[icann-see] Fwd: Call for collaboration: Youth project on 'Digitised security' in Bosnia and Herzegovina (24.04-30.04.2017)

[Michael Oghia]

Dear all (apologies for re-sending if you already recieved),

I want to bring the following email to your attention. I will summarize it
as best as I can so that if you would like to have more information, you
can follow up with Anya (CCd).

Cooperation and Development Network Eastern Europe is hosting a youth event
in Sarajevo in April 2017 focusing on cybersecurity, privacy, and mass
surveillance. While they have secured quite a bit of funding already from
the Council of Europe, they are currently looking for local partners as
well as speakers and contributors. Partners could provide funding and/or
non-fiscal resources such as providing space, equipment, or volunteers.

*Vlada: *Would this be something that Diplo may want to contribute to?

*Maarit:* Would this be something that ISOC would be willing to support?

*Chris: *Would this be something that RIPE NCC would be willing to support?

*Lorena and Martin:* Would NERDY and/or EuroDIG be interested in assisting
in some fashion as well?

For more information, contact Anya Orlova at: annnyanka at gmail.com. Aya and
I met last year at the IGF, and we are both members of the Youth Coalition
on Internet Governance (YCIG). She and I are also both ISOC ambassadors
this year to the IGF.

Feel free to forward this message to a relevant contact or spread it among
your networks as well.

Best,
-Michael
__________________

Michael J. Oghia
iGmena <http://igmena.org/> communications manager
2016 ISOC IGF returning ambassador
Independent #netgov consultant & editor

Belgrade, Serbia
Skype: mikeoghia
Twitter <https://www.twitter.com/MikeOghia> *|* LinkedIn
<https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeoghia>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anya Orlova <annnyanka at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Oct 27, 2016 at 7:05 PM
Subject: Call for collaboration: Youth project on 'Digitised security' in
Bosnia and Herzegovina (24.04-30.04.2017)
Cc: Petra Škuljević <petra at cdnee.org>, Julian Hauser <
julian at julianhauser.com>


Dear Michael,

First, I'd like to thank you for your interest in our youth event that will
take place in *Sarajevo in April 2017* and will bring together 40 young
people.

Now let me briefly introduce myself and our organisation. My name is Anya
and I am a member of the digital [x] working group
<https://www.cdnee.org/working-groups/digitalx/> of Cooperation and
Development Network Eastern Europe (please see more about CDN here -
www.cdnee.org). In December last year we organised a webinar
<http://digital-x.org/2015/12/first-digital-x-webinar-a-success/> on the
use of the security discourse to restrict our online rights, and after it's
success we decided to organize an educational seminar on the same topic.

We applied to the Council of Europe with the project "Digitised security -
How to read the surveillance discourse and fight it!" in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, 24.04.2017 – 30.04.2017. The Council of Europe has decided to
financially support our project with EUR 22,400. Our total estimated budget
for this project is EUR 30,535 we are looking for co-funding of the amount
of EUR 8,135. In the attached file you can see our detailed project budget
breakdown. If you know of any institutions, foundations or organisations
that might be willing of supporting us, we would greatly appreciate that
information. Support does not need to be financial, it can also be in kind
- for example pay sending a speaker and covering their expenses.


*We are currently in the phase of looking for local partners - individuals,
digital activists, collaborative and organisations who would like to join
us in this event either as co-organiser, contributor, speaker or
participant.*
Please see below (and in the attachment) a more detailed information about
our project and feel free to ask us - Julian, Petra and me - should you
have any questions, suggestions or ideas. Please feel free to share this
call further.

Thank you,

Anya, Julian and Petra

digital [x] working group
Cooperation and Development Network Eastern Europe (CDN)
https://digita-x.org
www.cdnee.org


*Project Description *

Cooperation and Development Network Eastern Europe is working on supporting
its members and Member Organisations through its projects and initiatives
as well as engaging new members and collaborators to work together and
network. The project 'Digitised security - How to read the surveillance
discourse and fight it!' initiated by the digital [x] working group is
directed at drawing attention of youth on tackling issues of digital
security, digital literacy and uniting young people, activists,
collaboratives and initiatives of the Eastern European and the Balkans
region to work together and therefore fostering capacity building and
networking in this field.

Although the 'Digitised security' project was designed to take place in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, the idea behind it is to attract young people,
digital activists, youth organisations and organisations working in the
field of advocacy of digital rights and freedoms from the whole region of
Eastern Europe and the Balkans. This project has support from the political
parties and Green MEPs of the European Parliament with a particular goal of
creating an ambiance that would foster and support local initiatives and
help to gather young activists and organisations to work together on the
pending issue of digital security that we are facing today in the European
context given the recent political and social climate and the relevance of
cybersecurity and mass-surveillance in this respect.

