May 15 2024, Asia Meetup

The Asia Regional Meetups are bimonthly text-based gatherings that bring together folks from the Asian region to share, connect, seek help, and release stress by celebrating each other. In addition, it is a time for us to find ways to support each other, and help us understand what is happening in our part of the world. If you cannot attend the monthly meetups, we are taking notes of each gathering and linking to them below.

The Asian community is connected during the week in different ways. Either through the Asian channel on the TCU Mattermost or via different events organized on various topics during the year.

Date: Wednesday, May 15 2024

Time: 5:30pm IST/ 6:30pm MMT / 8am EDT / 12pm UTC (What time is it in my city?)

Who: Facilitated by Sapni

Where: Text-based format in the Regional Asia channel on the TCU Mattermost.

• Don't have an account to the IFF Mattermost? you can request one following the directions here.

Notes

Asia Meetups What are the Asia Meetups Others Villages & Special Events Upcoming Meetups & Gatherings

Attendees: 2

What are the last updates or projects from Asia that have taken your attention?

Amnesty's report on Spywares in Indonesia

• The latest news on spyware by amnesty international quite intriguing me. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/05/unravelling-a-murky-network-of-spyware-exports-to-indonesia/?
• When I read their whole report, I found lists of purchase which listed some single board computers and casings like... and I know a person who works on that importer company. I am talking about this report by the way: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa21/7974/2024/en/
• Messenger account (Whatsapp) takeover and social media take downs are common. Those sophisticated tech (if it really is finspy) I guess will not targeting human rights defenders (HRDs) or journalist, but political opponent. Because from what I know from, they can easily targeting HRDs and journalists without sophisticated technologies like that. Phishing link is the entry of an access to their devices, or weak office's wifi password. In other regions spyware have been used for both of them in Mexico Pegasus was found in HRD and politician phones.
• For this, is interesting to check this protocol to secure your Android after an attack from CitizenLab: https://citizenlab.ca/pegasus-outreach/

Image Abuse in India & South Korea

• There has been a major development in the area of non consensual image abuse in India, involving an absconding member of the Parliament. While there are more details yet to come out, he has allegedly sexually abused more than 1000 women and has forcibly taped them to create over 3000 pieces of abusive content that are being circulated online and offline. It is really bothersome and highlights the lack of protections for victims.
• More people online also seem to be discovering the 4B movement in South Korea right now, and the timing really highlights how Asian countries are not taking adequate steps in the case of non-consensual image abuse.
• What is 4B movement?
  • The South Korean society is notoriously patriarchal and misogynistic, and the 4B movement is essentially a feminist movement rejecting the operation of social conventions for women. Linking: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4B_movement
  • This https://www.thecut.com/2023/03/4b-movement-feminism-south-korea.html
  • And this https://yonsei.elsevierpure.com/en/publications/the-4b-movement-envisioning-a-feminist-future-within-a-non-reprod for more context.
  • The connection to digital rights is that the tipping point for the movement was the drastic increase in non consensual image sharing post the smartphone boom.
  • Even after these developments, the law and policy, and its enforcement in South Korea tends to potentially actively deprioritize women so that social conventions can be maintained.

General Election in India

• India is also in the midst of general elections, and there's quite a bit of commotion around the use of synthetic media and its impacts on democracy. There are interesting pieces of reporting coming in on the use of deepfakes across the country, that is worth watching both to assess the quality of the electoral and democratic process here as well as to predict how things might go in 2024 as a mega election year across the globe.
• Last week I read this about India's election: it seems with help from AI, politicians in India are bringing deceased politician’s voices for their campaigns https://restofworld.org/2024/dead-relatives-ai-deepfake-india/
• There are people in the electorate who are moved by it, but many are also concerned by their effects

Prajwal Revanna Case

• I would have liked for more attention to the victims as against the political back and forth happening, since the politician contested to be a member of the parliament again from the ticket of the ruling party. But I am glad this has not been brushed aside even during peak electoral season. https://www.thenewsminute.com/karnataka/prajwal-revanna-case-sit-launches-helpline-number-for-survivors