Ken Mayers
Ken Mayers has taught about instructional technology and human rights (among other things) since the 1980s. He is also a veteran reader of 2600 Magazine (since the 1980s) and HOPE attendee (since the single digits). He is the chair of the North Africa Coordination Group at AIUSA and has worked closely with human rights defenders from Western Sahara across to Egypt since 2008.
Session
This panel discussion will offer insights into the challenges faced by human rights defenders and hacktivists in today’s context of intensified digital repression, including surveillance, censorship, and cyberwarfare. The three panelists will report from the frontlines, sharing their technical expertise and experiences living among activists and supporting them in their work in different countries. Topics will include hacktivism in Ukraine, disrupting surveillance in Serbia and Thailand, and tech and reproductive rights in the USA and worldwide. Each panelist will briefly share their stories and insights, and then the discussion between them and the audience will be opened.