from our community during our consultation calls.

How do I host a session at RightsCon?

RightsCon’s program is sourced through an open Call for Proposals. The Call for Proposals for RightsCon 2025 closed on June 2, 2024.

Why should I contribute to the program?

RightsCon’s global platform can raise the profile of your work and provide direct access to thousands of participants around the world with the power and expertise to take your ideas to the next level. RightsCon equips session organizers with the space and tools to build skills, networks, and strategies for action. 

You’ll receive resources, support and training at every stage of the program-building cycle, including proposal writing trainings, resources on session design and production, ticket discount codes to share with the members of your session, tailored facilitation training for in-person, online, and hybrid environments, and orientation sessions before the summit to help you prepare and network with other organizers.

What topics does the program cover?

The program is broad in scope and supports many topics of continued importance for our community, including, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, Content Governance, Online Hate and Violence, Internet Access and Inclusion, Business and Human Rights, and Tactics and Contexts for Activists.

We also look for new issues to prompt exploration. Recent summits introduced program tracks on art and activism, human rights-centered design, and humanitarian action, and intersecting themes on health, environmental sustainability, disability rights, and gender justice.

You can find the list of program categories for RightsCon 2025 in our Guide to a Successful Proposal. These categories will inform the final tracks that participants use to navigate the program and find sessions of interest.

Who evaluates the Call for Proposals?

Access Now works with a Program Committee to review the Call for Proposals. Every year, we invite academics, technologists, creators, activists, business leaders and policymakers from around the world to chair the Program Committee and help us select proposals based on our core evaluation criteria (relevant, actionable, original, diverse, and participatory). We also look holistically across categories and take other factors into account, such as gender and region, in order to create the strongest and most inclusive program possible.

What is the impact of the RightsCon program?

RightsCon positions our community to secure commitments, develop resources and campaigns, and set standards for human rights. Our summit has launched government initiatives, such as Tech for Democracy and the Technologist Code of Ethics, prompted statements from UN experts, produced coalitions to fight internet shutdowns, oppose the extensive surveillance of migrants in Latin America, and to prevent the misuse of digital identity systems, and established principles for non-discrimination in AI and the online sale of medicines.

Learn more about RightsCon’s impact in our most recent Outcomes Report.

What if I need funding to travel or participate?

RightsCon offers a Community Support Fund, available to those who wish to attend RightsCon in-person or online. The fund offers travel support for in-person participation(including travel, accommodation, among other travel-related costs), as well as direct financial support for online participation (including connectivity, translation and other services).

While the fund is open to everyone, we prioritize applications from session organizers, facilitators, and speakers from communities who are traditionally underrepresented in global convenings. However as a nonprofit organization with limited resources, we are unfortunately unable to guarantee funding to every applicant. Applications to the Fund will be open in early June and will be available through the RightsCon Proposal Portal.