Language: English (mozilla)
Provide a space for the panelists to discuss how the Israeli Surveillance State impacts Palestinians day-to-day lives. Each panelist was selected specifically to provide a unique perspective. Nadim will be able to give context to the history of surveillance against Palestinians in all of its many forms, and provide context to how surveillance has impacted recent events in Palestine. Specifically, the covid-19 pandemic and the May 2021 uprisings. Sophia will be able to speak to the realities video surveillance in East Jerusalem, and cite her recent published report, where she spoke with many Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. This will highlight the level of surveillance many Palestinians are under on a daily basis. Mohammed will be able to provide a regional perspective across MENA, and as a former political prisoner in Bahrain.
Our hope is to create more awareness around the level of surveillance, and denial of a right to privacy, Palestinian communities face on a daily basis. We also hope to highlight how many of the firms developing surveillance technologies that are used against marginalized communities around the world, are created by Israeli companies (The NSO Group and their Pegasus Software, or AnyVision and their facial recognition software, just to name a couple), and tested in Palestinian communities, so they can be marketed as "field tested". In that way, we hope the audience will walk away from our session understanding the global impacts standing against Palestinian surveillance will have for communities around the world.
Why did you choose that space? How does your session align with the space description?:We believe in MozillaFest mission, to create a more humane digital world. With that mission in mind, we do not believe that the proliferation of surveillance technologies, and their uses against marginalized populations, are helping society create a more humane digital world. With that in mind, we felt that the MozillaFest community was the perfect place to find allies in the fight against the proliferation of surveillance technologies.
How will you deal with varying numbers of participants in your session? What if 30 participants attend? What if there are 3?:Our session will be interactive, with the facilitator rotating questions directed at each of the panelist. We will plan on this moderated discussion to last for most of the session, leaving time towards the end dedicated to Q/A with the audience. However, our Q/A session can be tailored to match the audience size and level of engagement. If the audience is large, our facilitator will end of moderated discussion a bit earlier, and open up questions from the audience. If the audience does not submit many questions, the facilitator can go back to preprepared questions. If the audience is small, we will do the opposite, and leave less time from Q/A at the end.
What happens after MozFest? We're hoping that many efforts and discussions will continue after MozFest. Share any ideas you already have for how to continue the work from your session.:The broader human rights sector is shining a brighter light on the negative impacts of surveillance technologies. This can be seen in campaigning work that took place in 2020, and pushed Microsoft to divest from the facial recognition firm, AnyVision, or in the Biden administrations recent decision to blacklist the NSO Group for its sale of Pegasus software. We believe this is just the beginning, and feel that our session will be an opportunity to cultivate ideas for the next global anti-surveillance technologies campaign.
What language would you like to host your session in?:English