Journalist. Covers Media, Digital Rights and Data Governance
Journey Into digital rights
Fatoumata’s background is in journalism. After almost 10 years, she switched to internet governance. It was not an intentional switch however, it was by default, given that media began evolving into the digital. Fatoumata was working in broadcasting and was involved in setting up community radio stations. By 2011, they believed it was time to transition from the broadcasting space, thus, began working on internet governance. Fatoumata began engaging with other digital rights and civil society organizations by providing them with broadcasting perspectives whenever they needed support on broadcast law.
Fatoumata’s Work Journey
Work Journey, Challenges and Goals
Fatoumata supported the research on the dark side of ICTs on women and cybercrime. She has been working within digital rights for over 20 years because she believes that setting up community broadcasting stations was also an advocacy for digital rights. Fatoumata’s goal is to ensure that people can express themselves safely online and by using secure networks, without anyone infringing on their rights.On the other hand, Fatoumata struggles to conceptualize or articulate digital rights work and is worried that many people consider it as ‘making noise’. Similarly, advocacy is very long-term which eventually becomes uninspiring. Fatoumata also shares that building trusted networks or getting people to trust your work makes working in digital rights very difficult
Inspiration
Community Building
Access to the internet
Gender and cybercrime
Information and communications technology research
Documenting the adverse effects of technology
Frustrations
Low quality internet infrastructure
Cost of internet and low connectivity
Online harassment
Legal Reforms Access to trainings and Materials Funding
Needs
Capacity building, and development of training resources and materials
ICT infrastructure investment
Online safety
Equitable access to funding
Human Rights Lawyer
Journey Into digital rights
Guillermo started in the field 4 years ago as a research assistant in a Latin American organization working on digital rights, project monitoring and security, data privacy. He points out that the rest of the civil society organizations in the country he works in are dedicated to armed conflict, transitional justice, peasant women, Afro-latina and Caribbean people, indigenous women, and science. The organization , Kilombo, is the only one working on issues at the intersection of technology and human rights. According to Guillermo, being a practitioner is a major way to specialize in technology and human rights because there are no universities that provide direct support despite the fact that the internet is such an important part of our lives.
Guillermo's Work Journey
Work Journey, Challenges and Goals
Guillermo’s organization is dedicated to promoting human rights, it is also a think tank, and an association of academics who have interests in working on different topics. He has worked on developing themes on technology transparency, strategic litigation, surveillance, environment and human rights since 2019. Guillermo believes that these themes are intersectional, and thrives to develop his expertise by learning from other regions in the world. Some of Guillermo’s concerns are that the digital rights space is very ageist because many people do not have a connection with younger people. He also expresses difficulties in measuring human rights progress since there are no clear indicators and rights work is long term and continuous. Guillermo is concerned about the fragmentation of networks involving multiple stakeholders who do not always implement impactful solutions.
Inspiration
Privacy and freedom
Environment and Human Rights
Transparent technology development and deployment Security
Net neutrality
Strategic litigation
Sustainable networks and associations
Frustrations
Few organizations in digital rights (tech and human rights)
Low digital literacy
Internet not being free
Private protocols
Low motivation amongst women and limited access to the internet
Ageism
Competitive funding
Clear measurement Indicators for Human Rights Work
Needs
Inclusive / Diverse communities: Inclusion of self-recognised groups and of different ethnicities
Financial Support
Mental health support
Digital rights trainings
Participatory Policy
Feminist Organization Founder, Digital Safety Activist
Rija is a digital rights defender who began her journey as a feminist organizer and advocate working on sexual and reproductive rights and justice. She got introduced to digital rights, specifically feminist internet and intersectionality around the internet discourse in the early 2010s and eventually worked with prominent organizations within the field. Rija found a way to incorporate an intersectional feminist perspective into sexual rights, digital technologies and other social fields of work. These inspired her to co-found a feminist organization with a specific focus on the intersectionality between gender, sexuality and technology. Rija believes that there was no specific incident to becoming a digital safety activist. However, it was a natural transition into digital rights and feminist discourse on the internet.
