Global Gathering Agenda 2024
From TCU Wiki
Instructions for Scheduling Self-Organized Sessions During the Global Gathering
To organize a self-organized while at the Global Gathering, please follow the instructions found here.
Note: This schedule will be updated regularly, please check every morning and throughout the day, as more self-organized events will be added.
Friday, September 27th
Circles and Evening Activities
All descriptions are found here Circle Descriptions.
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| Starts at 18:00 | Sponsors of Evening Activities:  
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Project Booths
Checkout the Project Showcase Description at the end of this page to read the bio of each project participating.
| Booth | September 15 | |
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| Project Showcase | ||
| 13:30 - 15:30 | 16:00 - 18:00 | |
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| 69 | Glitter Corner - Add some glitter to your life! | Glitter Corner - Add some glitter to your life! |
| 70 | Swag Corner - Leave your stickers and swag for participants here! | Swag Corner - Leave your stickers and swag for participants here! |
We want to thank the following partners and sponsors who have already confirmed their support for 2024! More coming!
Equity Fund Sponsors
Circle Descriptions
| Meetup Title | Meetup Description |
|---|---|
| Africa Meetup | |
| Asia Meetup | |
| Activate the Network: Collective Training Against Internet Shutdowns | In this Circle, we will explore how capacity building can empower activists and organizations to form effective coalitions in the fight against internet shutdowns. We will bring together diverse participants to discuss strategies, share experiences, and debate the best approaches to promote resilience and coordinated action in contexts of digital censorship. This session aims to be a catalyst for inter-organizational collaboration, strengthening a global network united by the defense of online freedom. |
| Amplifying Research on Digital Rights through Popular Culture | How can research and digital rights organizations do more to democratize access to information about the future of digital rights? Researchers, technologists, journalists, activists, and creatives will come together to explore how to use creative use of media to amplify information about privacy, safety, and the threats of the future, including how to cut through cynicism and apathy about digital autonomy, and how to use popular culture, including film, music, and social media, to put key safety and access information in front of more people. |
| Bridging the Gaps Between Activists and Hackers: How To Talk With Each Other About Security | There is a lot of powerful, open security-related technology that remains known and used only to specialists and hackers - technology that could be used by journalists, activists and other persons with high security needs. However, there are many barriers between activist and hacker spaces, many of which are related to communication problems and lack of awareness of what exactly are other people's needs. As a hacker and UX developer, I would like this circle to facilitate exchange of ideas and issues between those communities. |
| Building a digital rights movement among the Francophone Community | During our very first online meetings, our francophone Team Community identified the need to better coordinate our efforts across French-speaking countries in Africa and the Middle East to identify patterns of digital threats. While many of us will meet in person for the first time at the Global Gathering, our goal with this Circle is to build community-driven knowledge and strategize advocacy campaigns within the French-speaking digital rights community. |
| Building a new privacy-preserving and decentralized messenger | We’re building a new generation of open-source messenger combining privacy, security, and decentralization. This is based on the Messaging Layer Security protocol and a tech stack we have been developing. We want to discuss with you what the future of secure messaging might look like and what your needs are for messaging applications. |
| Building The Asia Digital Rights Community | This circle will operate as a networking-cum-strategizing space for digital rights defenders from Asia. It will help in establishing cross-country networks to enable regional collaborations. It will codesign strategies to effectively sustain the digital rights community's momentum in the Asia region; create more welcoming and engaging spaces; and identify ways in which more people can participate and be helped in their digital rights work in the region. |
| Butter Box in Latin American Indigenous languages | In this circle, we will share our lessons and learnings from the process of localizing Butter Box in Latin American indigenous languages, the impacts obtained, and the importance of localizing circumvention tools in Latin American indigenous communities. |
| ButterBox-life without the internet made smoother | This past year we deployed the ButterBox ecosystem in various regions around the globe. The ButterBox is a hotspot & ecosystem of curated apps, encrypted chat and the ability to share resources via a USB. This circle will focus on hearing from the field agents who implemented the box in various use cases (for digital security trainings, within an apartment building for sharing entertainment, with indigenous offline communities, to prepare for internet shutdowns). We will also provide time to brainstorm the future of Butter with attendees. |
| Calyx Institute | CiviCERT is a network of Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs), Rapid Response teams, and independent Internet Content and Service Providers who help civil society prevent and address digital security issues. This private session will allow CiviCERT members to meet in person, discuss network issues and develop opportunities for further in-network collaboration. |
| Challenges in Data-Driven Journalism | Engage in a collaborative session that delves into the challenges and opportunities in data-driven journalism. Share experiences, tools, and techniques that aid journalists in uncovering and narrating impactful stories through data. |
| Co-leadership for sustainable organizations | Co-leadership is an innovative model to enable sustainability, allowing for alternatives to single-leadership, distributing power and decision making within organizations. Through the approach we’ve developed at The Engine Room, we’ve found that it can center trust, mutual care, and collaboration, while uplifting the differences in lived experiences, which can be critical to fostering organizational resilience and wellbeing. We look forward to sharing our experience, and hear from participants reflecting on their journey towards co-leadership models - even if this journey hasn't started yet. We expect to explore together how to build trust, care and collaboration and how a model like this one, can impact equity, collaboration, wellbeing, funder relations, remote work, decision making and strategy setting. We will also look to make space to surface skills, knowledge, practices to be cultivated, and learn together as a community on how to support each other through this path. |
| Community Networks Circle | |
| Countering digital authoritarianism and online repression in Central Asia | In Central Asia, digital rights are facing a significant decline as governments introduce restrictive laws targeting independent media, journalists, bloggers and anti-corruption reporters. Online freedom is increasingly being curtailed by surveillance and privacy crackdowns. The proposed session brings together leading media lawyers and human rights activists from the region to address these pressing issues. |
| CTRL + ALT + DEL: Learnings on movement building from the Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assemblies | What comes next after two Digital Rights Asia-Pacific (DRAPAC) Assemblies in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Taipei, Taiwan? This Circle is open to anyone who wants to discuss how the digital rights movement in the Asia-Pacific can continue to. Empower peoples across Asia-Pacific to regain control of our civic spaces, fundamental rights, social platforms, and digital technology from the dominance of big tech and interference by the state. Platform innovative alternatives in approaching and strategizing human rights advocacy in Asia-Pacific by centering local grassroots communities and strengthening networks across borders. Shift our thinking and culture towards more open, inclusive, and participatory decision-making processes and governance structures within the regional digital rights movements. |
| Current blocking trends, how states in different countries do it | The event is intended to discuss current trends in the field of government blocking and censorship on the Internet. It will examine the methods used by governments to control and restrict access to information online, as well as discuss the challenges facing users and technology companies. Topics for discussion: 1. Current trends in government blocking: analysis of recent events and changes in censorship policies in various countries. 2. Methods of implementing censorship: studying the technologies and methods used by states to block access to certain resources and services on the Internet. 3. Impact on Freedom of Information: Discusses the implications of government censorship for freedom of speech, human rights, and the development of the Internet community. 4. Development prospects: the search for new approaches to bypassing blocking and protecting user privacy, as well as the role of technology companies in this process. |
