September 4 2026 Agenda

Day One of the 2026 Global Gathering Agenda   ➤ Next Day

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!!! Please note that the agenda is still being updated !!!!

September 4 Pre-GG Morning Activities | 9:00 - 12:00

These activities occur in the morning, before the start of the Global Gathering

	Satellite Events and RSVP-Required Workshops
	Each morning, we provide space for private satellite events and a handful of workshops that are open to participants, but you must register for each before the start of the event. Currently accepting RSVPs for: 09:00 - 11:30: Security for Beginners Workshop 10:00 - 11:30: Interactive TFGBV Networking Salon 10:00 - 11:30: Break into the Firewall: A Role-Playing Game 10:00 - 11:30: Demystifying End-to-End Encryption ... So You can Better Evaluate Tools for Your Threat Model

	Wellbeing Morning Activities
	Wellbeing Morning Activities take place offsite, before the start of the GG each day, and do not require prior registration. You can also volunteer to host a Wellbeing Morning Activity by following these instructions. 🌸 10:00 - 11:30 Catalyst Coaching Group

September 4 GG Activities | 12:00 - 18:00

	12:00 - 13:00 | Networking Hour and Featured Meetups Each day we host a networking hour at the venue. Take advantage of the many food vendors we have while meeting folks in the digital rights space! This includes a handful of meetups that take place in the venue. 🌿🌿 Regional meetups will take place today! Don't miss them! 🌿🌿
Location	Meetup
	Asia Meetup
	Africa Meetup
	Eastern European and Central Caucasus Meetup
	Latin America Meetup
	North America Meetup
	Russia Meetup
	SWANA Meetup
	Western Europe Meetup

📣 Please note that Booths start at 13:00 and Circles start at 13:30

	Circles, Villages and Offsite Meetups 🔔 Follow these instructions, to organize a Circle in the slots marked "TBD" OR to organize an offsite meetup. 🔔 Please take notes in each Riseup pad linked in each title. You can find detailed Circles, Villages, and Meetup descriptions the end of this page.
Circles, September 4
	13:30 - 14:30	15:00 - 16:00	16:30 - 17:30
Circle 1	Researchers Meetup	Age Verification and Digital Identity Systems: The Mapping and Actors (Part 1)	The Future of DSA: A Global Perspective
Circle 2	Journalism Meetup	Cross-Borders Storytelling: Device Searches, Metadata, and Collective Preparation	Digital Authoritarianism and Forced Exile: Mapping Experiences and Strategies
Circle 3	Policy Advocates Meetup	Digital Transnational Repression: Connecting Across Regions	Criminalization Is a Design Condition: Building Most Resilient Tech from the Margins
Circle 4	Participatory Defense Meetup	How to Design and Build Digital Infrastructure that Works for Your Community	Leaving Big Tech: From Common Blockers to Collective Solutions
Circle 5	Influence Operations Investigators Meetup	On the Horizon: AI-enabled Technology and its Gendered Harms	Creative Refusal: Experimental Artistic Methods to Radically Refuse Surveillance
Circle 6	OSINT in the Open Meetup	Investigating Platform Accountability	Digital Security and AI Meetup
Circle 7		TBD - Available to be reserved	TBD - Available to be reserved
Villages
	13:30 - 14:30	15:00 - 16:00	16:30 - 17:30
Ecosystem Resilience Village		U.S. Foreign Policy and Human Rights: Impacts, Challenges, and Opportunities	How Ops Staff Can Stay Afloat During the Floods
Calyx Village		Calyx Session	Clawing Back Your Data in the Age of Social Surveillance
APC Village		Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) Global South Communities Reviewing the FLOSS We Need, Visions from the Margins	Operations as Security Infrastructure
Digital Security Village	Security Practioners Meetup	Beyond Borders: How Authoritarian States Use Digital Tactics to Target Diaspora and People in Exile	Auditing AI on the Questions that Matter to You: Learn a Simple, Repeatable Method for Testing How LLMs Handle Politically Contested Topics
Circumvention Tech Village	Technologist Meetup	MANTA: Measuring Tunnel Health in Censored Environments	Working Around Max: Brainstorming Civil-Society Resistance to Russia's State Messaging App
Spyware Village	Spyware Researchers Meetup
Secure Communications Village		How to Approach Community-Rriven Development Beyond Git	Secure Messaging in 2026 and What Comes Next
Regional Views Village		15 Things We Learned from Auditing 15 Brazilian Media Organizations	Advancing Collective Responses to Mis- and Disinformation in the Iran and Palestine Contexts
Queer Rights Village		Tech Justice Promenade: Gathering of LGBTQI+ and Allies	Inappropriate Bodies: Sex Workers & Queer People Pushed to the Digital Margins
Offsite Meetups	Please note that these meetups are being organized by participants themselves, and the TCU/GG staff have no oversight on these activities.