Rija’s Work Journeys
Work Life , Challenges and Goals
Rija primarily conducts research, workshop training and regional and international level advocacy. Her organization spearheaded various projects and publications during the course of their work. Rija’s goal is to create safer and free digital spaces for everyone, thus Rija’s work focuses on creating online spaces that caters to the needs of women, and a space where other marginalized communities can exercise their freedom of expression.
Inspiration:
Gender
Reproductive Justice
Sexuality
Data governance
Privacy and bodily autonomy
Online Gender Based Violence
Intersections of Gender Sexuality and technology
Freedom of Expression, Access and autonomy
Misinformation
Frustrations
Inequities within funding systems
Non-supportive networks: Competition among organizations working within the space
Redundancy in the work of different organizations
Limited resources that have constraints on her organization’s potential
Overworked due to having to spread oneself thin: Limits capacity building since only a few have the time and luxury to engage in training
Structural Biases against feminist organization.
Digital Authoritarianism
Needs
For a sustainable and supportive network within digital rights and security
Specializations to limit redundancies of the work within the digital rights and security space. This is dependent on access to funding and funders who support autonomy
Funding to grassroots and feminist activitsts and organizations
Capacity building to build an ecosystem
Digital Security Specialist
Journey Into digital rights
Sthembiso is a digital security professional with over 10 years of experience in the industry. He studied Computer Science for his undergraduate program and worked within the field for a few years.Most of Sthembiso’s certifications are technical certifications however, later he also volunteered with a Human Rights organization in Southern Africa. He supported within different roles in the organization, until he got the opportunity to engage in a program to train trainers. Through this, he attended the digital rights gatherings and conferences, and got excited by a community of whom he describes as ‘vaguely digital rights’ which he resonated with. After this, Sthembiso collaborated with some of his colleagues as the graduates of the training to co-found an organization in Southern Africa. He also lectures at regional institutions.
Sthembiso's Work Journey
Work Journey, Challenges and Goals
Sthembiso currently focuses on an organization he co-founded to support risk groups in Africa with their security needs and provides training to other trainers to expand the network of digital security trainers in Africa. He also improves the security capacity of individual organizations to be aware of the digital threats that they face on a daily basis and how to counter them or circumvent some of these threats using trusted tools. Sthembiso’s goal is to ensure that every organization becomes resilient to threats. He also explores ways to localize digital security training and content. While Sthembiso has a technical computer science background, he is a self-taught security specialist. When Sthembiso began his work, digital safety and security within the rights space was emerging. There was little to no funding support for the early organizations in the ecosystem. As such most of the people who founded his organization worked pro bono for a long time. They navigated these challenges through freelancing until reaching points of burn out, ultimately affecting his relationship with other practitioners.
Inspiration
Ensure every individual organization becomes resilient to threats online and offline
Frustrations
Increasing government interference
Building trust
Inequitable funding structures
Political and legislative threats: New cyber laws that will affect activists, CSOs and HRDs
Lack of localized content
Lack of human resources
Increased hostility and sophisticated attacked through NSOs
Needs
Technical language resources into plain language and localization
Expanded Community Collaboration
Grassroot Digital Security Awareness
Mindset change
Funding
More holistic security models
More inclusive and diverse local trainers
Scalable interventions
Positive government support
Senior Policy Analyst, Cyber Security Specialist and Project Manager in regional Civil Society Organization
Journey Into digital rights
Aikorkem however during her career she began to explore technology, peoples use and access, from a human rights and sociological lense. Aikorkem also specializes in the field of cybersecurity. Aikorkem began teaching young people and women digital skills, that is, ways to use emails and eventually ventured into security. She has been in the industry for more than 20 years, and is now regarded as a senior-level digital security specialist and professional. She has worked as a digital security trainer since the early 2000s and has been a software development consultant with notable media and technology companies and NGOs.
