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By The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law
5
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The podcast currently has 22 episodes available.
We are witnessing a “firehose of falsehood” on the internet and in the media: mis- and disinformation that attempts to overwhelm the truth. As deepfake and synthetic media technologies become more sophisticated and their use more prolific, it is becoming more and more vital to develop tools and systems to identify when media has been manipulated - often through fake or deceptive audio and video - to increase trust in our information ecosystem.
This fourth installment of our Global Digital Rights Challenges series features Sam Gregory @SamGregory, Program Director at WITNESS @witnessorg and three Promise Fellows, Nick Levsen, Aya Dardari and Ani Setian. Hear Sam outline the work he is doing at WITNESS, including in consultation with actors in the Global South who have lived-experience of the impact of mis- and disinformation, and learn more about preparing for and pre-empting future deepfake crises by developing detection skills and ensuring equitable global access to media forensic tools.
P.S. We have a small housekeeping note: The fifth conversation in this series is titled “Life Interrupted: the Impact of Internet Shutdowns” and in a way that is both oddly fitting and also unfortunate, the audio for that talk was throttled by - you guessed it - poor internet connectivity and is best enjoyed while watching the speakers in real time. It’s a fascinating exploration of the power of ISPs, government’s role in securing internet access, and the vulnerabilities when daily life relies on connectivity. Head over to our Promise Institute YouTube channel to watch Tomiwa Ilori speak with Mark Verstraete, and to round out our Global Digital Rights Challenges series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgqbQmIRMnM
America exports many things, but its content moderation standards may be the most important. Activists and concerned citizens the world over use social media as a microphone to connect, mobilize and push for change - which makes the content rules that online platforms set and enforce enormously influential in shaping the global discourse.
However, because these rules are often designed based on U.S. sensibilities and priorities, they can have an adverse impact on globally marginalized communities. Platforms can also be subject to pressure from governments, including those with poor human rights records, to crack down on dissent and opposition.
In this third of our five-part series on Global Digital Rights Challenges, Promise Institute Assistant Director Jess Peake talks with Marwa Fatafta, MENA Policy Manager at Access Now, about the effect that the decisions of American platforms has on censorship of activists in the Middle East and North Africa, and how such actions impact fundamental human rights, censor dissent, and erase history.
Special thanks to our partners in this series, UCLA Law's Institute for Technology, Law and Policy.
While the internet may be a global medium, the vast majority of its rules are imposed by State actors and repressive governments are seeking new and innovative ways to port censorship to the online space.
Listen as Farieha Aziz @fariehaaziz of Bolo Bhi and Michael Karanicolas of UCLA Law's Institute for Technology, Law and Policy @uclatech discuss how governments like Pakistan face a tension between their desire to harness economic and social energies associated with internet access, and its potential to empower opposition voices, whistleblowers and civil society.
Even if you think you understand the way technology affects your life, this episode is an eye-opener.
The first in our five-part series on Global Digital Rights Challenges, this powerful conversation between Safiya Noble of c2i2 at UCLA and Tawana Petty of Data for Black Lives helps illuminate the ways technology and facial recognition are shaping our lives - for better and for worse.
When laboratory researchers wanted to study the effects of solitary confinement, they had to obtain special permission because mimicking the isolation of solitary confinement was considered so cruel to the mice.
From the social framework surrounding solitary confinement, to its neurological impacts, the Mandela Rules, why solitary confinement in the U.S. is so unregulated, and more, this episode offers an important and unshakeable look in to the human rights implications of solitary confinement's use.
Discussion features Clara Long of Human Rights Watch, Jean Casella of Solitary Watch, and was moderated by Promise Fellow, Seadimo Tlale.
You’ve read the headlines about Myanmar, but have you heard for instance, what the parallels are between the US events of Jan 6th and Myanmar’s current military coup? What was the internet's role in the military’s oppression of civilians? And how the law has played into, and been contorted by, Myanmar’s junta?
Our Assistant Director Jess Peake sat down for a candid conversation with Pwint Htun of the Myanmar Program at the Harvard Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Pwint’s insights paint a vivid picture of the internal displacement, the pervasive terrors of the military’s lawless behavior, and why constitutional law will be a cornerstone in rebuilding Myanmar from the ground up.
What does neuroscience have to do with human rights advocacy? How can shifting a storytelling framework backfeed a large organization's entire strategy for human rights change?
Promise Institute Executive Director Kate Mackintosh sat down with our visiting professor and former Head of Impact and Learning for Amnesty International, Danny Vannucchi, to discuss all this and more. Together they explore the nuanced and evolving landscape that is impacting the way large human rights organizations approach their social impact campaigns from the ground up - and working.
The Facebook Oversight Board's recent decision about the platform’s indefinite ban of former President Trump applies international human rights law to content moderation. Promise Institute Assistant Director Jess Peake sat down with Michael Karanicolas, Executive Director of UCLA Law's new Institute for Technology Law and Policy, to discuss the Board's formation, the Trump decision, how social media platforms are handling their responsibilities to freedom of expression, and the tensions between being a global business and being a global platform for potentially disruptive and dangerous content.
For further reading, the paper mentioned in the podcast is available here:
Michael Karanicolas, Squaring the Circle between Freedom of Expression and Platform Law, 20 Pittsburg Journal of Technology Law & Policy 177, 2020 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3599100
Corporations sometimes facilitate crimes across national borders, yet even in instances where this takes place knowingly, accountability can be hard to come by. This panel discussion from our 2021 Symposium, Corporate Liability for International and Transnational Crimes, offers an excellent in-depth look at how human rights litigators are navigating the landscape. Discussion includes innovative ways to approach these cases, focus on the clients, holistic assessments of what's needed, and insights into specific cases panelists have worked on.
As the need for an international prohibition of ecocide becomes clearer and clearer across the globe, a key panel of experts has been working to craft a definition of this new crime. This episode features a conversation hosted by BBC Africa correspondent, Andrew Harding, with some of the people working to make the prohibition of ecocide a reality (including our very own Executive Director, Kate Mackintosh).
The conversation highlights the history of the crime of ecocide, and how the language of the crime must be carefully constructed to provide as valuable a legal tool as possible to protect our planet home.
This event was recorded in December 2020, as a side event of the 19th Assembly of States Parties. It was co-hosted by Stop Ecocide Foundation, Institute for Environmental Security, and the mission of Vanuatu. Additional panelists include:
Philippe Sands QC, barrister at Matrix Chambers and Professor at University College London
Marie Toussaint, Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA)
Judge Tuiloma Neroni Slade, former ICC judge
The podcast currently has 22 episodes available.
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