RightsCon, the world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age, is just around the corner and will be held in Taipei, Taiwan and online from February 24–27, 2025.
Researchers from The Citizen Lab are scheduled to speak in a series of discussions, panels, and workshops at RightsCon addressing some of the most urgent issues in the digital rights space.
February 26 | 17: 45 – 18: 45 (Taipei time)
Digital Transnational Repression Against Exiled Human Rights Defenders: Exposing Harms, Finding Responses, Building Resilience
Speakers: Siena Anstis and Marcus Michaelsen (The Citizen Lab), Arzu Geybulla (Former research fellow, The Citizen Lab), Nate Schenkkan (Freedom House), and Sara Sheikh Ali.
Co-hosted by Freedom House and The Citizen Lab, this dialogue will examine the rising use of digital tools by governments to control, silence, and surveil exiled human rights defenders. Join senior legal advisor Siena Anstis and senior researcher Marcus Michaelsen for an engaging discussion on the growing importance of digital rights in the global human rights struggle, along with strategies to strengthen the resilience of exiled activists.
You can also read the latest report by the Citizen Lab where the authors unpack the unique digital tactics used to silence women activists living in exile, which include rape threats, sexual slurs, harassment, and vulgar comments on social media platforms.
Read the report: https://citizenlab.ca/2024/12/the-weaponization-of-gender-for-the-purposes-of-digital-transnational-repression/
February 27 | 10:15 – 11: 15 (Taipei time)
Let’s Talk About the Elephant in the Room: Transnational Policing and Human Rights
Organizers: Kate Robertson and Veronica Arroyo
Speakers: Veridiana Alimonte (EFF), David Kaye (University of California, Irvine and former UN Special Rapporteur), Afsaneh Rigot (De|Center), Alex Tinsley (Doughty Street Chambers)
Evolving and expanding trends in transnational policing and data sharing are posing serious challenges to international human rights frameworks. In this dialogue session, senior research associate Kate Robertson and research assistant Veronica Arroyo of The Citizen Lab will host a conversation about the emergent dangers these systems pose to individual freedoms. The session will explore the 21st century safeguards that are necessary to ensure that international human rights protections and accountability controls are equally meaningful in the context of transnational law enforcement systems.
February 27 | 14:00- 15:00 (Taipei time)
Is your app traffic encrypted?
Speakers: Mona Wang and Jeffrey Knockel
In this tech demo, The Citizen Lab’s Mona Wang and Jeffrey Knockel explore the issue of custom, homegrown cryptography used in popular Chinese apps with up to a billion users. Apps like WeChat and Chinese keyboard apps often rely on flawed encryption, risking exposure of users’ browsing data to eavesdroppers. Through case studies, the researchers show how these cryptographic failures are part of a larger systemic issue in the Chinese app ecosystem, with serious implications for app security and data privacy.
You can read their research on this topic here:
Should We Chat, Too? Security Analysis of WeChat’s MMTLS Encryption Protocol
Should We Chat? Privacy in the WeChat Ecosystem
Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information.