At Amnesty Tech we believe technology should put people and human rights first, and we’ve plugged hackers, coders, data scientists and technologists into our team to help achieve this. We investigate. We campaign. We work to change policy. We fight for justice. We hold the powerful to account. We’re setting the agenda for the future of human rights and technology.
Every year RightsCon brings together activists, business leaders, policy makers, technologists, and journalists from around the world to take action on human rights in the digital age. After three years of virtual gatherings, the 12th edition will be a hybrid taking place online and in San José, Costa Rica between 5-8 June 2023.
Protecting abortion online: Tools and strategies to counter digital suppression
June 6, 2023 | 10:15 – 11:15pm BST
With the overturn of Roe v Wade, a surging number of people are searching for abortion-related answers online. Concurrently, Big Tech companies and governments are suppressing accurate abortion information and preventing millions of people worldwide from accessing critical healthcare and having complete control over their own bodies. Just when the pro-abortion movement needs tech to step up to ensure all our rights to accurate, quality health care information, the threats of digital suppression and disinformation are only increasing.
This session will bring together organizations, experts, and activists worldwide to share and dissect tools and strategies of those working at the forefront of countering digital suppression (e.g., censorship database, anti-abortion fake clinic database, campaigns, petitions, and strategic litigation toolkit).
Host Institution:
Amnesty International (USA) | Women on Web | Reproaction | Center for Intimacy Justice (CJA) | Plan C
Panellists:
Venny Ala-Siurua (Women on Web), Martha Dimitratou (Plan C), Jane Eklund (Amnesty International USA), Shireen Rose Shakouri (Reproaction), Jackie Rotman (Center for Intimacy Justice)
Jane Eklund
Tech and Reproductive Rights Fellow
Digital rights (not) for all: how gaps in EU law perpetuate inequalities and marginalization
June 7, 2023 | 4 – 5pm BST
There are several areas where regulatory gaps in the EU’s digital rights laws have the potential to lead to a perpetuation of inequalities and marginalization. The speakers will each speak to specific examples of how this has materialised in the areas such as policing, disability rights, and migration. Through discussion with the panellists and with those participating in the session we hope to be able to raise awareness of some of these gaps and to identify ways to close them.
Whilst the speakers will be grounded in their experience of working in the context of the EU’s digital regulatory frameworks such as the GDPR, the AI Act, and the DSA, we will welcome comments and participation from participants both operating within and outside of the EU context in order to share best practise and reflections. We will also welcome contributions from participants about where regulatory gaps have appeared in areas not discussed by the panel. We are hoping that this conversation will also bring us to find approaches to challenge specific exclusionary practices present within the development of regulatory frameworks that lead to the creation of these gaps.
Host Institution:
Amnesty International
Panellists:
Imogen Richmond- Bishop (Amnesty International), Mher Hakobyan (Amnesty International), Sarah Chander (European Digital Rights, EDRi), Alejandro Moldedo (European Disability Forum), Caterina Rodelli, (EU Policy Analyst, Access Now)
Imogen Richmond-Bishop
Technology & Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Researcher – Algorithmic Accoumtability Lab
Mher Hakobyan
Advocacy Advisor on AI Regulation —
Algorithmic Accountability Lab
“Rebel cities”: Open data against surveillance
June 8, 2023 | 5:15 – 6:15pm BST
When the NYPD dismissed Amnesty International’s Freedom of Information Law request to release information on their use of used facial recognition, we decided to map the CCTV cameras that feed the technology. A year later, we have used this crowdsourced data to develop an advocacy and awareness online tool that demonstrates our research findings and makes the data explorable. The open data generated has been used to analyse the relationship between race, space and surveillance, and to expose the ways in which the public square is threatened as a site of protest, particularly for communities of colour. But what else can we glean from this? How can surveillance data generated by activists––in conversation with existing open data sets––help us reclaim our cities? How can we use open data, centred around geography and demographics in particular, help us in the fight against AI-driven surveillance?
Host Institution:
Amnesty International
Matt Mahmoudi
Researcher/Adviser – Big Data, Artificial Intelligence & Human Rights
How legislation in the EU impacts the Global South
June 8, 2023 | 9 – 10pm BST
In the ‘Digital Decade’, the European Union (EU)’s main objective was to regulate some of the most salient aspects of the digital transformation. Another objective was to inspire the relevant legislation of other states in the international community. In many instances, enforcement contributes to the strengthening of the protection of online freedom of expression and other basic rights. However, in others, the application may lead to the deepening of existing asymmetries. This session will focus in particular on the footprint of key texts for content moderation on social media, and its intended and unintended impacts, as well issues of privacy. This session aims to become an exercise in collective imagination and foresight around current issues that intertwine global problems (conflicts, violence, exploitation) and the impact of regulation on the digital sphere.
Host Institution:
7amleh
Panellists:
Alia Al Ghussain (Amnesty International), Nighat Dad (Digital Rights Foundation), Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal (7amleh), Tomiwa Ilori (University of Pretoria), Nadim Nashif (7amleh)
Alia Al Ghussain
Researcher/Adviser – Big Tech Accountability