	Booths You can find detailed Booth descriptions at the bottom of this page. Each booth at the venue is numbered. The venue maps on site at the venue will help direct you toward booths by number.
	13:00 - 15:00			15:30 - 17:30
Location	Name	Run by		Name	Run by
APC Village Booth 3	Next generation Internet - Zero (NGI0) ecosystem	APC		Community Centred Connectivity	APC
Booth 4a				Tumpa	Tumpa
Booth 4b				Digital Security Helpline - Safety Clinic	Access Now
Booth 5	Dash Chat	Dash Chat		Gossip Messenger - Your Messaging App Leaks. Change My Mind	Gossip Messenger
Queer Rights Village Booth 6	Queer Rights Village			Queer Rights Village
Booth 7				Osservatorio Nessuno OdV	Osservatorio Nessuno OdV
Booth 8				Help! Where's my newsletter?	First Draft Media
Secure Comms Village Booth 9	Air Messenger	Phoenix R&D/Air Messenger		Secure Comms: What’s Working, What’s Missing?	Phoenix R&D/Air Messenger & OKthanks
Booth 10				The AI Risk Wall: What Civil Society Is Actually Worried About	Tecer Digital
Booth 11				Horizontal	Horizontal
Booth 12	User Experience Design & Accessibility Clinic	Superbloom Design, Kumquat, CoRD UX & Discovery Lab		User Experience Design & Accessibility Clinic	Superbloom Design, Kumquat, CoRD UX & Discovery Lab
Booth 13				Let's Grow Living Libraries	Connecting Current Digital Library System - Global South Alliance
Booth 14				CADE - Civil Society Alliances for Digital Empowerment	Diplo
Booth 15				Toosheh & Friends	NetFreedom Pioneers Toosheh Star Toosheh
Booth 16				Holistic Security Practitioners - Steps towards Community and Updating the Manual	Holistic Protection Collective
Booth 17				po1ytech 𝑥 IONAFLOW - Censorship Circumvention and Tooling for Journalists	po1ytech / IONAFLOW polymorphic
Booth 18				Jordan Open Source Association (JOSA)	Jordan Open Source Association
Booth 19	Rise Against Big Tech Coalition Booth	Rise Against Big Tech Coalition
Booth 21				MANTA and LEAP Encrytpion Access Project	LEAP Encryption Access Project
Circumvention Tech Village Booth 22	The Onion Odyssey Cryptographic Universe	Tor Project & Guardian Project (Orbot, Onion Browser)		The Onion Odyssey Cryptographic Universe	Tor Project & Guardian Project (Orbot, Onion Browser)
Spyware Village Booth 57
Calyx Village Booth 79	Calyx Institute	Calyx Institute CalyxOS		Calyx Institute	Calyx Institute CalyxOS
Booth 80				Tech for Palestine - Building Ethical Alternatives for Palestinian Liberation and Digital Sovereignty	Tech for Palestine
Regional Perspectives Village Booth 81				Venezuela - Conexión Segura y Libre	CSL - Conexión Segura y LibreVE sin Filtro
Booth 82	Palestine Booth	Independent		Palestine Booth	Independent

September 4 Global Gathering After Hours | 18:00 - 21:00

The Digital Rights Drag Show

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Time: 18:00 - 19:00 Location: Center of venue Join us for a night of drag with Valencia and Drive and Billie Gunz . 💖 Valencia Drive -the (Un)official drag queen of the digital rights community - is your commercial-free hotmix of the 80’s, 90’s and today, here to serve you more fashion, more comedy, and more cartoonish nonsense than ever before. Valencia returns to Global Gathering mainstage this year with yet another iconic, legendary, and absolutely flawless performance, proving yet again why she’s your favorite threat model. (Valencia Drive's IG: @thevalenciadrive). 💖 Billie Gunz is a trans masc performing artist based in Porto. Trained in theater, dance and performance art, his drag explores LGTB+ narratives and alternative masculinities in pop culture. The work is usually political, sexy, and camp. He was the co-founder of Casa T Lisboa, and Casa del Carmen (Salamanca-Spain). Both projects center on creating LGBT+ community, mixing activism and art. Currently he is starting a new era as a solo performer.

The Boom Boom Boom P A R T Y Time: 19:00 - 21:00 Location: Center of venue Open the Global Gathering with the energized global sounds of DJ Boom Boom Boom, the most loved AND feared DJ of the digital rights community. Last year, our attempts to dethrone her were thwarted because of alleged intimidation involving bag pipe serenades. We will give it up though - her P A R T I E S are among the best we have ever been to! DJ Boom Boom Boom sounds combine Afro beats, reggaeton, Habibi sounds, Medieval flute trap, and polka remixes of Taylor Swift. This internationally acclaimed DJ has graced laundromats and parking lots across three countries. She is well known outside of the digital rights space for inventing the Bluetooth tambourine, and is considered the greatest mime since Marcel Marceau.