| Design sprint for everyone: simple steps in building bite-size digital security tip cards | If you wonder how to create engaging and clear digital security tips and how-tos that you can share easily with people online, this is a session for you. The Human Rights Centered Design community invites you to this hands-on workshop to take simple steps and tools to build visually appealing info cards, infographics, and presentations to spice up your conversations with diverse communities and add fun to knowledge sharing. You will take away from the session some design tricks and pros and cons for aiding tools, as well as a new communication toolkit by Superbloom to streamline your creative process. |
| Developing robust signaling channel | For users in highly censored regions, gaining access to anti-censorship tools can be difficult since these tools are prime targets of blocking by censors. A signaling channels is a highly available (i.e., difficult for censors to block), typically low-bandwidth, method of communication that aims to provide users access to more robust anti-censorship tools. Typically a user makes a request to a signaling channel and gets a response that includes secret keys and/or addresses of proxies or bridges for users to make a censorship-resistant connection. Despite the existence of many censorship-resistant tools, options for signaling channels are limited. With many cloud providers opting to discontinue support for domain fronting, we are interested in exploring strategies around new signaling channels that might be able to help censored users get essential information to make anti-censorship connections. |
| Developing stories and talking points to support fundraising | Storytelling, explaining your work succinctly, and differentiating your program from others are all critical to fundraising successfully. In this session, we will go through best practices in these tools and practice communicating our impact for potential funders. |
| Digital Challenges for Journalists and Activists During the Conflict | During the session, we will discuss the digital risks and threats journalists and activists face in Eastern Europe during the conflict. Journalists and activists are vulnerable groups during conflicts due to their coverage of difficult topics for societies, which makes them targets for attackers. Are there common threats, and would it be possible to find common solutions for security specialists? |
| Digital Iran Reloaded: Gamers’ Circumvention Tactics in the IRI | The goal of this circle is to discuss the current circumvention methods used by gamers, how methods could be improved based on preliminary findings, and receiving feedback from the community on improving the project analysis. It is my hope to network with others primarily and receive necessary feedback with the finalization of project analysis. |
| Digital rights after the fall: what should we do with the digital heritage of a dictatorship | Modern digital dictatorship would leave after it’s fall the all-inclusive digital police state system, ready for the possibility of a next political system repeating the mistakes. In this collaborative discussion we will talk about the use of digital tools of the Russian government, that one day will be free of an oppressing force behind them and will become tools. What data should be deleted forever? What kind of usage of the systems should fall under a strong policy, and what we should not be afraid to use for the good of the people? This is our call for help for participant’s collective imagination, hope, and creativity, as well as knowledge, experience, and suspicion. |
| Digital Rights in Portugal: Where do we go from here | A get-together for Portugal-based digital rights orgs and activists to sit down, share their struggles and achievements, establish bonds and think up what we can accomplish together. |
| Digital Security in El Salvador: Engaging CSO's and media outlets building a digital security school | Present the capacity-building program running in El Salvador for CSO's and independent media outlets in the middle of the surveillance and repression by the current government. |
| Digital Security Providers in Eastern Europe: New Solutions to Familiar Challenges? | Similar to our 2023 GG session, we will present the findings of an annual assessment examining the work of digital security (digisec) specialists in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine carried out by the community since 2021. The assessment focuses on the work environment, demand for digisec services within local civil society, security of digisec specialists and formats of their services, availability of resources, and other aspects essential to their work. We will outline the findings specific to each country, old and emergent trends we are seeing across the region, and compare findings from 2024 to those from 2021, 2022, and 2023. We will also review efforts made to support the digisec community and build the capacity of its members and invite everyone to discuss these and other potential solutions. We hope our session would be useful for everyone engaged in and interested in supporting digisec work in Eastern Europe/South Caucuses and beyond. |
| Digital Security Trainers Meetup | |
| Digital threats in the Arab speaking countries | This circle is for the Arab speaking countries to share their knowledge of the current threats/issues, either if they are direct digital security threats (e.g attacks, censorship, ...) or digital rights threats and issues (e.g laws, police asking people to unlock their phones, ...), and their responses to them. This will help mapping the current issues in this region, sharing of intel and responses, and possibly defining and suggesting actions to address this gap between supply and demand |
| Discriminatory UX: How software can gatekeep people | Many initiatives are build on powerful and usable software we use every day. But what when this software tools keep us from being included based on disabilities, citizenship or language skills? An open discussion facilitated by us to know more about the tools attendees use for their work and the issues they are facing. |
| eQualitie | |
| Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Caucasus Regional Meetup | |
| Exchanging feminist methodologies, politics and practice in capacity building and feminist technology | Folks who identify as feminist tech trainers and facilitators are part of feminist movements. We encourage an awareness, in these movements, of the politics and practice of technology through an intersectional lens. The internet can be, for many activists and marginal identities, a space of violence, surveillance and constantly evolving and confusing technologies. As feminist tech trainers, we approach sharing and learning from a place of care, fun, creativity, awareness of the diversity of contextual realities and the knowledge of the trauma people carry. Responding with methodologies that speak to challenging hierarchies in training spaces and being agile and creative, are cornerstones of learning spaces for feminists. In this circle, we invite our speakers to share how they approach learning spaces as feminist tech trainers, what methodologies they use and why creative methodological approaches are so critical in shaping caring, collective and engaged training spaces. |
| Fostering Diversity and Inclusion in Open Source Projects | While code is crucial, the management of open source projects, the diversity of contributors and users, selection of communication channels and transparency among others are equally important. Join us for an engaging discussion on how diversity and inclusion influence every aspect of open source projects. We'll share our experiences and insights on creating a welcoming and equitable open source community based on conversations with open source projects under Next Generation Internet Zero (NGI0) initiative. |
| From Wristbands to Smartphones: Designing for Physical Safety! | Join us for an engaging hands-on workshop where we'll share our firsthand experiences designing Circulo and the Natalia Project, tech and initiatives focused on physical safety. This workshop will provide a space for rights defenders and organizations to discuss their strategies for safeguarding themselves and their networks in the field. Let's circle up and collaborate to enhance our collective knowledge about safety protocols and the features technology can embrace to boost safety. Circle Facilitators: Okthanks, Guardian Project, Civil Rights Defenders |
| GenAI & LLMs in COMO & TS: where do human rights and communities fit in today’s hottest acronyms? | Focusing on Generative AI (GenAI) and their underlying technologies like foundation models or large language models (LLMs), this session explores the human rights impacts of these systems in content governance. We will look at how these systems are deployed in the Global Majority, where considerations of local language, context and cultural nuances are critical, e.g., during elections in fragile democracies or in conflict zones. As AI-driven platforms increasingly rely on these technologies for content governance, they risk unintentionally suppressing legitimate content while fueling violence online, disproportionately affecting marginalized groups and those living in the Global Majority. We'll use Discord as a case study, as the platform is currently piloting ECNL’s framework for meaningful engagement in AI while developing LLMs for enforcing content moderation policies. |
| Growing Support for FOSS Sustainability | Free and open source code is the foundation for the technology that human rights defenders, activists, journalists, and other at-risk communities rely on to access the internet and communicate safely and securely. Despite the critical role they play, many FOSS projects struggle to find funding that supports their long-term sustainability. The essential, day-to-day bug-squashing, security updates, community management, and operational activities needed to maintain reliable and secure technologies are either squeezed into new-feature proposals, or too often left unfunded altogether. \nMore funders are stepping up to address this challenge. This Circle brings together some of those funders to share with the Global Gathering community about their approaches to funding sustainability for human rights FOSS projects, learn from participants about the sustainability challenges their projects face, and explore ways that the funding ecosystem can be more responsive to their needs. |
