11-16, 11:30–12:30 (Asia/Beirut), Parallel Universe
Participants will be more informed about current transparency gaps across the telecom industry, particularly with respect to network shutdowns and net neutrality. They will also learn how civil society organizations have adapted Ranking Digital Rights' open methodology to evaluate telcos' human rights commitments, policies and practices. Participants will also be encouraged to share their own experiences and knowledge, in order to identify potential action points and cross-collaboration connecting CSOs in different countries that are facing similar challenges.
The session will start with a brief presentation providing key highlights from various adaptations of the Ranking Digital Rights methodology, focused on telecommunications companies in various world regions. During 2021 and 2022, civil society organizations in West and Southeast Africa, Central Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and Southeastern Europe have conducted research about the policies and commitments to human rights assumed by mobile carriers and Internet Service Providers. These studies have showcased the transparency gaps and overall lack of information that prevail in this industry, as well as the disconnect between parent companies (often based in the Global North) and subsidiaries when it comes to the disclosure of key policies.
We will focus on discussing the relationship between the operating companies (parent/headquarters) and its subsidiaries across the globe, and their opaque structures and practices, so as to identify the different threats that these companies pose to internet users.
"ستبدأ الجلسة بعرض موجز يقدّم النقاط الرئيسية من التعديلات المختلفة لمنهجية تصنيف الحقوق الرقمية، مع التركيز على شركات الاتصالات في مناطق العالم المختلفة، من أجل تعزيز النقاش حول أوجه التشابه والاختلاف مع عالم الاتصالات في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا.
خلال عاميّ 2021 و2022، أجرت منظمات المجتمع المدني في غرب وجنوب شرق أفريقيا وآسيا الوسطى وجنوب وجنوب شرق آسيا وجنوب شرق أوروبا أبحاثًا حول السياسات والالتزامات المتعلقة بحقوق الإنسان التي تتحملها شركات الاتصالات الجوالة ومقدمو خدمات الإنترنت. وقد أظهرت هذه الدراسات الثغرات في الشفافية والنقص العام في المعلومات في هذا القطاع، فضلًا عن الفرق بين الشركات الأم (التي غالبًا ما يكون مقرها في النصف الشمالي من العالم) والشركات التابعة لناحية الإفصاح عن السياسات الرئيسية.
ستركّز الجلسة على مناقشة العلاقة بين الشركات العاملة (الأم / المقر الرئيسي) والشركات التابعة لها في كافة أنحاء العالم، وهياكلها وممارساتها المبهمة، وذلك لتحديد التهديدات المختلفة التي تشكلها هذه الشركات على مستخدمي الإنترنت.
Afef is a researcher, writer, and consultant working at the intersection of technology and human rights, with nearly ten years of work experience in the non-profit sector. She currently works as a Research Lead at SMEX. Previously, she worked as an editor for Global Voices' Advox project, which covers the intersection of technology and human rights in the Global South, and Ranking Digital Rights, a non-profit research initiative that sets human rights-based standards for companies in the ICT sector. Afef holds a media studies MA (New Media and Digital Culture track) from the University of Amsterdam.
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Leandro Ucciferri is the Global Partnerships Manager at Ranking Digital Rights, where he works with civil society organizations around the world on research and advocacy projects to hold tech power accountable. He is a lawyer specializing in technology policy and regulation about the right to privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity. Before joining RDR, Leandro was a researcher and project officer at the Association for Civil Rights (ADC, in Spanish), a non-profit and independent NGO, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 2015 to 2020. At ADC, Leandro managed research projects and advocacy campaigns focused on the right to privacy in the digital age. He has published reports covering issues such as biometrics, encryption, surveillance, cybersecurity, financial technologies, and digital identity. He has participated as a speaker in international conferences including at the United Nations, the OECD, RightsCon, the IGF. You can follow him at @leoucciferri
Zak Rogoff is a research manager at Ranking Digital Rights. He works for an internet that truly serves the interests of everyone, and he believes the human rights framework is the best way to get there.
Rogoff has appeared on Al Jazeera and had writing and quotations published in outlets from Motherboard to the scientific journal Nature. Before becoming a researcher, Rogoff worked as a digital rights campaigner. At Access Now, he campaigned against internet shutdowns with a global coalition. Before that, he fought to maintain the security and openness of the technology underlying the web, leading campaigns at the Free Software Foundation. He has also worked to rein in government surveillance as a campaigner at U.S.-based Fight for the Future and a research fellow at the Chilean NGO Derechos Digitales.