VPN & Policy
Workshop: VPN & Policy
Who:TBA
Date:Tuesday, November 10
Time:10am - 12pm (EST) / 3pm - 5pm (UTC+0)
Workshop
More and more countries are passing laws that criminalize the usage of VPNs. For this two-hour workshop, we will be bringing together policy experts who can share the various strategies and legal frameworks being used to counter this growing criminalization. We will examine the impact on the VPN industry, how (or if) they have changed their business model, and challenges rising in the future.
Panelists
Shames Abdelwahab is TunneBear's Advocacy and Community Manager. She will be discussing:
- Trends across the globe in the last few years, including how GDPR is impacting VPN policies
- What TunnelBear has observed in places where VPN usage has been criminalized
- How policy changes have impacted their anti-censorship framework.
Vadym Gud is a Researcher and Trainer at Digital Security Lab Ukraine, where he helps at-risk organizations and communities to build defenses against digital threats. He will be discussing
- VPN usage and challenges in Ukraine and Belarus, including latest developments
- How EU standards have impacted policy in his area of the world
- The persistent battle between the legislative battle against government blocking of circumvention tools like VPNs, the and technical battle to stop malware in form of "free VPNs"
- The blocking of specific circumvention protocols and what can be done about it.
Alexis works to secure the web by working on the HTTPS Everywhere project at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She will be talking about
- Data Privacy laws and the the EARN IT Act's potential impact on VPNs
- Proactive VPN policies that can defend user privacy
Joey Salazar is the Senior Program Officer for Team Digital at Article19. She will be MCing the event, as well as talking about future threats, and how we can prepare.
Bios
Vadym Gud is a Researcher and Trainer at Digital Security Lab Ukraine, where he helps at-risk organizations and communities to build defenses against digital threats. He will be discussing During 2017-2018 he worked as an independent digital security consultant and conducted digital security workshops and SAFETAG-based digital security audits, as well as provided direct technical support to at-risk individuals inside the Ukrainian anti-corruption and activist communities. In 2016 he was a School of Data’s Responsible Data and Digital Security Fellow, focusing on topics of responsible collection, storage, and usage of sensitive data. For the last three years he co-authored and maintained two online courses on digital security for international alliance of civic society organisations.
Alexis is a technologist that focuses researching the intersections of consumer privacy and mobile technology. She is very passionate about encryption and tech equity for all. She has been assisting activists and educators with their tech needs for almost 10 years.
Joey Salazar is a software engineer passionate about open source and e-learning. Previously, she was a systems administrator in Costa Rica, a full-stack programmer intern at Hebei Software Institute in China, and an open source developer at Internet Systems Consortium where she worked on the DNS server BIND. As Programme Officer with ARTICLE 19’s Team Digital, Joey leads the team’s IETF engagement program focusing on policies, standards, and protocol implementations. In particular, her current work focuses on DNS and its related privacy and censorship considerations.
Shames Abdelwahab is TunnelBear's advocacy and community manager. she works on facilitating partnerships, campaigns, and community initiatives as part of the VPN provider's anti-censorship team.