| Guardian Project | |
| Guardians of Change: Strengthening Cybersecurity in Civil Society | In today's interconnected world, civil society organizations play a pivotal role in driving positive change. However, their impact can be hindered by cybersecurity threats. This circle aims to empower civil society leaders and activists with the knowledge and tools to bolster their cybersecurity defenses. Through discussions on emerging threats, best practices in digital security, and practical tips for implementation, participants will leave equipped to safeguard their organizations and advance their missions securely in the digital age. Join us in becoming the Guardians of Change in the fight to strengthen cybersecurity within civil society. |
| Horse before the cart: Empowering change with representative local data | Digital rights and IF programs will continue to be a vital lifeline amid the proliferation of censorship and surveillance technologies, and declining internet freedom year after year. This brings essential reflections into focus: Are these crucial programs of tomorrow (and the decades beyond) prepared? Do they appropriately address community needs and priorities? How do we ensure that local voices are represented in our program goals and activities? If our future work is to impact local populations at a significant scale, it necessitates working from a deep understanding of the communities we endeavour to help. We hold this space to discuss how program management can synergize - not just intersect - with audience research and impact assessment insights that help us understand, and bring into focus, local priorities for future change. |
| How do we get the internet we want?: Feminist Provocations and Questions for Internet Governance | The current moment is a reckoning at a global level on internet governance. The power of technology companies has been growing unabated, in spite of the existence of processes for internet governance. This year marks 20 years of the World Summit of Information Society and in 2024, the Global Digital Compact has been introduced by the United Nations for establishing shared principles for digital cooperation and governance worldwide. All these processes forefront inclusion and multistakeholderism, but the lived experience for most activists from a marginalised location has been of inaccessibility and opacity. What is needed right now is a coming together through spaces like the Global Gathering, to determine feminist, queer and radical perspectives on internet governance and more active engagement. As part of the background for this panel, please check out: Preliminary feminist provocations on internet governance and WSIS+20 https://giswatch.org/node/6358/ |
| How to stop promising/doing audits and start promising/doing what is actually needed | Trainings, ToTs, Checklists, Audits - why is our fixation on formats so obsessive? The vicious circle "Applications writers - Donors - Practitioners - CSOs (clients)" makes us to forget what we actually wanted to help to provide real assistance. Not "X audits for $Y money within 12 months" - but real help. I want to think together and discuss how could we (practitioners) to communicate with applications writers donors and CSOs - in the end to make the programs/projects to reflect what is actually needed a real help instead of "audits/trainings/ToTs/etc". I hope to have a honest relaxed conversation. |
| Identifying AI-Generated Content: how? | Join us to discuss the issue of the identification of AI-Generated Content! How and when should we try to implement it? Whose responsibility should it be? How should it be regulated? Is it technically feasible to do it? How will it impact online content sharing, trust, privacy and the safety of civil society? We'll talk about everything - join us! |
| Incident Response Working Group | The Incident Response Working Group is an ongoing series of meetings between censorship circumvention tool developers, human rights workers, and help desk administrators to discuss how to better respond to incidents of escalated blocking and Internet shutdowns. The group discusses what barriers exist to collaboration and coordination among multiple stakeholders through structured workgroup sessions. The goal is to help end users get back online faster by reducing the time to detect incidents, develop mitigations, and deploy those mitigations to end users. |
| Is it time to create certification for digital security practitioners? | There's a growing community of digital security practitioners, who work with the civil society and are often funded by charities and grants. These practitioners often have varying degrees of competence, and sometimes, if they are not technically competent enough, they might do more harm than good. It would seem that establishing some sort of a certification for such practitioners could be a good idea, but I see both positives and negatives in this. I plan to host a discussion and gather the community's feedback on this under the title: "Is it time to create certification for digital security practitioners?", Mykola Kostinyan, Internews. |
| Journalists, Sources and Whistleblowers: Increasing Threats to Press Freedom | Journalists, researchers, advocates and whistleblowers holding public and private malign interests accountable are encountering insidious attempts to deter, undermine and silence their work. These attempts are less obvious, less visible and harder to explain to the public than overt tactics like jailing unfriendly journalists, barring foreign outlets or promoting state-controlled propaganda, but they are effectively eroding press freedom, free speech and accountability. Looking at examples of malign donor influence silencing academic research, killing unfavorable media stories, lawfare against journalists and media outlets - compounded by retaliation against whistleblowers and the aggressive use of NDA’s - Libby Liu, Arzu Geybulla and Naomi Seligman will share insights from recent whistleblower cases and convene a conversation on what these tactics look like around the world. |
| Knowledge sharing across circumvention tool providers and Outline SDK users around the world | In the ever-changing censorship environments, tool providers and content providers must adopt new circumvention technologies at a faster pace. In this circle, we will host a discussion about the situation of censorship circumvention work in different regions (e.g, what are some unmet needs right now, how are censors getting ahead of the cat-and-mouse games, and what are some lessons learned); at the same time, we invite tool providers that have integrated Jigsaw’s Outline to share their experience about how the technology is performing in different regions. |
| Latin America Regional Meetup | We are starting to organize a ""Tor advocates program"" and we want to host a circle for people who train others on Tor to learn about this idea and give us feedback on it. |
| Law and Policy for IBSA | The circle will invite participants to share their thoughts on the current state of law and policy protection against Image Based Sexual Abuse, and to identify measures that platforms and governments can take to address the concern effectively with minimal harm to encryption, freedom of speech and abuse by procedure. |
| Managers Meetup | We made big changes at Tor to have the user as the center of everything we do. In 2017 we started to implement usability research as the key director for our decisions on development and organization strategy. We would like to share about what we learned during this process and how it has been beneficial to us. |
| Maximizing engagement in your digital literacy workshop through gameplay | Teaching new concepts and skills to adult learners can be tricky business; we all have a million tasks on our to-do lists. Gaining and sustaining the attention of your workshop participants requires a wide variety of strategies. This session will debut a new card game explicitly designed to teach fundamental data privacy skills to workshop participants and individual groups of learners through a bespoke card game. Join me for a debrief of what I learned in the process of developing a new game, and help me invent the next one! |
| MENA Regional Meetup | - Discuss how censorship tech providers can better share technology to avoid duplication and remove hurdles to move faster with less effort. - Present the Outline SDK as a possible approach to the problem of sharing tech. Gather feedback. - Discuss a standard to report connectivity issues to share insights in a time-sensitive and comprehensive way. - Hear about what everyone is working on and are excited about. |
| North America Regional Meetup | Companies around the world are employing tactics that strangle employee voices to force secrecy about bad behavior. But the ability to speak out is essential to the fight to ensure oversight and regulation of tech companies who are mis-using NDAs, created to protect trade secrets, and silencing victims and witnesses of corporate wrongdoing. US federal law - following California's Silence No More Act - has started to chisel away at this problem by excluding workplace harassment from these clauses. This is a Call for Collaboration: Whistleblower Aid is working to launch a campaign to educate workers on the actual threat these agreements represent so we can hold these powerful companies accountable to their actions - while keeping workers safe. |
