This week, members of the Ranking Digital Rights team will be in Toronto, Canada, for the sixth annual RightsCon conference, organized by Access Now. We are organizing and participating in several RightsCon sessions, and are looking forward to discussions with human rights and technology advocates and experts from around the world.
On Wednesday May 16 at 10:30am, Rebecca MacKinnon will be speaking in the session “A Decade of Progress: Where Do We Go Next?” In this session, speakers will reflect on progress that has been made in the business and human rights space over the last decade, identify strategies and tactics that have best fueled this progress, and reflect on how to approach human rights challenges and opportunities in the ICT sector in the years to come.
On Wednesday May 16 at 4pm, join us for “Documenting ICT companies’ impact on civic freedoms & human rights defenders,” a workshop we are co-hosting with the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre in which we will brainstorm how the digital rights community can a) collaborate to better document the impact of ICT company policies and practices on freedom of expression and privacy, and b) work with companies and governments to improve grievance and remedy mechanisms for individuals and organizations whose rights have been violated. Rebecca MacKinnon will moderate the session, with speakers Ana Zbona (Business and Human Rights Resource Center), Ellery Biddle (Global Voices), Jessica Anderson (Onlinecensorship.org), and Peter Micek (Access Now).
On Thursday May 17 at 12pm, Laura Reed will be speaking in the session “This Panel May Contain Sensitive Content: Automated Filtering and the Future of Free Expression Online.” In this session, participants will discuss risks of the move to automation in communications governance, the underlying values we seek to preserve, and how we can better communicate with both the public and policymakers about these developments.
On Friday May 18 at 12pm, join us for “Tactics for advancing digital rights in developing economies and challenging political contexts: an RDR perspective.” In this session, researchers and advocates will discuss how RDR’s methodology can be adapted and used for digital rights advocacy in contexts in which the private sector may be more responsive to stakeholder engagement and public pressure than the government. Speakers will share their experiences from conducting this research, covering countries including China, Russia, and regions of Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Laura Reed will moderate the session, with speakers Afef Abrougui (RDR), Sergei Hovyadinov (RDR), Benjamin Zhou (Hong Kong Transparency Report), and Julie Owono (Internet Sans Frontières).
The full conference program is available here. Members of our team will be at RightsCon for the entire conference, so feel free to get in touch if you’d like to connect: info@rankingdigitalrights.org.
