Digital Rights
Protecting Human Rights in the Digital Age
Our first annual luncheon was focused on "Protecting Human Rights in the Digital Age", a topic that many believe to be the next important frontier of international human rights.
DIGITAL RIGHTS IS THE COMBINATION OF THE RIGHTS TO FREEDOM OF OPINION AND EXPRESSION, ASSOCIATION, PRIVACY AND TO SEEK, RECEIVE AND IMPART INFORMATION.
This program primarily addressed what constitutes digital rights, their intersection with more traditional human rights, the implications of data security and privacy on U.S. policy and the globalization of digital rights as it pertains to freedom of expression, internet access and privacy.
It was our hope that this convening would be a catalyst for dialogue among key stakeholders, philanthropists, human rights practitioners, civic leaders, technologists and digital rights activists and that it would provide funders with a learning opportunity to potentially engage in the digital rights space.
Guest Speakers
Eileen Donahoe is Executive Director of the Global Digital Policy Incubator at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center, where she works to develop global digital policies that address human rights, security and governance challenges. She served as the first U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, during the Obama Administration.
Jim Fruchterman is the CEO of Benetech, a leading social entrepreneur, a MacArthur Fellow, a recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and a Distinguished Alumnus of Caltech. Jim’s dream is to bring Silicon Valley’s technology innovations to all of humanity, not just the richest 5%.
Del Harvey, Vice President of Trust & Safety at Twitter
Elliot Schrage, Vice President of Communications, Public Policy and Platform Marketing at Facebook
Brett Solomon is the Executive Director and co-founder of Access Now, a global non-profit organization that defends and extends the digital rights of users at risk around the world. By combining direct technical support, comprehensive policy engagement, global advocacy, grassroots grantmaking, the organization fights for human rights in the digital age.
Tiffany Shlain [Moderator] is the Founder of The Webby Awards and Co-Founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Tiffany Shlain has received over 80 awards and distinctions for her films and work, including inclusion in the Albert Einstein Foundation’s upcoming book and initiative Genius: 100 Visions for the Future, being on NPR’s list of Best Commencement Speeches and by Newsweek as “one of the women shaping the 21st Century.”
Event Images
Resources
Digital communications technologies, such as the Internet, mobile smartphones and WiFi-enabled devices, have become part of everyday life. By dramatically improving access to information and real-time communication...
US: Surveillance Harming Journalism, Law, Democracy
Human Rights Watch
Large-scale US surveillance is seriously hampering US-based journalists and lawyers in their work, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union said in a joint report released today.
A Clear-Eyed Look At Mass Surveillance
Open Democracy
The Snowden revelations on mass surveillance practices, especially by the US and UK, have triggered a global struggle over the right to privacy—and a report by the outgoing UN human-rights commissioner has set the terrain for the next phase.
Jaron Lanier is the father of virtual reality and one of the world’s most brilliant thinkers. Who Owns the Future? is his visionary reckoning with the most urgent economic and social trend of our age: the poisonous concentration of money and power in our digital networks.
Communities @ Risk: Targeted Digital Threats Against Civil Society
Civil society organizations (CSOs) that work to protect human rights and civil liberties around the world are being bombarded with persistent and disruptive targeted digital attacks—the same sort of attacks reportedly hitting industry and government.
Dispatches: US Needs To Recognize Privacy Rights – For Everyone
Human Rights Watch
A hypocritical game is being played by the United States at the United Nations General Assembly this week, as Germany and Brazil put forward another resolution on the right to privacy in the digital age. Just like last year, the US is all for it—provided it can strong arm other countries to cut out any provision...
Why The Press Is Less Free Today
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In the worldwide movement away from democracy, perhaps the most vulnerable institution is the free press, and the most disposable people are journalists. If they’re doing their job right, they can have few friends in powerful places.
CITIZENFOUR is a real life thriller, unfolding by the minute, giving audiences unprecedented access to filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald’s encounters with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong, as he hands over classified documents...
Robots, Botox, And Google Glass
Viewers start feeling revulsion toward robots or animated characters that appear almost human, but not quite. Tiffany Shlain looks at how phenomenon affects what we're creating now.
At Final Hour, Congress Passes Reasonable Cybersecurity Legislation
Access Now
In spite of a feeble legislative term, including the particularly devastating failure of surveillance reform, the 113th U.S. Congress pushed through four positive last-minute cybersecurity bills over the past two days.
Digital Rights And Freedoms: Part 1
Open Democracy
Under the rubric of state security on the one hand and commercial openness on the other, we are being lulled into an online world of fear and control where our every move is monitored in order to more efficiently manage us.