| Nowhere feels safe: Digital transnational repression against women human rights defenders in exile | Repressive governments use invasive surveillance, online harassment and defamation campaigns to reach across borders and threaten women activists in exile and diaspora communities. What are the methods and silencing effects of gender-based digital transnational repression? How can we defend and empower the individuals and communities at risk? This circle discusses the findings of the Citizen Lab’s research into digital threats against women human rights defenders living in exile or in the diaspora and seeks input on recommendations for measures of protection and risk mitigation for targets of digital transnational repression. |
| On selective protection and regulations: TFGBV and hate speech against gender and sexual rights defenders | The Feminist Internet Research Network (FIRN) brings together feminist researchers and civic society organisations from the Global South to produce evidence and context-based analysis in issues such as access; algorithmic inequality and surveillance; online gender-based violence; and gendered labour in the digital economy. In this proposed session, we plan to have a dialogue with researchers, human rights advocates, sexual rights advocates and activists to share insights on governments’ and technology organisations’ preferences and selective attention when dealing with online and technology-facilitated violence; and the role of gender and sexual politics in this process. |
| Outline | |
| Policy Workers Meetup | |
| Private Meeting: the MENA Alliance for Digital Rights | The MENA Digital Rights Alliance is a civil society coalition advancing digital rights in the Middle East and North Africa region. We are a group of 12 local and global civil society organizations and activists who believe in the power of collective action and cross-border solidarity in the fight against rising digital authoritarianism. In this private meeting, we’ll delve into current and emerging regional trends, threats and opportunities, create shared priorities, and strategize on potential joint advocacy and campaigning. This session will set our strategic plan and focus areas for the upcoming year and discuss each other's work. We want to set shared priorities to create joint efforts and advocacy campaigns. The MADR meets already every month, online. This meeting will be a continuity of our yearly in-person meetings. These in-person convenings are to set an agenda for the year and they do participate in building momentum for the alliance's advocacy efforts. |
| Rapid Response to Internet Censorship, how can we do better? | At this Circle, we will discuss how we can do better in building capacity for rapid response to internet censorship. We want to collect best practices from the community and discuss how can we foster the collaborations between network measurement projects, civil society organisations, litigation networks and media organisations. |
| Reflecting on Surveillance Studies Research Methodologies: The good, the bad and the ugly | The rising tide of authoritarianism has led to an increased uptake of suppressive surveillance by governments across the world. Many dedicated researchers and other internet freedom community members have worked to understand and counter repressive surveillance tactics through several different methodologies, including network measurement, supply chain, forensics, and ONSINT. This circle will be for learning the challenges the researchers face, and learning the gaps in surveillance-research funding. |
| Reimagination of Freedom: Digital Rights and Kinship through "The Ground Screams to Whisper Ancestral Mapping" | This Circle will explore how the ancestral mapping exercise from "The Ground Screams to Whisper" can serve as an innovative approach to addressing digital rights abuses exemplified by services like 23andMe. We will engage in a collaborative discussion on the intersections of digital rights personal data sovereignty and the importance of kinship and community in the digital age. Participants will delve into the potential of using arts and crafts-based ancestral mapping as a means to reimagine freedom and privacy in the context of digital rights. |
| Researchers Meetup | |
| Return of the zines: A hands-on approach to censorship circumvention | More people are online than ever before. But because of increasing levels of censorship, fewer people seem to share the same online experience as populations. Zamaneh Media invites you to revisit a pivotal era when photocopiers were revolutionary tools in a fight for access to platforms and audiences. Join us for a hands-on workshop on zine-making, where we will delve into the contemporary power of zines to promote peer-to-peer content sharing. Together, we'll discuss how this grassroots strategy can expand publishers' reach and enhance news consumers' access to information, especially in today's restricted internet environments. |
| Running Tor relays in/by the Global South | Tor is a decentralized network of servers (or "relays") that provides Internet users, journalists, defenders, dissidents with the ability to circumvent both internet censorship and surveillance. Tor relays form the backbone of the Tor network, and they are run by volunteers from around the world. Without volunteers Tor would not be possible, however the majority of volunteers are located in the Global North. We need to further (and perhaps genuinely) decentralize the Tor network, and so in this session we will talk about how to run Tor relays in our own contexts, and why it matters for the future of privacy. |
| Safeguarding NGOs and Digital Rights Organizations: Tackling Insider Threats and Beyond | Security directors from HRW, Access Now, AI, and other NGOs will tackle the issue of insider threats, focusing on their impact on non-profits and digital rights organizations. We'll define insider threats, discuss the unique risks they pose, especially during crises and events, and provide practical examples from the field, we will also touch on the broader threat landscape. Participants will engage in an open discussion to share their experiences and strategies for managing insider threats, both physical and digital. We will lead a segment on developing realistic scenario-based training to better equip your team. This session aims to provide concrete solutions and resources to strengthen your organization's security against insider threats such mitigation strategies, including robust access controls, cybersecurity measures, and scenario-based trainings. |
| Safety for Voices: South-South Strategies for WHRDs in Digital Spaces | Acknowledging that the threats and attacks targeting women and gender-diverse human rights defenders (WHRDs) in the digital sphere are an extension of patriarchal, racist, and colonial systematic violence, this initiative seeks to establish a platform for critical reflection rooted in South-South collaboration. Through the presentation of two studies aimed at documenting the patterns of violence and the tools of resistance employed by WHRDs within their territories, the activity will facilitate the sharing of experiences and the development of collective strategies to safeguard their voices. Grounded in a holistic feminist protection approach, the activity aims to foster solidarity and resilience among WHRDs facing digital threats. |
| Securing the Digital Frontline: Threat Analysis for Human Rights Defenders in Thailand and Vietnam | Join us for an insightful discussion on our research findings related to digital security risks and the physical threats leading to these risks for human rights defenders in Thailand and Vietnam. We will explore effective protection mechanisms, share lessons learned, and discuss strategies to enhance the safety and resilience of digital advocates in these regions. |
| Shield or Sham: How useful are digital security trainings? | While some consider them the first line of defense in the eternal fight against malign online actors, others think they are a waste of time and money. This session aims to dive into a critical examination of digital security training’s role in strengthening resilience and threat resistance of journalists, human rights defenders and marginalized groups. Do trainings work? can traditional security trainings keep up with the sophisticated tactics of cybercriminals, in particular when they are state-sponsored? Are trainings equipping individuals and organizations with the necessary tools to better protect themselves, or are they providing a false sense of security? And if trainings do not work, what is the alternative? This session seeks to explore the effectiveness of digital security trainings in fostering a culture of cyber resilience versus their potential to please donors and funding trends and presenting an “easy fix” to a complex problem. |
| Supporting Asian HRDs in the frontline : How we shape the local supporting system and model | By gathering at least 3 different asian digital security supporting groups for human rights defenders, we want to exchange the experiences that how we develop our own service models correspond to the socio-political enviroments and digital threats that where we and HRDs are based on. Based on these sharings, we further discuss how to find the resources to keep growing this supporting work in the local base and thought the regional network. |
| Supporting Disrupted Media | Media organizations are facing fundamental disruption after a decade of over-reliance on algorithmic amplification. In response, a new group of media entrepreneurs is emerging, focusing on meeting community needs. This conversation will explore the intersection of technology and media strategy, examining the challenges and opportunities in this evolving landscape. Join us as we discuss the impact of algorithmic amplification on traditional media, the rise of community-focused initiatives, and the potential for innovation in the industry. We'll consider how emerging technologies and changing consumer behaviors are reshaping media business models, and what this means for the future of information dissemination and community engagement. |
