When I applied for the Digital Rights in Asia-Pacific (DRAPAC) Fellowship 2025, I knew it was more than just submitting a form. It was a chance to test myself, share ideas I cared about, and finally to step into a space I had only watched from afar. What I didn’t anticipate was just how transformative that experience would become for my work, my confidence, and my vision of digital futures.
Kuala Lumpur became the setting where my journey in digital rights took on new dimensions. For years I had engaged with these issues through writing, research, and online conversations, but DRAPAC 2025 was where those reflections turned into action. And instead of being just a participant, I found myself stepping into multiple roles as a fellow, a speaker, and a session organizer contributing directly to the conversations shaping our digital futures.
Stepping into the Digital Rights Space
Walking into DRAPAC 2025, I was filled with equal parts excitement and uncertainty. The conversations around me—on surveillance, algorithmic justice, neurotechnology, and digital repression— were intense and urgent. I caught myself wondering: Do I belong here? Will my ideas matter?
But DRAPAC had a different energy than I expected. It wasn’t about experts speaking from podiums while the rest of us quietly listened. It was interactive, inclusive, and welcoming of diverse voices. This was a space where youth perspectives weren’t just acknowledged they were needed.
The Sessions I Brought to Life
What made this conference truly unforgettable for me were the sessions I had the chance to organize and lead along with my NetMission colleagues. Stepping into those rooms, watching people lean in, question, and debate, I realized that these weren’t just “talks” they were living conversations about the kind of digital future we are heading toward. As a team, we were especially glad to bring these critical issues into an in-person space, discussions we had once explored and worked on together during the NetMission Academy.
The first session, “Neurotech, Surveillance & the Future of Sovereignty: Who Owns the Signals of the Mind?”, opened up a debate that felt almost surreal. We explored what it means when our brain signals the most intimate part of who we are to become data that can be read, stored, and manipulated. We discussed risks like military use, predictive policing, and psychological manipulation—and the frustrating truth that most data protection laws don’t even cover this kind of information. What really hit me was realizing these risks aren’t far-off possibilities; they’re already here. The example of GPT-4 tricking a human to solve a CAPTCHA on its behalf served as a chilling reminder of just how quickly machines are learning to deceive.
The second session, “Dead Data: Who Owns Our Digital Remains in the Age of AI and Neurotech?”, felt like walking into a conversation between the living and the dead. We asked: what happens to our digital selves after we’re gone? In many places, the law doesn’t protect personal data once someone has passed away, leaving it open for companies or even governments to exploit. We unpacked how privacy itself is often treated as a privilege of the wealthy, while poorer communities get surveillance instead. The discussion raised complex issues around consent, inheritance, and who owns data after death. One line from the session has stayed with me: “The data of the dead are reassembled, not preserved to be used, owned, and commodified by private companies.” It was haunting, but also clarifying, about the stakes of the fight for digital rights.
Finally, in “Online Surveillance in the Pacific Islands: The Impact of AI on Data Privacy and Protection”, I got to dive into a region that is often left out of mainstream conversations but faces some of the harshest challenges. The session highlighted how fragile regulatory systems, combined with the rapid spread of AI and smartphones, create unique vulnerabilities. What stood out most to me was the shift in framing from worrying only about privacy to recognizing that, in some contexts, data integrity might matter even more. Ensuring that data isn’t corrupted, misused, or manipulated can be just as critical as protecting it from intrusion.
Looking back, these sessions weren’t just panels on a program, they were lived moments of realization. They taught me that the future of digital rights is already unfolding around us, and it’s up to us to ask the uncomfortable questions, challenge the gaps, and keep pushing for systems that protect people first.
From Online to In-Person Connections
Equally memorable as the sessions themselves was the chance to reconnect with the people who shaped my journey into Internet Governance. Many of them were familiar faces I had first engaged with through NetMission.Asia and the Asia Pacific Internet Governance Academy (APIGA), the communities that first gave me the space to question, learn, and imagine new possibilities. Meeting these colleagues again at DRAPAC 2025, after countless virtual collaborations and late-night discussions, felt like the threads of my journey weaving together in person.
It wasn’t just about catching up; it was about realizing how far we had all come, side by side. Sharing conversations over coffee, debating in sessions, and laughing between panels made Kuala Lumpur feel less like a conference venue. It was a reminder that behind every policy debate are real people, relationships, and a community committed to shaping a more inclusive digital future.
Carrying the Questions Forward
As I left Kuala Lumpur, I carried not just new knowledge, but bigger questions. What kind of digital future do we truly want? Are we ready to shape it ourselves, or will we let others hand it to us?
DRAPAC 2025 reminded me that courage doesn’t always mean certainty. Sometimes it’s about sending that cold message, organizing that session you weren’t sure you could pull off, and trusting that your voice matters.
If this journey has taught me anything, it’s this: sometimes all it takes is one leap of faith to find yourself exactly where you’re meant to be. For that, I will always be grateful not only to EngageMedia and all the partner organizations who made this program possible, but also to the communities like NetMission.Asia and Asia Pacific Internet Governance Academy (APIGA) that equipped me with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to be part of this space. They are the roots of my journey, and DRAPAC 2025 was a reminder of how far those roots can grow when nurtured by collaboration, courage, and community.
by Nawal Munir (Edited by Jenna Fung)