Rights Con Costa Rica 2023: Jessica McClearn

Rights Con is an international conference which brings conversations on the intersection of digital and human rights together, as described on their website it is, 'The world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age.' Originating as the Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference in 2011, Rights Con in 2023 is now a community of 8000+ people passionate about the freedom and protection of communities navigating through technological developments. 

I was delighted to be selected to participate in the Young Leader's Summit which took place the day before the official conference began. With approximately 30 young people in the room, it was a wonderful opportunity to connect with and learn from other passionate young people working at many different angles of digital rights. The relationships built throughout this session became a foundation for the busy week ahead. The day started with a session by Data 4SDGs to discuss data values followed by the Internet Society who led a conversation on child protection online. In the afternoon Thorn and TikTok led a panel about online safety and the role of platforms. I would recommend others in the CDT to apply to be part of the Young Leaders Summit in the future.

 

With over 600 sessions to choose from (in-person and online) it was a difficult task to prioritise what to attend throughout the week. From panels, workshops, lightening talks and demonstrations the programme had a wealth of topics and ideas to explore. I enjoyed workshops due to the active role of participants and the opportunity to hear from many different perspectives. I cannot list all of the sessions I loved as we would be here for a long time but 'Digital darkness: stories of people living under internet shutdowns' and 'English in, gibberish out: mistranslation as social media's ed facto policy for the Global Majority' provided both moving and thought provoking insights which have influenced the direction of my research. Workshops such as 'Communities of practice: exchange of community networks best practices' and 'Keeping the digital peace: monitoring social media peace agreements' were particularly interesting to my own research areas. The main stage played host to a number of giants in the digital security and human rights field including Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Meredith Whittaker, President of Signal and Gideon Lichfield, Director of Wired.

 

I was all the more motivated to attend Rights Con in Costa Rica due to my research focus in Colombia and more broadly across Latin American through the Digital Security in Latin America research group www.dslaresearch.org. After dedicating myself to learning Spanish over the last few months, I was excited to attend some of the Spanish speaking sessions… this ultimately proved how much more learning I have to do! This was a great learning opportunity and I met some kind people who translated at times to help me continue my Spanish speaking journey!

 

Despite the great week had at Rights Con, I cannot talk about the conference without discussing the violation against the community by the Costa Rican government. 300+ participants who were granted visa on arrival as negotiated by the Rights Con coordinators were denied this just two days before the conference was due to start. This injustice evidences how far we have to go to fight against the shrinking civil space for those discussing issues of human and digital rights. More can be read on this issue here: https://www.accessnow.org/campaign/joint-statement-passport-and-visa-systems/. 

I am grateful to Rights Con in providing a space for a welcoming, innovative community who shouts about the importance of digital rights from their rooftops! It was great to make new connections and re-connect with those who I already am fortunate to know. More can be done to ensure inclusivity of all voices and stand against the injustices of governments who seek to stand in the way. Here is to RightsCon 2024 and to keeping digital and human rights a priority.


 


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