| Sustainable self-hosting? | As Big Tech services continue to be enshittified, made costly, or become untrustworthy, self-hosting is looking as an increasingly attractive option. But self-hosting long-term in a sustainable way – not just in the financial sense, but also in the sense of effort, burnout, and risks – is a tough nut to crack. What is out there, as far as tools, best practices, and support networks? What is missing? What are people's experiences with self-hosting? |
| Tactics for engaging tech stakeholders in digital rights advocacy. The experiences and future opportunities across Indo-Pacific region. | Indo-Pacific is a critical region for global security and economy; yet, civil society in the region faces multiple challenges from digital authoritarianism which are hardly addressed by one group or a single expertise alone. The Indo-Pacific Center for Promoting Civil Society Resilience was built to enhance collaboration and experiences sharing, and this circle discussion intends to highlight lessons learned from the CSOs in the region and explore the strategies to fill the gap. For example, the coalition between human rights groups and tech communities is a workable model in Taiwan for safeguarding digital security and pushback repressive digital regulations. |
| Technologists Meetup | |
| Technology, Data and Elections: The role of data and technologies in electoral processes | With an unprecedented number of elections happening in 2024, this discussion will focus around the government use of data-intensive technologies - which goes hand-in-hand with the involvement of private companies - during the election cycle. \nStates are turning to biometric voter registration and verification technologies, which often result in the development of nationwide databases containing masses of personal data. \nTechnologies are also redefining political campaigning and advertising practices. Combined with the platforms that enable them, this is creating an environment that facilitates the manipulation of opinion and, in some cases, the exclusion of voters. \nWhat are the risks involved, and how can we avoid the abuse of technologies during the election cycle? |
| The costs of protection: The global landscape for data privacy and security tools | Lacking effective national data privacy policies, individual internet users who want to protect their digital privacy and security often need to install and use VPNs, ad blockers, password managers, mail clients, or services like DeleteMe to protect their PII. These solutions are frequently recommended by digisec experts, but for citizens in the Global Majority, using these tools is often hindered by social, political and economic factors, including costs, exchange rates, credit card requirements, the quirks of banking systems, or the fact that interfaces, documentation, and the apps themselves are designed for the English-speaking market. Join us for a jam session to:- Identify the best and most useful tools available (commercial or open source) in your region/your language/your cultural context for meeting regional digisec/privacy needs.- Talk about how existing tools or strategies could be modified/expanded to make them available to users in more parts of the world. |
| The future of decent work in the planetary digital capitalism: AI, automation and digital platforms | This circle aims to generate dialogues and discussions around the future of work in the dawn of generative Artificial Intelligence, the automation of intellectual work and the increasing platformization of the economy. These developments have the potential of reshaping the planetary economy, imposing additional risks on human rights, but most importantly they challenge the work itself of digital rights defenders, policy makers and academics. This circle offers a scenario to discuss if we should adapt or resist these technologies, and both the tactics and strategies that should arise. |
| The How and Why of Rapid Response | We are often expected and incentivized to rapidly respond to censorship events and we want to. But at what cost? How can we respond in ways that are generative and beneficial? Is there a useful entropy we should introduce to rapid response? |
| The LLephant in the RooM: What are we doing about AI? | While many of us have tried to avoid the topic, thinking AI has no real place in our spaces, many of us have begun to realize that AI is no longer avoidable, and has crept quickly yet steadily out of mere pop phenomenon into the reality of how we may operate as mission-driven, public interest orgs. What are we doing to address AI's impact on confidentiality, the integrity of our research (i.e. code, fuzzing, security), public communications, internal organizational security, and other aspects? Let's discuss our fears, blind spots, and hopes for ethical and helpful interactions with these systems as the world moves increasingly forward with them. |
| VPN Community Initiative | |
| VPN Infrastructure - Challanges & needs | In the community multiple VPN providers are active. As infrastructure provider we try to offer the best available. In this circle we want to share working experiences, missing links and other ideas to better accommodate infrastructure for VPN providers. |
| VPN Provider Transparency - Addressing Threats that Shady VPNs Pose to VPN Clients and Providers | In this circle, Ben from Breakpointing Bad will touch base with the VPN community about threats VPN clients and providers face from the myriad of VPN apps distributed on Google Play and elsewhere. The goals of this circle are to network between organizations, align current project's trajectory with community needs, address gaps in analysis, reporting, and identify new opportunities to address threats to VPNs. To do this, Ben will begin by sharing current results from his OTF ICFP fellowship on suspicious VPN providers about which concerning details, including potential links to malicious actors, Breakpointing Bad has identified and then invite community members of this circle for a discussion about how well the current findings align with threats and issues the community is experiencing, gaps in understanding and how to address them, identify new issues that may be unaddressed, and plan how best to address new challenges. |
| World-wide Autonomous Comunication Over HF Band | In the circle we'll present the High-frequency Emergency and Rural Multimedia Exchange System (HERMES) project. HERMES is a telecommunication system which provides very long range communication capability (hundreds / thousands of kilometers links) by using skywave propagation on the HF band.\nOur current projects connects isolated communities in the Amazon rain-forest, Central Africa and fisherman boats far away from the shore in Bengali Bay, in Bangladesh. |
| What are your operations and admin challenges? | When it comes to operations and finances, what are the hardest things for you as a civil society activist in the internet freedom space? We want to know! We’re building an organisation, interalia, aimed at lowering the operations barriers for civil society with equity and care at its heart – let us worry about admin, so you don’t have to. We have plenty of experience working in this field, but we’d love to hear about your specific struggles, questions, and challenges. How can we help as intermediaries providing a layer of care and security for you? |
| Western Europe Regional Meetup |
Booth Descriptions
| Organization | Project | Project Description |
| Abrimos.info | Abrimos.info: Generating strategic knowledge from open data | This booth features demonstrations of how these tools have been used by Abrimos.info in real-world scenarios to effect change and enhance public policy in Latin America. We create digital infrastructure with fundamental information for Latin American democracies. Support organizations, governments and companies to turn data and information into inputs for strategic decision making and provide tools for evidence-based narratives that empower communities, impact relevant stakeholders and promote social justice. Showcase the capabilities of TeseoETL, our powerful data processing tool. Experience live demos of how we transform raw data into actionable insights, aiding journalists and NGOs in their fight for transparency and accountability in government contracting. Examples of our work: Pidala.info for freedom of information request, Gobernantes.info a latinamerican database of verified information on political candidates and Sociedad.info, a backup for open contracting data. |
| Access Now | Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline | We are a free-of-charge resource for civil society around the world. We offer real-time, direct technical assistance and advice to civil society groups & activists, media organizations, journalists & bloggers, and human rights defenders. |
| Accessibility LabUXD LabUra DesignDecent Design | Usability and Accessibility Clinic | Join us at our Usability and Accessibility Clinic, where you can connect directly with seasoned design, accessibility, and usability experts ready to assist you with your specific needs. This clinic invites tool teams, designers, developers, decision-makers, and project managers to engage in focused discussions about their usability and accessibility challenges. Whether you're seeking a second opinion on design features, struggling with user engagement strategies, or looking to enhance accessibility features, we are here to assist. |
| Alternative Solutions for Rural Communities (ASORCOM) | SafeCommNet: Decentralized, Secure, and Private Communication System for Crisis and Disaster Management | Visit our booth to learn about SafeCommNet, an innovative decentralized communication system designed for use during political unrest, crises, and disasters. Our platform ensures secure and private communication, enabling communities to maintain connectivity and coordination even in the most challenging situations. Discover how SafeCommNet can support resilience and safety through cutting-edge technology. |