Aikorkem's Work Journey
Work Journey, Challenges and Goals
Aikorkem’s work investigates the best methods to protect personal data and trains people on security using open source tools. She has also worked on various publications and internet security methodology, they currently also run a NGO that researches tech and health and digital technology access for women and girls. She has advised on definitions on digital rights of citizens, and regulating the internet. Aikorkem believes that the space is sufficiently funded, and with personal and small networks, they are able to provide each other with support and professional growth in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. However, she acknowledges that gaining certification in the space can be very costly, which makes it increasingly inaccessible for many people.
Inspiration
Data Protection
Digital Security and computer Literacy
Internet Regulation
Legal Systems
Digital security research and innovative methodologies
Include more women in cybersecurity and digital security
Frustrations
Repression
Low digital literacy among women
Security Literacy
Needs
Affordable digital security training
International collaborations
Computer Scientist. Digital Security Specialist. Pro-democracy movement builder.
Journey Into digital rights
Nhung describes themselves as a pro-democracy movement builder. They worked on building and coaching movements during the time Facebook became popular and many people used blogging as a form of activism and to express repress and dissent in SouthEast Asia. During the time, they realized how activists and rights groups like theirs were being targeted by the state and law enforcement. Spyware and cyber attacks also became prevalent, yet there was not much information or any awareness raising around this kind of habits in SouthEast Asia and many other non-western countries. Nhung shares that because many people were being arrested and many issues on digital hygiene were rising amongst activist groups, they began teaching themselves digital security specifically on ways to circumvent the information controls that were being put in place in their country. However, Nhung’s work has evolved since then. While they still work on movement support , they focus on how to layer in digital safety, and digital resilience in movement building and activism.
Nhungs's Work Journey
Nhung's digital security skills were mostly self taught, at different times, they were also a part of formal training conducted for organizations. Thus over the years Nhung has built their career, and works in digital security and rights. They support rights groups around the world and focus on holistic security in particular, cybersecurity, but also physical security. Their position within the industry as an expert requires them to wear many other hats. They, however, still continue providing movement support for pro democracy, grassroots networks, globally, in particular Southeast Asia.However, for people like Nhung, there is no clear professional pathway and space for growth. For sometime, Nhung could not conceptualize or place a value for their work because within the rights space the lack of clear terms and pathways for security professionals affects how much they are paid or valued for their work.
Inspiration
Protecting Rights groups
Digital security literacy in Schools
Resilient Organizational security
Democracy movement building
Ensuring attitude change in the community
Frustrations
No formal certification in the rights space
No security tools and protocols for rights groups
No materials in their native languages
Biased funding models
No clear professional or career pathway
Over-capacitated security trainers
Solidarity depending on affiliations
Privacy and security
Sustainability of the field
Needs
Long term Funding Resources
Localisation
Building sustainable communities
More up-to date materials
Affordable training certifications
Standardized trainings
Mental Health support
Our research covers five regions, across four languages (English, French, Spanish and Russian): Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Read about the regional similarities and differences on how we approach digital rights and digital security.
Learn about the impact of the efforts of digital rights practitioners in keep the internet open, free and fair.
Sustainability funding is critical, but scarce. It is not just the technical infrastructure, servers, and other tools that require support, but also the back office staff such as accountants and human resources personnel.
Equitable funding models are essential for advancing and supporting digital rights and security practitioners and organisations. There is a need to rethink the current bureaucratic models of who gets the money and where they are located. Trickle-down funding from funders to iNGOs rarely compensates grassroots organisations fairly for their work.
The majority of respondents cited localisation as both a challenge and a need. Participants in the digital security space shared how they have been involved in adapting training content to be socially and locationally relevant. This, as most interviewees stated, also contributes to expanding access to safe and secure internet. Localisation was not only addressed as an issue of language, but also for minoritised communities.
We need intentionally develop and disseminate knowledge, including but also beyond translations for true localisation to happen.
Digital rights and security is often too broad term and lacks a defined scope of work, which harms practitioners directly and indirectly. This also affects their career growth, as there are no standard protocols for rights groups in security. As a result, practitioners cannot identify clear professional growth in this field.
There is a need to provide spaces and opportunities for senior-level practitioners to grow, and making it easier for people in the early stages of their careers to transition or work within the digital rights and security space, with less gatekeeping.