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Village and Circle Descriptions

Villages are "all-day hubs" focused on specific topics. They house both Booths and Circles.

Village	Run by	Village Description
APC Village	Association for Progressive Communications
Calyx Village	The Calyx Institute
Circumvention Tech Village	The Tor Project, Guardian Project
Digital Rights Village	Resident NGO, TCU	This is a space for security practitioners and trainers to discuss securing our communities from digital threats from both the ground and the tech
Ecosystem Resilience Village	TCU
Regional Views Village
Secure Communications Village	Phoenix R & D (Air Messenger), OK Thanks
Spyware Village	Amnesty Tech, EFF
Queer Rights Village

Circle and/or Meetup Title	Description
15 Things We Learned from Auditing 15 Brazilian Media Organizations	What happens when 15 newcomers to the SAFETAG auditing methodologies are trained to perform their own assessments and then hit the road to audit 15 independent Brazilian media organisations? Join an implementer, two auditors, and a funder who will share their experience as a starting point for the discussion of what happened when a structured auditor-training model met the messy realities of small, resource-constrained newsrooms. Participants will share their similar experiences using SAFETAG and any best practices or lessons they also picked up along the way.
Age Verification and Digital Identity Systems: The Mapping and Actors (Part 1)	This is part 1 of a two part Circle focused on Age Verification and digital Identify Systems Digital Identity systems and age verification requirements are being rolled out in many countries across the world. In this Circle, participants highlight the work of the digital rights organizations and coalitions working in this area, as well as mapping what people are seeing on the ground in different regions. Together, they will explore how privacy-washing appears in technical and policy proposals, how these systems function in practice, and the impacts they have on communities—particularly those most at risk. Additionally, they will share research, including  hearing from Karisma's research on the Colombian digital ID card developed by IDEMIA - the same company that produces the EU digital wallet. They will also have an opportunity to connect with members of the HR41D coalition, a network of human rights defenders actively working on digital identity and age verification issues. This  CIrcle will be followed up by a CIrcle on day three, focused on strategizing collectively around what harm-reduction pathways civil society and technologists can push for.
Advancing Collective Responses to Mis- and Disinformation in the Iran and Palestine Contexts	Mis- and disinformation surrounding the human rights situations in Iran and Palestine continue to shape public understanding, influence policy debates, and affect the work of the civil society. This circle will bring together journalists, researchers, technologists, and advocates, lawyers to discuss shared challenges, identify gaps, and exchange strategies for responding to these information threats. Together, participants will explore opportunities for collaboration and develop ideas for collective action and future coordination.
Auditing AI on the Questions that Matter to You: Learn a Simple, Repeatable Method for Testing How LLMs Handle Politically Contested Topics	AI models differ meaningfully in whether they mirror or resist state-aligned framing. In this hands-on Circle, participants run live tests across multiple models and leave with a reproducible audit methodology using AI analysis tool AIdas. The goal is to help participants replicate and extend an AI research methodology in their own contexts.
Africa Meetup	Connect with individuals actively working in the African region. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from diverse African projects, gain valuable insights, and expand your professional network. This meetup is designed to foster meaningful connections and enrich the Africa digital rights community.
Asia Meetup	Connect with individuals actively working in the Asia region. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from diverse Asian projects, gain valuable insights, and expand your professional network. This meetup is designed to foster meaningful connections and enrich the Asian digital rights community.
Beyond Borders: How Authoritarian States Use Digital Tactics to Target Diaspora and People in Exile	Across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and beyond, authoritarian governments are using increasingly sophisticated digital tactics to surveil, harass, and discredit activists and organizations operating outside their borders. This Circle draws on documented cases from Belarus, including fake Telegram bots, AI-generated deepfakes, fabricated hack narratives, and financial doxxing, as entry points for a broader cross-regional exchange about how these tactics are evolving and what patterns emerge when you look across different country contexts.
Clawing Back Your Data in the Age of Social Surveillance	Participants will discuss what it means to participate in social media and online networks in 2026. Together, they will explore questions such as: Under what circumstances is sharing information on the social—and non-social—web important? What does deletion mean in a digital context, and when is it critical? They will also examine the power of backing up and preserving information as a form of speaking truth to power in digital spaces where surveillance, censorship, and platform control can be used to shape, edit, or erase narratives from critical voices.
Creative Refusal: Experimental Artistic Methods to Radically Refuse Surveillance	This circle brings together people interested in exploring artistic methods to challenge surveillance in public spaces, online, during protests, and in everyday life. Participants will engage with low-tech creative practices, techniques, and visual imagery that can be used to resist surveillance and demand structural transformation. The circle will also raise critical questions about when and why visibility is used to document injury. The conversation draws its starting examples from Queer African communities: Adventures of the Witch's Garden (AWG), a game built from stories of how queer Africans navigate tech surveillance, and Making Space for the Unkind,  a speculative visual novel that interrogates the systems sustaining both digital infrastructures and extractive economies.
Criminalization Is a Design Condition: Building Most Resilient Tech from the Margins	Design from the Margins starts from a simple premise: the people most targeted by surveillance, censorship, policing, borders, and platform abuse are the people who can teach us how to design and build safer technology for everyone. Participants will discuss how criminalization can be used as a design condition and the understandings being built into it - turning lived harms and human rights documentation into concrete requirements for surveillance-resistant tools, safer defaults, alternative infrastructure, and tech that serves people, not power.