| Amnesty Tech | Amnesty International (Tech Programme) | Members of Amnesty International’s Tech Programme will engage with attendees on the programme’s work, which includes countering the digital surveillance of activists, banning facial recognition technology for mass surveillance, and working to ensure reproductive rights activists can share accurate abortion information online. We will use the booth as an opportunity to interactively demo our tools for activists, such as verification kits to scan devices for spyware infections, as well as our surveillance camera map in New York City. The proposed activities will share information on different technological threats to activists, as well as providing them with the knowledge and tools to protect themselves and educate others. |
| AmneziaVPN | AmneziaVPN | Amnezia VPN - simple and free app to run a self-hosted VPN with high privacy requirements. The idea for AmneziaVPN appeared in 2020 during the first Demhack hackathon, and then it was further developed with Privacy Accelerator. We desired to empower users of all technical skill levels to create their own VPN, for simple blocking circumvention and also to ensure privacy and protection of their data. It was important to us to create a free and open source application so that no user data is collected and there is no even hypothetical possibility of data leakage. |
| Ancestra | Coffee and radio clinic: Sounds that liberate and awaken hope in times of rights cutbacks | This is a calm, deep listening spaces booth. Come to this booth for Colombian coffee or herbal tea straight from our mountains, to meet and talk about radio. In Colombia, radio enables populations living in remote areas to exercise their human right to communication. What is alternative radio for? Here, we will try to learn about the hopeful power of digital and analog sound content in geographical and sociopolitical contexts where democracy and rights are constantly at stake. |
| APC | ||
| Arizona State University, OTF ICFP Fellow | How Local Pakistani Apps Puts Vulnerable Citizens at Risk of Surveillance and Targeted Attacks | Understand how vulnerabilities and development shortcomings in Pakistani apps risk exposing vulnerable citizens to surveillance and targeted attacks. |
| Article19 | Article19 | International and regional projects looking at the intersection of digital rights and freedom of expression. During the Global Gathering regional and thematic specialists will be facilitating sessions, working with human rights defenders, and providing training. Our booth will be staffed throughout the Gathering and we are looking forward to meeting you and to learning more about your projects too. Our booth will be part of the Job Fair, so feel free to stop by and meet our colleagues to learn more about our work with partners around the world. |
| Breakpointing Bad / OTF ICFP Fellow | Holistic VPN Stack Exploitation - Risks & Threats Across VPN Layers | This booth showcases tools and techniques Breakpointing Bad has developed for identifying threats to VPNs, including risks that might be less well publicized and understood. We have planned three demonstrations: \n1. Client Information Leakages - Participants will see CryptoSluice identify applications with weak or no encryption that put them at risk even when using a VPN. \n2. VPN Server Attack Demo - Participants will see exploits developed by Breakpointing Bad that seriously undermine VPN security.\n3. Suspicious VPN Providers - Participants will see preliminary results about suspicious VPNs and how they put users at risk. \nThese tools and techniques address risks and threats VPN clients are exposed to across different components of the VPN software/operational stack. |
| Calyx Institute | ||
| Citizenlab | ||
| CiviCERT | Digital First Aid Kit | The Digital First Aid Kit is a free resource to help rapid responders better protect themselves and the communities they support from the most common digital emergencies. Learn how to use the resource, navigate through the 12 available workflows to diagnose your digital security problem, and find support from CiviCERT members. |
| Conexión Segura y Libre | Conexión Segura y Libre | Conexión Segura y Libre is a Venezuelan NGO dedicated to the defense of digitals rights and internet freedom. This year we launched an anti-censorship newsreader app, which uses an integrated VPN powered by Psiphon and Outline. We are excited to share this new project with the international digital rights community. |
| D3 - Defesa dos Direitos Digitais | ||
| Defensive Lab Agency | PiRogue Tool Suite (PTS) | This booth will demo the PiRogue Tool Suite project, allows attendees to test the PiRogue and ask questions about its usage and features. The booth will have a PiRogue running and attendees will be able to see it in action and get the network traffic of their mobile phone being analyzed. The main PTS developer, along with an expert in mobile forensics, will be there to explain how it works and answer technical questions. |
| Digital Defenders Partnership | Tech Care. A Step-By-Step Guide To Providing Digital Support To Civil Society | As digital attacks on civil society and minorities increase both in number and intensity, new digital security help desks are being created all over the world to provide support. This guide offers simple instructions that enable smaller organisations and grassroots groups to set up a team to respond to the digital safety needs of the people they work with and fight with. |
| Digital Defenders Partnership | How to Set up Digital Protection Teams to Accompany Human Rights Organisations | Does your organisation want to accompany activists and civil society organisations in building sustainable digital protection practices but do not know where to start? DDP will present its new Digital Protection Accompaniment Manual, a resource that provides the foundations of the holistic, intersectional, and community-based approach, guidelines for team building and training, and details on how to carry out each of the four phases of accompaniments. |
| Digital Defense Fund | PigeonHut: Digital Rights and Your Bodily Autonomy | What do pigeons, (USB) condoms, and doulas have to do with your bodily autonomy as you navigate online? Whether abortion laws target providers, supporters, or pregnant people themselves, the criminalization of abortion care involves the surveillance of bodies. Personal data generated in the course of everyday life–expressed through communications, web searches, mobile location, online purchases–can become evidence that can be used in prosecutions against those seeking or assisting in reproductive justice. Visit this space if you're looking to brainstorm, create, or discuss ways to meet the challenges to bodily autonomy in a digital world. |
| Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative | Digital Rights Litigation in West Africa | The Booth seeks to showcase opportunities for collaboration to litigate digital rights in West Africa |
| Digital Security Lab Ukraine | ||
| DOXA | Kaleidoscope – reliable and convenient censorship circumvention mirroring solution | We - a media in exile called DOXA (doxa.team) - have created a solution that automatically creates unblocked mirrors of websites blocked in regions with harsh censorship (such as Belarus, russia Uzbekistan etc). It allows us to always stay one step ahead of censorship agencies and assure readers have access to independent information! \nWe are eager to provide our tool to other media outlets and human rights organisations and are already doing it for 10+ organisations in russia, and we believe this number will most likely triple by the moment our Booth takes place! |
| Emergency Assistance Program | Freedom House | Emergency Assistance to Frontline Activists | EAP provides short-term support to human rights defenders (HRDs), civil society organizations (CSOs), and survivors of severe religious persecution on the basis of belief or non-belief. The program has worked to support individuals and organizations in some of the world’s most repressive and conflict-ridden environments. On a yearly basis, the program supports more than 1,000 HRDs, CSOs, and survivors of severe religious persecution with emergency assistance, urgent advocacy grants, and preventive security projects. |
| EngageMedia | Introducing the DigiSec.Wiki: Come Collaborate with Us! | This booth will be introducing the work EngageMedia has done under the Digital Security Wiki, a Wiki focusing on providing accessible alternative resources for digital safety, particularly on those active in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. we're inviting people to review, add, translate and contribute to our Wiki, and spread the resources to their community. |
| eQualitie | SplinterZone | Join us at SplinterCon booth, an initiative to explore, challenge, and counteract global internet fragmentation. This initiative, brought to you by eQualitie, focuses on resilient, decentralized tools and the developers and communities behind them. At our booth, you will experience a simulated shutdown environment, mimicking a pocket splinternet. Participate in series of workshops (circles) that reflect the current state of the web, test circumvention tools, share your splinternet experiences, and learn from the expertise of advocates working in affected regions. SplinterCon booth is a space to discuss challenges and opportunities of a constantly fragmenting internet, where you can learn from a hands-on experience of navigating and thriving in such a landscape. |
| Fairwork | Fairwork | Fairwork is a global initiative from Oxford University that aims to promote digital workers rights. My idea for the booth is to promote the initiative by showing workers' testimonies and the project's progress on the matter. I can also bring merchandising like stickers or t-shirts with statements. |
| Freedom of the Press | ||
