This year RightsCon will host its 10th anniversary summit online from Monday, June 7 to Friday, June 11.
RightsCon brings together human rights experts, tech companies, government representatives and activists to discuss how we can build a rights-respecting digital future.
A number of Amnesty International colleagues will be in attendance:
Monday 7 June | 9:45pm – 10:45pm CEST
Fund no evil? The human rights due diligence responsibilities of venture capital
This session will focus on the critical role VC firms play in the tech sector and discuss their human rights responsibilities, especially as regards what kinds of due diligence they should undertake as part of the investment process, as well as what kinds of companies (and business models) they should potentially avoid.
With Michael Kleinman, Silicon Valley Initiative Director, Amnesty International
Wednesday 9 June | 3:00pm – 4:00pm CEST
This session will transport participants in a virtual round-the-world tour to Europe, India, Massachusetts, New York, the West Bank and more, to explore the power of a selection of global advocacy and campaign actions against facial recognition and other forms of biometric mass surveillance.
With Matt Mahmoudi, Researcher/Advisor on Artificial Intelligence & Human Rights at Amnesty International
Wednesday 9 June | 8:45pm – 9:45pm CEST
How to use art and culture to build policy advocacy movements
This is a panel discussion on how organizations can use art and culture in their policy advocacy work. The session will center on Ban the Scan, a five minute film produced by AI for the People and Amnesty International to support their Ban the Scan campaign. The panelists describe how this and other art has been used to movement for a ban on police use of biometric technologies in New York State.
With Matt Mahmoudi, Researcher/Advisor on Artificial Intelligence & Human Rights at Amnesty International
Thursday 10 June | 10:45am – 11:45am CEST
The Coalition Against Unlawful Surveillance Exports (CAUSE) works for better human rights protection in EU cybersurveillance export rules since 2014. The session will connect civil society of countries that import surveillance technology from the EU to civil society that works on stopping and regulating surveillance export from the EU.
With Merel Koning, Senior policy advisor at Amnesty International
Thursday 10 June | 2:30pm – 3:30pm CEST
Confronting the racial and colonial roots of “surveillance capitalism”
This session presents an update on a project on the impacts of ‘Surveillance Capitalism’ on racialized and global South communities, led by Sabelo Mhlambi on behalf of Amnesty International.
With Joe Westby, Deputy Director of Amnesty Tech
Thursday 10 June | 9:30pm – 10:30pm CEST
Investigating the crisis in Xinjiang
Journalists and researchers who have spent years investigating Xinjiang, will share insights on the current situation, and discuss open-source investigative techniques that proved effective in revealing the scope of China’s campaign in the region.
With Jonathan Loeb, Senior Crisis Adviser with Amnesty International
Friday 11 June | 1:15pm – 2:15pm CEST
Friday 11 June | 8:45pm – 9:45pm CEST
De-facing and decoding surveillance: mapping the chilling effect
Following the launch of Amnesty and partners’ ‘Ban the Scan’ campaign, calling for a ban on facial recognition, globally, Amnesty set out to turn the gaze on surveillance by surveillance cameras across New York City using micro-tasking. By involving a large number of digital volunteers, we mapped how the “chilling effect” plays out in New York City. In this session, we will look to collaborate with participants on mapping the chilling effect in other cities that have been major sites of recent protest, especially as it relates to the global movement for racial justice.
With Matt Mahmoudi, Researcher/Advisor on Artificial Intelligence & Human Rights at Amnesty International, and Sophie Dyer, Product Manager of Amnesty Decoders