Cross-Borders Storytelling: Device Searches, Metadata, and Collective Preparation	Border crossings can transform phones, laptops and media archives into sources of risk for storytellers and the communities they document, particularly as border authorities in some jurisdictions gain wider powers to inspect digital devices and may seek access to cloud-based data. This Circle seeks to share and compare experiences of device searches and metadata scrutiny across regions, while exploring holistic preparation involving digital, legal, physical, cultural and psychosocial considerations.
Digital Authoritarianism and Forced Exile: Mapping Experiences and Strategies	This Circle examines digital authoritarianism as a direct driver of displacement and exile. Participants will map shared experiences across regions, and explore collective strategies and mutual support mechanisms to address common challenges and threats.
Digital Security and AI Meetup	Developments in AI are creating intensifying existing threats, and creating new threats, to the digital security of at-risk users. At the same time, interesting opportunities are emerging for privacy and security friendly alternatives. This circle will provide a space for participants to co-strategise on how civil society should respond to threats and opportunities at the intersection of AI and digital security
Digital Transnational Repression: Connecting Across Regions	This meetup brings together practitioners working on digital transnational repression (TNR) to exchange experiences, compare emerging trends, and strengthen collaboration across regions. While TNR often appears as a series of isolated incidents affecting specific countries or communities, many of these cases reflect common tactics, shared methods, and recurring patterns employed by different states against diaspora and exile communities. Recent exchanges among practitioners highlighted the value of looking beyond individual country contexts. Thus, we hope to do just that, and identify common patterns, exchange practical lessons, compare tactics, and build stronger connections and continued collaborations across networks, regions and organizations.
Eastern European and Central Caucasus Meetup	Connect with individuals actively working in the Eastern European and Central Caucasus region. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from diverse Eastern European and Central Caucasus projects, gain valuable insights, and expand your professional network. This meetup is designed to foster meaningful connections and enrich the Eastern European and Central Caucasus digital rights community.
Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) Global South Communities Reviewing the FLOSS We need, Visions from the Margins	This circle will be a celebration of the launch of a special edition of Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch), in partnership with NGI0, on the theme "The open source we want". This special edition explores diversity and inclusion for open source projects and how this impacts human rights online, access, accessibility, digital divide, advocacy, TFGBV, the usage of open source by human right defenders and NGOs, privacy, communal infrastructure and costs associated with open source technologies.
How Ops Staff Can Stay Afloat During the Floods	Funding cuts, staff layoffs, and ongoing uncertainty are forcing organizations to do more with less. During this circle, participants will share honest struggles with maintaining efficient, resilient operations, and will come away with collectively shared tactics and strategies that have been successful to stay functional, even during high stress periods.
How to Approach Community-Rriven Development Beyond Git	Participants will discuss approaches to let software development be driven by users, even those without technical know-how or git knowledge. What can we learn from Community activation/building tools developed in activist circles? How can we maintain bidirectional and value-based community connections?
How to Design and Build Digital Infrastructure that Works for Your Community	Communities can own and govern their own digital infrastructure! This Circle is for anyone trying to connect their community to the internet, or build or adapt communication platforms to serve their communities needs. Come hear little-known successes, exchange honest lessons, and identify shared needs to strengthen community-owned infrastructure.
Inappropriate Bodies: Sex Workers & Queer People Pushed to the Digital Margins	Surveillance, erasure, and censorship have always been a day-to-day to the sex worker community. In this circle, we invite digital rights activists, moderators, developers, and other sex workers to discuss the impact and the harm of these issues and how we can come together to build an Internet rooted in collective liberation.
Influence Operations Investigators Meetup	A space for people who research and track influence operations across different regions to meet, connect, and build trust. Many of us investigate influence operations in relative isolation, often under risk, and rarely get to meet peers facing similar challenges. This meetup is a chance to put faces to names, share where we are working and what we are up against, and lay the groundwork for ongoing cross-regional collaboration that continues well beyond the GG. We especially want to connect investigators from underrepresented regions, including the Global South, where influence operations are often under-documented but increasingly consequential.
Investigating Platform Accountability	This Circle will bring together individuals and projects investigating developments in platform accountability work, current needs, and brainstorming cross-regional actions. Building from prior reporting and research, we'll discuss hardwon lessons, share strategies to overcome challenges, and look out for ways to collaborate and learn from each other.
Journalism Meetup	Connect with other journalists and media professionals in the digital rights field. This is a fantastic opportunity to foster meaningful connections, share your concerns and seek support, and expand your professional network.
Latin America Meetup	Connect with individuals actively working in the Latin America region. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from diverse Latin American projects, gain valuable insights, and expand your professional network. This meetup is designed to foster meaningful connections and enrich the Latin America digital rights community.
Leaving Big Tech: From Common Blockers to Collective Solutions	Making the case for moving away from Big Tech is one thing, but actually doing it is another. In this circle, we'll bring together organisations and individuals at different stages of their transition to share what has worked, what hasn't and what's still getting in the way. Whether you're trying to build internal consensus, in the middle of a technical migration, or already on the other side and looking to support others, this is a space to map out shared challenges and leave with some good next steps.
MANTA: Measuring Tunnel Health in Censored Environments	An in-person gathering to present and discuss MANTA (Manifold Analysis of Network Tunnel Anomalies) with co-designers, implementors and aligned projects interested in measuring tunnel health in censored environments.
North America Meetup	Connect with individuals actively working in the North American region. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from diverse North American projects, gain valuable insights, and expand your professional network. This meetup is designed to foster meaningful connections and enrich the North American digital rights community.