| Fundación Internetbolivia.org | The Work of the Internetbolivia.org Foundation | The InternetBolivia.org Foundation has been working for more than 6 years in the areas of Digital Economy, Internet Regulation, Digital Inclusion, Fight against Digital Violence, Innovation and Digitalization, Technology and Digital Security.\nWe will show all our achievements, our publications, workshops and projects that we have been doing in Bolivia. |
| GlobaLeaks | GlobaLeaks | GlobaLeaks is free, open-source software enabling anyone to easily set up and maintain a secure whistleblowing platform. Thanks to GlobaLeaks. everybody can easily set up a secure and anonymous whistleblowing initiative. Designed to be user-friendly, the software is customisable to your needs and protects the whistleblower’s privacy and submissions by default. |
| Global Voices | Global Voices | Global Voices is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2024. Over the past two decades, our network of writers, translators, researchers, and digital rights activists has made significant contributions to the digital rights ecosystem. We create diverse and multilingual content with a special emphasis on underrepresented stories, produce in-depth participatory research about digital rights by those who are affected by the issues at hand, and support Indigenous and historically marginalized communities to exercise their rights to free expression and access to information in Indigenous languages. We also connect and coordinate a diverse network of partners, many of whom do not operate in English, giving their work a wider platform both with translation and republishing, and creating a forum for them to connect with one another. GV strives to foster more inclusive and representative participation around digital rights, ensuring that voices from all parts of the globe are heard. |
| Greenhost | Greenhost | Greenhost is a digital infrastructure provider in the community. We help organizations to have a safe and trusted place on the internet. The booth will be a place to connect with our users and potential new users. |
| Guardian Project | Guardian Project | Secure Communication Channels, Circumvention, Digital Security, and Offline Open Source tools |
| HURIDOCS | HURIDOCS (Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems) | For the last 40 years, HURIDOCS has supported the human rights community by providing essential tools and solutions for documentation and information management, and offering strategic advice on standards and methodologies for human rights documentation. At this year’s Global Gathering, HURIDOCS will present the roadmap for ongoing and further developments of our flagship tool Uwazi, share the Rapid Response Documentation Principles and showcase Uwazi integration with Tella. Stop by to learn more about how HURIDOCS can support you, your organization or your community. We look forward to seeing our friends and allies, building new connections and exploring potential synergies! |
| Idaraty | Idaraty Hub | Idaraty is a CivicTech startup launched in 2020. Idaraty develops innovative solutions to accelerate citizen-focused digital transformation and contributes to access to information to different actors in order to foster a better digital ecosystem. Idaraty have several projects but the focus for the GG is the Project Arkam (Numbers in English). Arkam is a platform that aggregates public policy-related data, statistics, and stories and presents them in an easy-to-use format for journalists, content creators, and decision-makers. |
| IODA @ Georgia Institute of Technology | How to use IODA to Monitor for Internet Shutdowns | In this booth we will showcase both the IODA interface for live demos on how to use the IODA dashboard as well as share new guides developed for less technical users on how and when to use IODA, the IODA signals, and the IODA rapid response shutdown protocol. |
| JAAKLAC | JAAKLAC Community | *Share* your visions around a quality education in the digital age; \n*Learn* about efforts in Critical Digital Education manifested through our diverse Latin American Community;\n*Do!* collaborative projects with us to broaden the participation for better digital futures with your knowledge, creativity and drive.\nThis booth will be in Spanish, English and Portuguese |
| Jordan Open Source Association | JOSA - Jordan Open Source Association | The JOSA booth will be open for discussions on various regional topics, including digital inclusion incident response, help desk services, open source philosophy, open governance, and open data. We will also showcase our work and portal, highlighting our contributions and initiatives in these areas and to engage with visitors on these subjects. |
| LibResilient | LibResilient | LibResilient is a browser-based decentralized content delivery tool, implemented as a JavaScript library to be deployed easily on any website. It uses ServiceWorkers and a suite of unconventional in-browser delivery mechanisms, with a strong focus on decentralized delivery methods, and does not require website visitors to change any settings or install any extensions to work. The project grew from experience of running infrastructure for (and blocking censorship of) investigative journalism media sites. |
| Localization Lab | Join the Localization Lab Community! | We have localized nearly 200 internet freedom tools and resources into 220 languages, and we need your help to do more! Drop by our booth to learn about our work and how we can fight tech bias together through co-design, collaboration, and research. Sign up to join our global network of contributors, explore other collaboration opportunities, or help us build our Unified Glossary on-site by translating into your local language, one word at a time. |
| MaadiX | MaadiX | MaadiX is a privacy-oriented, affordable and easy-to-use solution that puts users back in control of their data and communications without the need for technical expertise or large investments.It provides one-click installation and maintenance of free and open source online tools on own servers through an easy and intuitive graphical interface. |
| Mapbond | MapBond Connect Hub | MapBond Connect Hub is an innovative platform designed to foster connections and build communities. At our booth, attendees can experience a live demo of MapBond, a digital tool that maps social capital to enhance networking and collaborative opportunities. Engage directly and explore how MapBond facilitates connections through interactive maps, helping users share interests, locations, and activities. Join us to discover how you can leverage MapBond to strengthen your networks and community engagements, all within a user-friendly digital environment. |
| Media Matters for Democracy (MMfD) | FACTER: Revolutionizing Digital Investigation for Newsrooms to Counter Mis/Dis/Mal Information | FACTER is a first-of-its-kind digital investigation tool designed exclusively to facilitate newsrooms in countering mis-, dis-, and mal-information (MDM) in Pakistan. The Facter database, which can be accessed by newsrooms via a Chrome extension, is updated with fact-checks by a team of digital investigators and editors on a daily basis. \nThe booth will showcase the Facter project, what sets it apart from other fact-checking initiatives, its functioning, SOPs, and technical infrastructure. |
| Meta | Human Rights @ Meta | Meta's Human Rights Team will be present to answer your questions and hear your feedback about our policies and work to protect human rights defenders across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. We'll also be hosting two interactive sessions: a tabletop exercise simulating how we respond to conflict and crisis situations, and a structured consultation and update on our Trusted Partner and HRD escalation channels. |
| Myanmar Internet Project | -WhatsHappeningInMyanmar (Myanmar Internet Project) | The -WhatsHappeningInMyanmar exhibit at the global gathering in Portugal will serve as a vital platform for shedding light on the critical security, threats, and risks associated with the military and digital coup in Myanmar. |
| NETALITICA | Improving the Lists of Websites (aka Citizen Lab test lists) Used to Measure Internet Censorship | Netalitica updates Citizen Lab test lists used by network probes (e.g. OONI Probe) to uncover Internet censorship. Our workshop will introduce you to the lists, their types and structure, reveal the common problems that URLs in them suffer from, provide you with instructions how to fix bad URLs and update the lists with fresh content. We will review existing methodologies of updating test lists and discuss their advantages and disadvantages, so that you feel comfortable to pick the right methodology for your research. The session will conclude with a presentation of a case study, demonstrating how to organize collection of network measurements to produce an analytical report on blocking of websites. The goal of the workshop is to provide you with practical knowledge on how to update test list. Our session is designed for people with limited technical skills (e.g. social scientists, activists, media professionals) who are interested in investigating Internet censorship. |
| Numun Fund | Numun Fund | The first dedicated fund for feminist tech in, and for the Larger World. Our aim is to seed and sustain feminist technology infrastructure for movement organising, and we understand digital technologies to be an important part of movement infrastructure. |
| Omyidar | ||
| OpenArchive | Preserve Truth to Power with Save by OpenArchive | People armed with mobile devices are becoming history’s first responders, amassing evidentiary records of injustice. Save helps them Share, Archive, Verify, Encrypt this crucial evidence. This will be a participatory demo where we’ll do a demo and foster strategic partnerships with those interested in deploying Save or setting up archives in their communities. |
| Open Culture Foundation | Open Culture Foundation | We want to share the newly released report about Taiwan's human rights defenders' cybersecurity situation and how we used these results to develop a 1-year information security support service specifically designed for Taiwan's human rights defenders, especially those confronting digital authoritarian countries. |
