Following the cancellation of Rightscon 2026 earlier in the year, this will be a 24-hour global online event , with a common theme of resilience, adaptation, and movement building, where the multistakeholder community will exchange ideas and explore how to respond to an increasingly complex digital rights landscape.
SPEAKERS Mahsa Alimardani – Associate Director, Technology Threats and Opportunities program, WITNESS Jocelyn Woolbright – Program Manager, Public Policy Team, Cloudflare Mia Marzotto – Digital Rights Advocacy Lead, Oxfam Luis Barrueto – Coordinator, Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline
HOST / MODERATOR Giulio Coppi – Senior Humanitarian Officer, Access Now
It is an unfortunate fact that, in some regions of the world, our best efforts to make an ‘Internet for Everyone’ are all too often undercut by deliberate withdrawals of service, mandated by the powers that be. Three organizations have taken it upon themselves to shine light on this issue: Access Now, with its #KeepItOn advocacy campaign to oppose shutdowns; The Internet Society on its Pulse platform, which has not only a Shutdown Tracker, but also a Netloss Calculator to estimate the resulting economic damage; and Columbia Global Freedom of Expression, which specifically tracks legal challenges to shutdowns.
People experiencing vulnerability as a consequence of conflict and violence often rely on a small group of humanitarian actors, trusted because of their claims of neutrality, impartiality, and independence from the warring parties. They rely on these humanitarian organisations and agencies for subsistence, protection, and access to basic services and information, in the darkest times in their lives. Yet these same actors can expose them to further harm. The report examines the partnerships between humanitarian actors and private corporations, how these often-opaque partnerships impact the digital rights of the affected communities, and offers recommendations for keeping people safe.
PRESENTER Giulio Coppi – Senior Humanitarian Officer, Access Now
HOST / MODERATOR Chelsea Horne, Senior Professorial Lecturer, American University Department of Literature / Co-convenor, ISOC-DC
SPEAKERS Hon. Isobel Coleman, USAID Deputy Administrator Hon. Jonatan Vseviov, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia H.E. Nele Leosk, Ambassador-at-Large for Digital Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia H.E. Minna-Liina Lind, Estonia Ambassador at Large for Human Rights H.E. Anne Marie Engtoft Larsen, Tech Ambassador, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark Scott Busby, Deputy Assistant Secretary Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. State Department Robert Opp, Chief Digital Officer, UNDP Kanbar Hossein-Bor, Deputy Director of Democratic Governance and Media Freedom Department; Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom Manuel Muñiz, Provost of IE University in Madrid Brett Solomon, Executive Director, Access Now Natalia Carfi, Executive Director, Open Data Charter Teresa Hutson, Corporate Vice President of Technology and Corporate Responsibility, Microsoft Scott Carpenter, Director of Policy and International Engagement, Jigsaw Carolyn Tackett, Campaigns & Rapid Response Director, Access Now Kenny Olmstead, Senior Internet Security and Privacy Expert, Internet Society Pulse Allie Funk, Freedom House Waris Hussain, American Bar Association Paul Butler, President, New America Silvana Rodriguez, New America
The Internet has proven resilient though gaps remain in bringing students and women online, among other impacted communities. According to the 2021 State of Global Education report by UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank, the pandemic impacted traditional education models, affecting 1.6 billion children. Children especially in rural and remote areas were unable to learn remotely due to a lack of Internet access and digital technologies at home.
Unfortunately, governments often see the Internet as a threat to be contained and splintered rather than a resource to expand universally. Access Now’s Shutdown Tracker Optimization Project (STOP) in collaboration with the #KeepItOn Coalition reported 182 Internet shutdowns in 34 countries in 2021, including the longest Internet shutdowns on record. Internet shutdowns limit women’s possibilities and aggravate inequality and injustice. For students, particularly girls, Internet shutdowns during school examinations remain a common practice hindering quality education worldwide.
While the Internet is incredibly resilient, it is constantly under attack, which may limit our ability to grow and use it to its full potential, ultimately affecting the attainment of SDG4 and SDG5. Governments, businesses, and organizations worldwide are increasingly making decisions that could lead to a splinternet.
This virtual side event will examine some of the efforts to expand access to the Internet and how they contribute to the achievement of SDGs 4 and 5, as well as challenges the Internet faces that undermine achievement of SDGs 4 and 5. This session will examine what needs to be done to ensure that everyone has unrestricted, inexpensive, and dependable Internet access.
SPEAKERS Peter Micek, General Council, Access Now Neeti Biyani, Policy and Advocacy Manager, Internet Society Marielza Oliveria, Director for Partnerships and Operational Programme Monitoring, UNESCO Juwang Zhu, Director of the Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government, UN DESA
MODERATOR Dr. Joseph Hall, Distinguished Technologist, Internet Society
On Wednesday September 9 2020 at 7pm EDT (23:00 UTC) NYC Mesh will hold its monthly Organizational meetup. There will be a brief overview of Bed Stuy Strong, plus open mic for questions.
From today Wednesday March 30 2016 – Friday April 1 2016 AccessNow presents RightsCon Silicon Valley 2016 in San Francisco CA. RightsCon is three days of sessions tackling some of today’s most challenging business and policy issues: freedom of expression, online harassment and countering violent extremism, privacy and digital security, encryption, network discrimination and connectivity, human rights, trade and business, transparency reporting, digital inclusion, internet governance, and more. Speakers include Bertrand De La Chappelle, Rebecca Mackinnon, Bruce Schneier, Michael Nelson, Ed Snowden, Wendy Seltzer, and ISOC Trustee Walid Al-Saqaf. The event will be webcast live on 3 tracks via AccessNow’s YouTube. Remote participation is available via SLIDO
The Computers & Privacy Conference 2014 is taking place today and tomorrow Monday 9 June – Tuesday 10 June 2014 in Warrenton, VA. The theme of this year’s conference is “The Internet Wants to be Free.” .Co-chaired by Nuala O’Connor, CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, and Amie Stepanovich, Senior Policy Counsel at Access. CFP 2014 brings together the best minds and most energized advocates in the tech privacy space, to consider the state of Internet freedom. The vent is being webcast live by the Internet Society’s North America Bureau.
What: Computers & Privacy Conference 2014 Where: Warrenton, VA When: Monday 9 June – Tuesday 10 June 2014 Agenda: http://cfp2014.cdt.info/#schedule Webcast: https://new.livestream.com/internetsociety/CFP2014-June9 Twitter: #cfp2014
From today Wednesday March 30 2016 – Friday April 1 2016 