On the Horizon: AI-enabled Technology and its Gendered Harms	With the steady increase in AI-powered technologies all around the world, the digital rights landscape is changing and with it so are online harms especially to women and young girls. This circle aims to discuss the impact of AI tools, software and technologies on how women access, use, and take part in online spaces. By leveraging research studies on gendered disinformation from the region, this circle will map our the real harms to communities across Global South through AI-powered technologies and surveillance.
Operations as Security Infrastructure	As shrinking civic space and evolving security threats make international human rights convenings increasingly difficult, operational resilience for convening has become as critical as digital security. This Circle asks: How do we threat-model a human rights convening? Together, we'll challenge and expand what counts as security infrastructure by exploring how operational decisions-from venue selection and government engagement to accessibility, participant care, and incident response-shape the safety and resilience of international gatherings. Bringing together conveners alongside practitioners working in digital security, organisational security, incident response, trust and safety, secure communications, accessibility, participant support, and crisis response, participants will identify shared priorities and strengthen our collective capacity to convene safely and sustainably amidst these times.
OSINT in the Open Meetup	OSINT practitioners share methods and missions but rarely get to share a room. This meetup is a dedicated space for open-source intelligence professionals to meet, swap stories, and build the kind of relationships that make the work more sustainable and less lonely.
Participatory Defense Meetup	This meetup is for people working on participatory defense and advocacy for individuals who have been imprisoned-to share strategies, tactics, and build up a stronger network for defense.
Policy Advocates Meetup	Connect with individuals working at the intersection of policy and digital rights. This event offers a unique opportunity to learn from fellow policy advocates from across the world, and learn about current policy initiatives related to the impact of technology on human rights.
Researchers Meetup	Connect with fellow researchers investigating digital rights topics and subjects such as internet freedom, security and technology. Participants will share insights, discuss recent findings, and explore emerging trends in the field. Whether you're a seasoned researcher or new to the field, this meetup provides a supportive environment to enhance your work and impact.
Russia Meetup	Connect with individuals actively working in Russia This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from diverse Russian projects, gain valuable insights, and expand your professional network. This meetup is designed to foster meaningful connections and enrich the Russian digital rights community.
Secure Messaging in 2026 and What Comes next	Participants will discuss what secure messaging looks like in 2026-and where it's headed next. We'll explore current trends, emerging gaps, and how evolving privacy technologies and federated protocols are reshaping the landscape. This session invites input from developers, advocates, and end users alike to help define the future of secure, user-centered communication. Come share your insights and help us imagine what comes next.
Security Practioners Meetup	Meet security practioners from around the world - from cybersecurity professionals conducting audits to digital security trainers. Whether you’re looking to share your expertise, learn from others, or expand your professional network, this Circle is a great place to learn about new developments, and find opportunities for collaboration.
Spyware Researchers Meetup
SWANA Meetup	Connect with individuals actively working in the SWANA region. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from diverse SWANA projects, gain valuable insights, and expand your professional network. This meetup is designed to foster meaningful connections and enrich the SWANA digital rights community.
Tech Justice Promenade: Gathering of LGBTQI+ and allies	This meetup provides a strategic space for LGBTQI+ technologists, policymakers, digital rights activists, and allies to connect and build actionable pathways for increasing queer representation in the global tech ecosystem and examining the rapid expansion of Artificial intelligence. strategising on how our communities can move from passive consumers of these technologies to critical operators who can shape its future and counter algorithmic bias.
Technologist Meetup	Meet technologists from across the world who are working in digital rights, or in other public interest technology areas. Whether you’re looking to share your expertise, learn from others, or expand your professional network, this Circle is a great place to learn about new developments, and find opportunities for collaboration.
The Future of DSA: A Global Perspective	This circle is designed for current and prospective DSA Human Rights Alliance members to discuss pressing issues in platform regulation at the EU level, the regulatory implications of EU regulation beyond its borders, and how broader regional perspectives can be incorporated into Alliance's activities. Building on the Principles for a Human-Rights Centered Application of the DSA: A Global Perspective, published earlier this year, participants will strategize on advocacy approaches to maximize the impact of the Principles and to envision the Alliance's future in the shrinking civil society space.
U.S. Foreign Policy and Human Rights: Impacts, Challenges, and Opportunities	Participants will discuss the dramatic shift of U.S. government foreign policy since 2024 - from the gutting of foreign aid, firing of internet freedom staff, and deepening politicization of human rights policy. The discussion will center on how this shift has impacted human rights defenders around the world, challenges to engaging with the US administration, and potential efforts and opportunities that may still exist through 2028.
Working Around Max: Brainstorming Civil-Society Resistance to Russia's State Messaging App	Max is a state-backed messaging and government-services app from Russia's VK Group that became mandatory to pre-install on smartphones sold in Russia from September 2025, and is increasingly required to reach government services there and in Russian-occupied Ukraine. Drawing on InterSecLab's technical analysis of how Max detects and blocks VPNs, collects user data, and monitors in-app behavior, this Circle brings participants together to assess existing circumvention approaches and brainstorm new ones. Whether you are a journalist, lawyer, dissident, queer person, or VPN developer connected to Russia, have friends and family there, or simply want to lend your brainpower to internet freedom, you are welcome.
Western Europe Meetup	Connect with individuals actively working in the Western European region. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about different projects, gain valuable insights, and expand your professional network. This meetup is designed to foster meaningful connections and enrich the Western European digital rights community.