| Open Observatory of Network Interference | OONI Run v2 Demo | Stop by the OONI booth to see a demo of our improved OONI Run tool! This tools helps people crowd source network measurements and we currently working on improvements requested by the community. Stop by to see how it works! |
| Open Technology Fund | OTF Booth | OTF would like to host a booth at Global Gathering to showcase our organization’s funding and service options for participants. The booth will include informational brochures, an outline of support services to the community, and a highlight of our key funding mechanisms. OTF looks forward to the opportunity to meet with community members in the Internet freedom space and offer support for their programs. |
| Outline | ||
| 0xche | 0xche | We want to showcase our current lines of work and ongoing programs to explore potential partnerships with other organizations, and invite organizations to apply to our Rapid Response and Security Lab programs. |
| Phoenix R&D / Messaging Layer Security (MLS) | The current status of a new privacy-preserving and decentralized messenger | We’re building a new generation of open-source messenger combining privacy, security, and decentralization. This is based on the [Messaging Layer Security protocol](https://blog.phnx.im/rfc-9420-mls/) (a new standard for end-to-end encryption we co-authored) and a tech stack we have been developing. In this booth, we want to showcase the current status of our project to develop a generation of new privacy-preserving and decentralized messenger with a beta coming soon.\nWe will also have a circle session on the same day at 16:30 where we want to discuss with you what the future of secure messaging might look like and what your needs are for messaging applications. |
| Quad9 | Quad9 | Quad9 is a Swiss NGO providing a free service that replaces your default Domain Name Server (DNS) configuration. When your computer performs any Internet transaction that uses the DNS (and most transactions do), Quad9 blocks lookups of malicious host names from an up-to-the-minute list of threats. And we have the data to prove it's effective. As opposed to some other public DNS services, Quad9 respects your privacy and does not market in personally identifiable information about you or your DNS queries. |
| Qubes OS | Qubes OS Booth | Qubes OS is a free and open-source security-focused operating system that strives to provide exceptional security, flexibility, and control over your computer. It is also increasingly accessible to users of various level of technical skills. In this booth, I want to showcase Qubes OS capabilities and gather feedback from existing and prospective users. |
| Quiet | Quiet - A "Slackier Signal" for secure team chat | Quiet is building an alternative to Slack & Discord for human rights defenders with a focus on encryption, deletion, and usability. Worried about the security of your Slack, Discord, or Telegram chats? Frustrated by the chaos of using Signal for a busy team or community? Come learn more about Quiet and let us learn more about your use case! |
| Radio Free Asia | Safety in exile: practical guide to avoiding transnational harassment | Transnational repression is a tactic used by governments such as China, Iran, and Russia, to reach across borders to harass and intimidate diaspora communities, journalists and human rights defenders living in exile. Out of myriad potential responses, we will showcase best practices and advise on the real world applicability of digital and physical security guidance in the face of such threats. |
| Relaycorp | Letro | Letro is analogous to email, but conversations are end-to-end encrypted, spam is virtually impossible and users can communicate without the Internet too. |
| Safe Sisters | Safe Sisters Fellowship Program | Safe Sisters is showcasing its first public exhibit of fellowship products from our community champions. The exhibition will include collections from TFGBV research, Digital rights creative content and Digital safety resources from 7 African countries. |
| Snowstorm | Snowstorm | Snowstorm is a revolutionary internet censorship circumvention technology based on our founder's original software \"Snowflake\ currently being used by Tor Snowstorm brings internet freedom to another level and we'd love to showcase the technology share thoughts and connect with people. |
| supernova.is | Journalism for the Future / network booth | Is there any kind of journalism about digital rights that covers not only problems we face now, but ones that are yet in the boiling pot, soon ready to be served to citizens? Can we catch it before it damages society, vulnerable groups, the internet infrastructure? We invite journalists and anybody interested in the prevention of the anti-utopian future rather than sorting out the rabble after, for the conversation about what can be done differently in informing our audiences and networking for future collaborations across the borders. |
| Tella | Horizontal Booth: Tools for your digital security | We are Horizontal (https://wearehorizontal.org/index) an international CSO that support activists, journalist and human right defenders with technology tools and trainings. We will demo our 2 flagship products:
Tella https://tella-app.org/: a free an open source tool to encrypt and hide files in your phone, and collect and share data even with limited or no internet connectivity or in the face of repression. Shira https://shira.app/: Shira helps users develop the skills needed to identify and defeat phishing attacks on email and messaging apps.We will also discuss about our forms of support for organizations and activists and will hear feedback and requests to make our apps more accessible and usable to the community, |
| The Center for Internet & Society | The Caste of Technology: A Zine Library. | “The Caste of Technology” is a physical and digital Zine library showcasing stories, reflections and aspirations of Anti-caste artists, activists and creatives from India. Through the library, we invite GlobalGathering participants to explore nuanced/complex/messy relationships between caste, the internet and digital platforms, as experienced by marginalised caste users. The library aims to bring awareness, open conversations and build solidarities about caste in the global digital rights discourse. |
| The SecDev Foundation | CyberStar - Digital safety support for small CSOs. | CyberStar is a long-running digital safety audit approach for Eastern Europe/Central Asian civil society groups. Featuring women trainers from the region (Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan), our booth will feature audio-visual materials demonstrating our approach and results. Visitors will be able to demo our 'scorecard' surveys for individuals and organizations, and give us feedback and views on our approach. |
| The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | EFF | The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is excited to offer an opportunity to engage in conversations about the formation of coalitions and the implementation of effective tactics for interdisciplinary engagements. In addition, we will be presenting some of our innovative projects and providing complimentary stickers for collection, as well as offering a selection of distinctive EFF merchandise available for purchase. https://www.eff.org |
| Tor and Tails | The Tor Project and Tails | At the Tor and Tails booth you can learn more about tools that can help you be anonymous on the internet. Come to chat with us about how to use the Tor Browser or the Tails OS to protect your privacy online and bypass censorship. Learn more about our community and how to volunteer. And if you would like to partner with us for digital security training in your area. |
| Vietnam Rise | Vietnam Rise: Navigating in hostile environments. | There seems to be reservations from funders and NGOs about funding and working on Vietnam projects due to increasingly harsher government crackdowns. This tendency for risk aversion hurts civil society and grassroots organizing. Vietnam Rise would like to showcase that it is possible to work in Vietnam. We would like to showcase new tactics and work with new communities and issues to navigate in hostile environments but at the same time integrate security into our processes. |
| Wikimedia Foundation | Wiki-Advocacy: How the people behind Wikipedia work towards a better internet | Everyone knows Wikipedia, but few know how its global volunteer community and the non-profit organization behind it work towards a more equitable digital ecosystem and in favor of regulations and public policies that keep the internet a free and open environment where rights are protected and free knowledge can thrive. Local Wikimedians will be present to share their important work and experiences filling the gender gap on Wikipedia, while the Wikimedia Foundation’s Global Advocacy team will be on hand to discuss its global work engaging governments to advance privacy, transparency, and freedom of expression online. Global Gathering attendees will be able to share their own priorities in these areas and to identify possible areas for collaboration with the global Wikimedia movement. |
| Zamaneh Media | Censorship Resilient and Distributed Publishing: 451 Tools and more | Publishers understand their own needs and that of their audiences the best. What would the world of censorship circumvention look like if this understanding is incorporated into tools? At the booth, Zamaneh Media will showcase the tools it has developed and those in the pipeline that take a user-first, publisher-centric approach to tool development. What were some of the challenges, what were the big moments of success? This booth will cover a publisher's journey of taking on tool development and establishing strong partnerships with the iFreedom community all to keep independent information available to news readers. |
