Written by Siriracha Kaeoyong & Phyo Thiri Lwin (Edited by Jenna Fung)
On 20th January 2022, a session about human rights online was held online. The session first began with an introduction to the topic delivered by Ariff Azam. He briefly explained what human rights online are and why it is important. He then introduced our guest speakers Gayatri Khandhadai, Asia policy regional coordinator of Association for Progressive Communications (APC), and Edmon Chung, CEO of DotAsia Organisation.
In this training session, the presentation was delivered by Nur Atiqah Binti Azrein, Afiq Rahimi Rosdan, Ramma Nisar, Siriracha Kaeoyong, Rounok Jahan Khan, and Duong Le Thuy, Bella from working group #1. The first part of the presentation was delivered by Afiq Rahimi Rosdan. He pointed out that human rights are the fundamental rights and freedoms that belong to every single one of people, anywhere in the world. It doesn’t matter where you are from, what you believe in, or how you choose to live your life. After that, he presented about cyberwar in Vietnam. First, he pointed out that cyberwar, also known as cyberwarfare, is conducted in and from computers and is connected through networks waged by states or their proxies against other states or people. In most cases, the military is engaged in this to disrupt, destroy, or deny their use.
Cyberwar should not be confused with the terrorist use of cyberspace or with cyberespionage or cybercrime. Then he shared about types of cyberwar attacks, Below are the 7 types of cyberwar attacks:
- Espionage
- Sabotage
- Denial-of-Service (DOS)
- Electrical Power Grid
- Propaganda attacks
- Economic disruption
- Surprise attack
The second part of the presentation was delivered by Atiqah Binti Azrein. In this part, she highlighted about anti-doxxing law in Hong Kong is the act of publicly revealing previously private personal information about an individual or organization, usually via the internet. Anti-government protests revealed the addresses of several policemen’s homes and children’s schools, resulting in threats. However, some technology firms are afraid that the regulation is so broad and ambiguous that it may impede operations in Hong Kong. Human rights and pro-democracy organizations are concerned that it will be used to suppress dissent.
After the group presentation session, Gayatri Khandhadai, the guest speaker shared the point of account gender/indigenous rights/rights to security is more efficient. She shared that security among the rights in Hong Kong has the problem of taking risks for journalists and young activists. The level of privacy for public figures is less for journalists, citizens, human rights defenders. Meanwhile, Edmon Chung told the attendees about the rights of self-defense-mass surveillance and shared about the situation about rights in Hong Kong because he is the person who works in that area. Kindly, he showed a picture that reminded people about human rights online. However, he talked about action from companies in Hong Kong responding to online platforms affected by law reinforcement.
Following up with this session, the attendees were divided into two groups in order to discuss the following sessions:
- What is your own definition or interpretation of Human Rights Online?
- Do you have any experiences of the violation of human rights online in your country? or do you hear about any examples of that?
- Can we say threatening the cybersecurity of the digital citizens is a human right violation online? What are your opinions?
- Is there anything you want to share with us regarding this topic?
- What if the powerful countries are trying to oppress the civilians online by adopting the laws , how should the international community respond to that? please share your views?
The breakout room 1 was facilitated by Duong Le Thuy and Bea Guevarra and Edmon Chung joined the session. In this breakout room, The attendees shared their own interpretation on human rights Online that it resembles the concept of Human Rights “Offline” as it should be based on the core value of humans. It is related to data protection and privacy issues, digital identity, and cyber security as a whole.
Human rights online are the fundamental rights and freedom that every internet user deserves in this digital age like the privacy rights on online space. In response to question 2, one of the attendees mentioned a bullying case he and his family experienced. It was the incident of Doxxing while sharing personal information online to Facebook – but were able to contact the police. Another attendee stated that Twitter users are being arrested saying things that are against the government as well. She also commented that though some freedom of rights online is restricted we should all have free speech even if we do not agree with the government. Talking about her personal experience – a hacker was trying to get to her and expose her address on Instagram and came to threaten her family – has been reported and the account has been taken down.
Other attendees also mentioned that there are many things happening in Myanmar like the coup that is killing many civilians and ethnic people. Regarding cybersecurity, the attendees shared that it is much broader terms to protect not only people online but also preserve network security. And, the core value of cybersecurity is all about data protection and integrity. Cybersecurity laws and policies have a direct impact on human rights, particularly the right to privacy, freedom of expression, and the free flow of information.
In breakout group 2, they first went for a group commenting about the case of anti-doxxing law in Hong Kong when Omar asked for clarification. Atiqah added that certain parts of the nature of the anti-doxxing law in the Hong Kong case limited the freedom of expression of the people, and therefore they find it relevant to the topic of human rights online. Jenna Fung, the coordinator of the Netmission Academy added some comments from the Hong Kong perspective and pointed out that governments can abuse their administrative power to suppress the human rights of the people. Doxxing itself is wrong and needs to be regulated. But putting a vague anti-doxxing law in effect may do more harm to freedom of speech than resolving the issues of doxxing.
Gayatri, the speaker who joined the discussion in group two pointed out that doxxing as such is a problem, especially for people in vulnerable situations. It is a violation of privacy and my sense of security. The problem with the law is that it is vague, does not make exceptions for newsworthy stories, and is too harsh. Also, the power given to the authorities can result in the privacy of people accused of being violated.
Omar followed up with a question on whether a simple act which is by sharing others’ personal data is an infringement of human rights online – maybe rights to security. It was also responded by Gayatri that is one of the key elements of consideration when we want to perceive whether it infringes on human rights online or not. Regarding question 4, Dziadatul thinks that the international community should defend their rights online, and if they are really restricted by law to do so, they should guard their usage and privacy by choosing what to share with the public, use security software or VPN and protect private data or information using passwords.
Jenna raised that it should be the responsibility of everyone in the International community to be aware of what is happening in the world, and empower people around us about what was happening in the world regarding violation of human rights online. Gayatri stated in the chat that “All people have rights, but their acts of violence do not have protection”.
The session with a brief summary delivered by Omar and Stella. Following with closing remarks by the guest speakers, Edmon Chung and Gayatri Khandhadai.