There are a number of activists and small organisations working on advocacy
of digital rights and freedoms in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans.
However there are not that many opportunities for collaboration and
networking, in particular when it comes to connecting digital rights and
hacker activists with activists from other spheres, for example the Green
movement. digital [x] believes that by joining forces and working together
we can achieve much more.

Greens are well-established in this region and can serve as an entry
platform to political debates for the individuals and organisations working
in the sphere of digital rights advocacy. Moreover, collaborating with
other organisations from Eastern Europe fosters exchange of good
practice and can be of help in online campaigning.

This project can furthermore be a step towards collaboration between the EU
and Eastern European/Balkan region. Establishing a more solid and
sustainable cooperation is important as the Balkans and Eastern Europe are
affected by EU legislation, both in the course of formal accession
processes as well as simply through the fact that the EU is a standard
setter in digital rights legislation in Europe as whole. It is crucial that
voices from the Balkans and Eastern Europe are heard in the EU -- firstly
because they bring a new perspective and voice concerns that stem from a
different socio-economic and political background.

*Today our project partners and collaborators are:*

- Jan Philipp Albrecht, MEP, European Parliament; Group of the
Greens/European Free Alliance
- Julia Reda MEP, European Parliament; (Greens/EFA, Germany)
- Terry Reintke, MEP, European Parliament; (Die Grune | EFA)
- Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG)
- Share Foundation (Serbia)
- Young Pirates
- Zostone
- One world platform
- Prishtina hackerspace

We are also planning to reach out to:

- Panoptikon (https://panoptykon.org/)
- European Digital Rights (EDRi)
- Digitale Gesellschaft (CH and DE)


*What is this project about?*
In the past few years legislators have advanced and implemented numerous
laws that threaten our digital rights - such laws span the gamut from
national legislation on data retention and online surveillance to trade
agreements that affect intellectual property legislation and whose
enforcement often entails surveillance. The extension of surveillance and
censorship online is something felt in Europe as a whole, making the fact
that those policy decisions are often only discussed in expert circles all
the more disquieting.

Currently the major argument for mass surveillance stems from data's
alleged usefulness in combating terrorism. Many countries, from France to
Russia, have recently legalised surveillance of their citizens. However, it
is far from clear whether increased online surveillance helps fight
terrorism, and a false sense of security might actually increase the real
danger and move our attention away from terrorism's root causes such as war
and poverty. Moreover, mass surveillance restricts our human rights in
crucial ways, endangering individual freedom as well as our common
institutions such as democracy and media.

The effects of surveillance do not know borders: data streams, even between
neighbours, often cross multiple countries, online communities are often
transnational, and surveillance technology produced in the West is used by
authoritarian regimes the world over.


*What will we do and why?*
We will organise a 6-day long seminar in Bosnia and Herzegovina that will
gather 40 young people from all Europe to discuss this topic. The topic is
highly relevant to youth across all of Europe. Youth activists are often
the first to experience restrictions of rights even when they are not the
professed targets of the laws. Second, the internet is used by a majority
of young people in daily interactions and are essential in modern
collaborative work.

The debates surrounding online freedoms often focus on diffuse fears, which
are instrumentalized to push for restrictions of civic and human rights.
Therefore we want to gather young people from all over Europe to analyse
the discourse with which restrictions of our human rights are justified. We
want to look at the arguments used, gain an understanding of the underlying
facts and learn how youth can actively engage themselves in public
discussions and defend their interests. To this end we want to work on
participants' advocacy and campaigning skills in the field of digital
rights.

Additionally, we want to give youth the ability to independently protect
their rights online. We will therefore develop participants' skills and
encourage them to use software that protects from surveillance and
overcomes censorship. We will develop a toolkit on both the theoretical and
practical aspects of this seminar, which will help with the achievement of
the aims after the seminar.

We hope that this seminar will strengthen the potential of the Internet as
a real driver of democracy and human rights.

*Project summary*

Project name: Digitised security - How to read the surveillance discourse
and fight it!

Duration: 6 working days

Date: 24 th – 30 th April 2017

Location: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Topic: Digital rights, internet policy, security, surveillance, data
protection, digitalisation

Organiser: Cooperation and Development Network Eastern Europe, Youth
movement Revolt,

European Youth Foundation

Target age: 18-30

Number of participants: 40
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