“Internet Freedom” Training Seminars for West African Journalists and Bloggers: Call for Applications “Internet Freedom” Training Seminars for West African Journalists and Bloggers to be held in May and June 2014 for West African & Gulf of Guinea Journalists and Human Rights Activists In 2014, the University of Clemson, South Carolina, and Internet Sans Frontières will organize two five-day “Internet Freedom” training seminars for journalists, bloggers and human rights activists from the Gulf of Guinea or living in the Gulf of Guinea. The seminars will be offered free of charge to suitably qualified candidates. In Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, an « Internet Freedom Training Seminar » will be held between Monday May 12th, 2014 and Friday May 16th, 2014. In Paris, France, a second « Internet Freedom Training Seminar » will be held between Monday June 2nd, 2014 and Friday June 6th, 2014 for West African journalists, bloggers and human rights activists based in France. These seminars will help Gulf of Guinea journalists, social media, human rights and democracy activists learn how to proactively counteract online repression. The training seminars will be led by Doctor Richard Brooks of Clemson University in the United States, who has been working for the past two years on a project called « Internet Democracy Support for West Africa ». Human rights and democracy activists, journalists and activist social media users will learn how to use the counter-surveillance technologies developed by Doctor Brooks and his team at Clemson University. The seminars will also cover network security and privacy issues. Participants will be taught how to ensure secure communications and avoid online tracking. Technologies such as Tor and I2P provide anonymous communications, but repressive governments use network filtering to block access to these services. The technical approach developed by Doctor Brooks counters existing network surveillance regimes and surveillance of Android phones. Who Can Apply? Suitably qualified journalists, bloggers and human rights activists are requested to apply for places in these training seminars (see below for more details). The seminars will be held in French and English. In principle any human rights or democracy activist currently active in the Gulf of Guinea who has a record of using the Internet to further the causes of democracy or human rights, and any journalist or social media activist who reports on respect of human rights or democracy is suitably qualified. West Africans who develop counter-surveillance technologies for such activists are also suitably qualified. Universities in the Gulf of Guinea region, which would like to participate in the project, and receive the support of Doctor Brooks and his team, are also invited to contact us. To allow us to assess your qualifications for this seminar, please send an email to idswatwo@gmail . The email should be titled: “Abidjan – Internet Freedom Training” if you wish to attend the training session in Abidjan that begins on May 12, 2014, or “Paris – Internet Freedom Training” if you wish to attend the training session beginning in Paris on June 2, 2014 or. Please attach to your email a CV and a cover letter detailing your record in journalism, or as an activist blogger or user of social media, in defending human rights or democracy in the West Africa/Gulf of Guinea region. If you would like more details before applying by email, please call the following telephone number (in the United States) 00-1-864-986-0813 and leave a message. Please leave your telephone number so that we can call you back. Participants in the training sessions are strongly advised to bring their own personal portable computer with them. Applications for the Abidjan Internet Freedom seminar will be accepted until Sunday March 16th, 23h59 GMT. Applications for the Paris Internet Freedom seminar will be accepted until Tuesday April 15th, 23h59 GMT. Candidates will be told as soon as possible after that date whether the response to their application is positive or negative. Once your candidature has been accepted you will be provided with detailed information about the addresses of the training seminars. Demand for places in the training seminars will be high and the number of places is limited. For the Abidjan seminar, some suitably qualified candidates who live outside the Côte d’Ivoire may qualify for sponsorship for reasonable travel and subsistence costs, in line with the guidelines which will be issued to selected candidates. To ensure a good chance of participating, please apply as soon as possible. Why are these “Internet Freedom” training seminars needed? A number of recent cases tend to prove that the increased use of online media is being used by repressive regimes to identify and attack democracy advocates in the Gulf of Guinea, especially those who are novices in the use of social media. Unfortunately, it is easy for repressive Governments to find telecommunications companies ready to provide them with Internet surveillance and filtering technologies which can be used against journalists and human rights and democracy advocates. Network monitoring also permits repressive regimes to track the consumers of online content. This can place not only journalists and activists but also social media users at risk. There is an active debate as to whether on-line media is more beneficial to democratic activists or to repressive governments. Recent unrest in the Middle East and Africa include instances of governments using social media to identify dissidents. Participants in the training seminars will learn about systems of internet surveillance and how to counteract them. The Goal of the “Internet Democracy Support for West Africa” Project The main goal of the project named “Internet Democracy Support for West Africa” is to enable unfettered Internet access by inhabitants of countries whose regimes restrict freedom of expression, freedom of the press, democracy and human rights. The aim of the training seminars is to teach groups of people deemed to be “at risk” (journalists, social media activists, human rights and democracy advocates) how best to use Counter-Censorship technologies. Following the seminars, participants will be integrated into the program’s secure online network. They will continue to be provided with regular updates and new versions of the technologies with which they were familiarized at the training seminars. At the end of this project, many more human rights and democracy advocates in West Africa will have the tools and knowledge they need to securely circumvent current Internet censorship and surveillance technologies. Duration of the project The project is now in its second year. It is designed to last for three years, by which time partnerships between Doctor Brooks’ team at Clemson, universities in the Gulf of Guinea and activist user-groups will make the project self-sustaining. Participants at the training seminars given during the first, second and third years will receive ongoing online support.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 15:52:57 +0000
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