Booth Descriptions

Booth	Run by	Booth Description
Digital Security Helpline - safety Clinic	Access Now	The Digital Security Helpline offers expert guidance on online safety, privacy, and security for individuals and organizations. Whether you're dealing with hacking, harassment, data breaches, or just want to strengthen your digital defenses. At the booth, visitors can: Get one-on-one advice from digital security experts Learn simple steps to secure devices and accounts Explore tools for privacy, encryption, and safe communication Ask questions about real-life digital threats and how to respond
Next generation Internet - Zero (NGI0) ecosystem	APC
Community Centred Connectivity	APC
Calyx Institute	Calyx Institute CalyxOS	The Calyx Institute defends digital privacy, advances connectivity, and strives for a future where everyone has access to the resources and tools they need to remain securely connected. We are keen to connect with at-risk communities in need for digital privacy and security tools, our peer free and open-source software (FOSS) developers, and digital security educators and researchers. Our work focuses on building CalyxOS, a privacy-respecting Android operating system, Seedvault, a FOSS tool to back up and restore your Android devices, and other resources to help people protect their own data. Come chat with us! Tell us what features and tools you need the most in your mobile experience.
Let's Grow Living Libraries	Connecting Current Digital Library System - Global South Alliance	Are you also building a shared knowledge resource repository? Do you produce and disseminate knowledge on governance, policy, justice and human rights in a digital world? Or are you regularly hunting for relevant reports, toolkits and references? Connecting Current is a knowledge hub for the Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI). Launched as a public prototype in 2025, it is currently undergoing a revision and redesign process guided by library science and community engagement as exemplified in the Global South Alliance Digital Library. The Global South Alliance, The Engine Room and Global Focus invites everyone who is interested in growing living libraries to compare notes on how to build community-led knowledge spaces that stay useful, trusted, and responsive over time. We would love to connect and get your input shaping the platform.
Venezuela - Conexión Segura y Libre	CSL - Conexión Segura y LibreVE sin Filtro	Find out about how the internet has been weaponized for surveillance, fear and control in Venezuela; research documenting them, and the creative solution and training methods by Conexion Segura y Libre. See key data and methods on the latest research on tech used to violate human rights in Venezuela, with the latest research on Censorship and Surveillance. And local perspectives form the ongoing crisis response trying to connect people affected by the double earthquakes in Venezuela. Experience and collaborate on our out-of-the box training tools and ati-censorship tools - Try our 3D-printed ""toy"" to teach the basics of PGP and what's the whole deal keys: the asymmetric lock box - Play a round a card game to teach the nuances of internet censorship|- Take a look into our approach for censorship and shutdown preparedness. - Use our anti-censorship tool that's uses VPNs but isn't really a VPN: Noticias Sin Filtro
Dash Chat	Dash Chat	Stay Connected When Systems Fail
CADE - Civil Society Alliances for Digital Empowerment	Diplo	It's no secret: Digital governance is becoming increasingly fragmented, making it difficult for civil society organisations (CSOs) to know where and how they can have influence. The CADE team, led by Diplo, works with CSOs, especially from the Global South, to build institutional capacities, offering expert and financial support on how to strengthen CSOs' impact in forums which matter the most. Visit us at the CADE booth to explore governance spaces, discover entry points aligned with your work, exchange experiences with peers, and contribute to a growing community working towards more inclusive digital policymaking. CADE is a project co-funded by the European Union.
Help! Where's my newsletter?	First Draft Media	Do you publish an email newsletter? Is your public living in a censored environment or does your newsletter regularly fail to reach your audiences? Then I want to talk to you about my research of email censorship and deliverability. You (will) have options!
Gossip Messenger - Your Messaging App Leaks. Change My Mind	Gossip Messenger	Gossip is a decentralized, end-to-end encrypted messenger with a censorship-resistant frontend hosted on-chain and local-first storage, built for people who can't depend on a single platform staying online. At our booth you can try Gossip live and take the "Change My Mind" challenge: tell us what you currently use to communicate, and one of our engineers will walk you through, in five minutes, exactly what it leaks even when your messages are encrypted.
