A number of friends and trusted partners from our community will be making the short flight from CNX to Taipei for RightsCon 2025.
What is RightsCon?
Each year, RightsCon, hosted by Access Now, convenes business leaders, policy makers, general counsels, government representatives, technologists, academics, journalists, and human rights advocates from around the world to tackle pressing issues at the intersection of human rights and technology. In engaging fireside chats, hands-on workshops, strategic roundtables, private meetings, and a lively exhibition space, RightsCon is where a global movement comes together to build strategies and drive forward change toward a more free, open, and connected digital world. For its 13th edition, Access Now is hosting RightsCon 2025 in Taipei and online from February 24 to 27.
Upcoming Community Events at RightsCon 2025 and Beyond
🌟Our community is organizing an exciting lineup of events, workshops, meetups, and hackathons focused on digital rights, civic tech, decentralized technology, and more! Below is a curated list of key sessions happening during RightsCon week (February 22–28)—both as part of the summit and as side events in Taipei. While most of the side events are inperson only, the RightsCon summit is open for (free) online participation. You can register for a ticket, here.
Come find us!
📌 g0v Hackathon
🗓 Date: February 22, 2025
⏰ Time: 09:30
🎤 Host: g0v Community
📍 Location: National Taiwan University Innovation Hall (SPACE M)
🔗 Register: Get Tickets
📜 Description: Join Taiwan’s civic tech community at g0v’s hackathon! Connect with developers, activists, and policy experts working on open-source projects that drive civic engagement.
📌 ARTICLE 19 Report Launch: Cybersecurity with PRC Characteristics
🗓 Date: February 22, 2025
⏰ Time: 15:30 – 17:00
🎤 Speakers:
- Michael Caster, Head of Global China Programme
- Liu I-Chen, Asia Programme Officer, ARTICLE 19
- Moderator: Lulu Keng, Program Manager, Freedom House
📍 Venue: Touat.books, No. 3-1, Zhenjiang St, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City
🔗 RSVP: Reserve Your Spot
📜 Description: This report examines China’s influence on cybersecurity norms via the Digital Silk Road and its implications for global internet governance. Taiwan is presented as a policy alternative with a rights-based digital governance approach.
📌 Digital Resilience Workshop
🗓 Date: February 23, 2025
⏰ Time: 3:00 – 6:00 PM
🎤 Hosts: g0v & DWeb Community
📍 Location: Taipei Tech University, National Taipei University of Technology
🔗 RSVP: Sign Up
📜 Description: A workshop exploring internet infrastructure on the front lines of censorship. Learn about decentralized web technologies and strategies for resilience.
📌 Re·Imagine Myanmar at RightsCon
🗓 Date: February 24, 2025
⏰ Time: 5:45 pm
🎤 Hosts: Myanmar & Taiwan Civic Tech Community
📍 Location: Will be shared via email
🔗 RSVP: Sign Up
📜 Description: A critical discussion on how decentralized technology and civic tech can support democracy and digital rights in Myanmar and Taiwan.
📌 Taipei Principles on Accountability & Transparency in Social Media Monetization
🔗 Read & Support: Sign the Statement
🗓 Date: Monday, February 24 |
⏰ Time: TBA 11:30am-3pm (lunch provided)
📜 Description: A community-led initiative outlining principles for ethical social media monetization and platform accountability.
📌 Digital Rights Advocacy within Constrained Civic Spaces
🗓 Date: February 26, 2025
⏰ Time: 2 – 3pm CST
🎤 Hosts: East West Management Institute
📍 Location: RightsCon Summit
🔗 Join: More Info
📜 Description: A deep dive into the challenges of digital rights advocacy under authoritarian constraints, with expert-led discussions on strategies for resilience. Speaker: Pyrou Chung Director, Open Development Initiative
📌 Navigating GeoAI for Climate Action: Potential and Pitfalls
🗓 Date: RightsCon 2025
⏰ Time: 11:30am – 12:30pm CST
📍 Location: RightsCon Summit
🔗 Join: More Info
🎤 Hosts: Digital Futures Lab
📜 Description: Explore the applications of GeoAI in climate action, discussing both opportunities and challenges with leading researchers and policymakers. Speaker: Pyrou Chung Director, Open Development Initiative
📌 Indigenous & Local Communities Meetup
🗓 Date: February 26
⏰ Time:
🎤 Hosts: East-West Management Institute and others
📍 Location: RightsCon Summit 402B
🔗 Join: More Info
📜 Description: A space for Indigenous and local communities to share experiences, challenges, and strategies for digital rights advocacy.
Report and Open Letter released today at RightsCon2025
Read & Sign-on:
📖 Report – Decolonizing Emerging Technology: An Intersectional Feminist Approach to Resisting Technology-Facilitated Oppression by
Emerging technologies are exacerbating gender-based violence (GBV), disinformation, and environmental dispossession, disproportionately affecting woman, LGBTQ+ individuals, and Indigenous Peoples. Large technology companies, also known as Big Tech, operate without sufficient accountability, reinforcing digital colonialism and economic exploitation. This report outlines urgent policy gaps and presents recommendations for feminist-led, inclusive technology governance.
🔗https://lnkd.in/emNTvsfe
Open Letter to Big Tech Corporations, Policymakers, and Global Institutions:
We’re calling for accountability, transparency, equity, and justice in the governance of emerging technologies. The unchecked power of Big Tech has deepened gender-based oppression, environmental dispossession, and silenced marginalized voices. We refuse to let technology be a tool of colonial exploitation. We demand a digital future that is feminist, decolonized, and just.
Join us – Add your signature and stand for equity and justice! ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eS7Q4YY5
This letter was drafted based upon a session held at the Asia Pacific Feminist Forum in Thailand in September 2024. Organised and facilitated by Pyrou Chung (K4D), Rohini Lakshané (Factor Daily), and Nina Sangma (Independent Journalist).