Taipei and online | February 24-27, 2025
RightsCon Program
Expansive in scope, the RightsCon program supports over 550 sessions across 18 tracks, and 6 different session formats focused on the intersection of human rights and technology.
Our first RightsCon in East Asia will unfold over 4 days, both in-person and online.
RightsCon Session List
Explore the list of sessions on the agenda for RightsCon 2025 and start planning your opportunities to connect, discover, and collaborate!
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) | Global Network Initiative (GNI)
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
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
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
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
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
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
Accessing connection: bridging the digital divide for LBGTI communities worldwide
Host: The Engine Room | ILGA World
Dialogue | online
Study: Delicensing Spectrum Bands to Boost Rural Connectivity in Global South Countries
Host: Independent
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
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: Freedom House | Media Matters for Democracy | Judicial Reform Foundation | Open Development Cambodia | Thai Netizen Network Thailand Freedom House
Workshop | in-person
Crisis response: interactive workshop on the Gaza experience
Host: WITNESS
Workshop | 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
Lessons learned convenant on digital awareness online living environment
Host: Digital Rights House
Dialogue | in-person
Timeline
Below is an overview of the key dates for the RightsCon program:
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:
Format
Dialogue
Explore perspectives around a thematic or regional issue area
Format
Roundtable
Consult and collect input from participants on a project, practice or policy
Format
Workshop
Build skills, co-create resources, and develop tactics
Format
Private Meeting
Collaborate and build support with invited stakeholders
Format
Lightning Talk
Deliver a concise call to action
Format
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:
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.