Holistic Security Practitioners - Steps towards Community and Updating the Manual	Holistic Protection Collective	The Holistic Security Manual (https://holistic-security.org) celebrates its 10th birthday in 2026 and has advanced to a community resource and standard. Many initiatives, organisations and individual practitioners have since developed the ideas and approaches in a variety of ways. An envisioned community edition could bring a much needed update and diversification of the manual to include more feminist, global majority and indigenous works and approaches, by layering existing and new developed resources and approaches on top of the existing manual. This booth will create a space for holistic security practitioners and anyone interested in the idea to connect, share ideas and resources, and potentially work together on maintaining existing materials or creating new ones.
Horizontal	Horizontal	We will present Horizontal's work and programs in support of activists, journalists and human right defenders, including digital security support and our two flagship products: - Tella: a free and open source tool to encrypt and hide files on your phone, and securely upload those to a cloud or share them with other users without an internet connection. - Shira: an anti-phishing education tool used by digital security trainers and organizations to build their team's or community's preparedness against phishing attacks on email and messaging apps.
Palestine Booth	Independent	As we approach three years into the US-Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and across Palestine, and as we witness Western powers' unconditional material support for it, we want to make use of the space we have to hold conversations on how to understand this genocide, and 78 years of ethnic cleansing and occupation, how it intersects deeply with our spaces, and how we - as digital rights activists, academics, educators, researchers, technologists, human rights defenders, and journalists - can and should shape our work to engage meaningfully in this topic. We will also use the space to honor the lives of our martyrs, raise funds for our contacts in Gaza, and host sessions to inspire conversations about solidarity. We will intersect this cause with other contexts of digital military warfare and exploitation as a space to learn, be in solidarity, and imagine what resistance against tech-assisted imperialism can look like. https://chuffed.org/project/palestine-booth
Jordan Open Source Association (JOSA)	Jordan Open Source Association	Join us at the JOSA booth to explore our open-source tools and products. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in light prototyping, live demos, and discussions around real-world use cases. The space is designed for collaboration, learning, and connecting with others working on digital rights and technology.
MANTA and LEAP Encrytpion Access Project	LEAP Encryption Access Project	Come talk to us about VPNs and measuring the quality of circumvention. We are the LEAP Encryption Access Project. Alongside developing the VPN stack used by RiseupVPN and others, we are building MANTA, a measurement tool for assessing tunnel health in censored environments.
Toosheh & Friends	NetFreedom Pioneers Toosheh Star Toosheh	For over a decade, Toosheh has helped people access critical information during censorship and internet shutdowns. Visit our booth to explore the latest generation of the Toosheh ecosystem, including Toosheh, Toosheh Star, and VPNHood, through live demonstrations and discussions with our team. We'll also unveil the new Toosheh Star app and share lessons learned from real-world deployments in highly censored environments.
Osservatorio Nessuno OdV	Osservatorio Nessuno OdV	We'll be happy to chat about our research and projects, including out ongoing effort to document techniques and tools used by law enforcement, such as low cost spyware and forensics investigative tools. We'll also demo, collect feedback and provide support around Bugbane, our open source Android application for consensual forensics.
Air Messenger	Phoenix R&D/Air Messenger	Air is a new secure messenger that caters to the needs of at-risk users. Air is based on the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol and combines end-to-end encryption, low metadata, and decentralization/federation. At the last Global Gatherings we shared how we have been building Air, this year we can finally open the doors for the community to start using Air. To give an overview about Air: Air is a free and easy-to-use secure messaging app created by Phoenix R&D, a research & development company. - Send end-to-end encrypted texts, photos, videos, and documents.|- Create group chats with friends and family. Feel free to bring your coworkers too. - Air doesn't collect sensitive information like your phone number or email address, and doesn't store metadata, like who you talk to and when. - Air is open-source, and is based on the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol and open standards. - Air is designed, built, and hosted in the European Union (EU). - Air is not supported by investors or advertisers.
Secure Comms: What’s Working, What’s Missing?	Phoenix R&D/Air Messenger & OKthanks	Got a secure comms challenge? Bring it. Maybe your messenger is missing something you need, your colleagues are struggling to adopt a secure tool, or you’re facing a problem no existing tool quite solves. Together, we'll brainstorm creative solutions, and uncover what’s still missing from secure comms today.
po1ytech 𝑥 IONAFLOW - Censorship Circumvention and Tooling for Journalists	po1ytech / IONAFLOW polymorphic	po1ytech builds ‹polymorphic›, an automated mirror system that keeps blocked independent media and human rights organisations reachable from inside censored regions, currently serving 22 organisations including The Insider, Verstka, and Department One. IONAFLOW is a news intelligence platform that gives journalists at independent outlets access to 1,800 curated sources, with deep coverage of Russia's state messenger and other closed information environments. Stop by for demos and to talk about circumvention tooling and reporting under state censorship.
Rise Against Big Tech Coalition Booth	Rise Against Big Tech Coalition	Visit the Rise Against Big Tech (also known as RABT, pronounced "rabbit") coalition campaign booth to explore resources and techniques to help your organisation move away from Big Tech and towards more autonomous, values-aligned services. Stop by to browse our educational and technical materials, get to know our recently launched forum howto.riseagainstbig.tech, connect with coalition members and others who are navigating the same transition, or ask the team your questions about how to move away from big tech. Whether you are just getting started or already mid-migration we're here to share what we've learned and here to help you 'How To RABT'
User Experience Design & Accessibility Clinic	Superbloom Design, Kumquat, CoRD UX & Discovery Lab	Need UX assistance or advice? Have user feedback you'd like help thinking through? Want to think about how to get feedback from your users? Interested to learn more about usability and accessibility? Stop by the UX Design & Accessibility Clinic hosted by Superbloom, Kumquat, and CoRD!
The AI Risk Wall: What Civil Society Is Actually Worried About	Tecer Digital	Most published guidance on AI risk is written for large, well-resourced organisations or for individual use, and it rarely captures what people working in human rights, journalism and grassroots advocacy are actually facing inside small or under-resourced organisations. This booth gathers those concerns into a live, collective risk map: participants add their own risks, vote on the ones they recognise, and elaborate on what they think is especially urgent or important. The results will feed directly into an open source framework currently being developed for civil society use.
Tech for Palestine - Building Ethical Alternatives for Palestinian Liberation and Digital Sovereignty	Tech for Palestine	Join us at the Tech for Palestine Booth to learn how civil society and tech workers can divest from complicit Big Tech ecosystems by building alternative infrastructure rooted in digital sovereignty. We will spotlight T4P projects like Thaura and Upscrolled to examine ethical alternatives amid Big Tech's role in sustaining and enabling the genocide in Gaza, violence in Lebanon, and violations of international humanitarian law through policing and border enforcement. Tech for Palestine will share insights on tech complicity as we discuss how to advocate for, develop, and adopt tools that refuse complicity and work toward justice and liberation.
The Onion Odyssey Cryptographic Universe	Tor Project & Guardian Project (Orbot, Onion Browser)	Tor Project and Guardian Project together will tell the vivid, enthralling epic poem of the Onionverse -- the wayward heroes, the gigantic adversarial monsters, the vengeful nation state gods, and the protective goddesses of the magical onion layers that can protect and disguise us all on our journeys of justice.
Tumpa	Tumpa	Tumpa is a free and open source desktop application that makes OpenPGP key creation, key management and smart card access easier. In the booth, we encourage people to come and try making their OpenPGP keys with Tumpa or try managing their already created keys with Tumpa. Tumpa aims to make secure OpenPGP usage with smartcards easy for everyone even if you are not a technologist.
Queer Rights Village