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deblbrown.bsky.social

@deblbrown.bsky.social
313 followers 196 following 23 posts

deputy director for tech & human rights @HRW formerly @apc_news @accessnow

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Reposted by @deblbrown.bsky.social
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 07/03/2026
Most of the talk about OpenAI, Anthropic and “mass surveillance” neglected to mention that widespread scraping of the web is in itself mass surveillance.
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Sasha Costanza-Chock @schock.cc · 06/03/2026
"Anthropic has much more in common with the Department of War than we have differences."
A screenshot of a anthropic post: "major combat operations. Anthropic will provide our models to the Department of War and national security community, at nominal cost and with continuing support from our engineers, for as long as is necessary to make that transition, and for as long as we are permitted to do so.

Anthropic has much more in common with the Department of War than we have differences. We
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Amid US/Israeli airstrikes & brutal repression, Iranians are entering day 8 of an internet shutdown, placing civilians at risk, restricting their ability to access lifesaving info & reach loved ones, and contributing to psychological harm. Iranian authorities should urgently restore internet access
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
A harrowing account by Mohammed Mhawish on surveillance tech, supported in part by US tech companies, is rewriting Gaza in real time — and what it’s doing to the people inside. nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com
Watched, Tracked, and Targeted in Gaza
Life under Israel’s all-encompassing surveillance regime.
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Reposted by @deblbrown.bsky.social
Human Rights Watch @hrw.org · 03/12/2025
X has rolled out a new feature called “About this account,” which displays the country where an account was created, is based, the date it joined X, and username changes. The feature raises serious concerns about user privacy and safety. Learn more:
hrw.org
X’s Location Disclosure Undermines User Safety
Since November 21, social media company X has been rolling out a new feature called “About this account,” which displays information about users that was previously not publicly disclosed.
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
This weekend, governments will head to Hanoi to sign the deeply flawed UN Convention on Cybercrime. @hrw.org and partners issue new recommendations on how governments can prevent and mitigate the human rights risks posed the treaty www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...
hrw.org
Joint Statement on the Signing of the UN Convention on Cybercrime
We, the undersigned organizations, remain deeply concerned that the UN Convention Against Cybercrime (UNCC) will facilitate human rights abuses across borders.
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Elaine Pearson @elainepearson.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Vietnam’s long record of cracking down on online dissent sadly makes it a fitting host for the signing ceremony of the deeply flawed UN Convention against Cybercrime this weekend. Read more in this @thediplomat.com oped by @hrw's @deblbrown.bsky.social & me thediplomat.com/2025/10/un-t...
thediplomat.com
UN Treaty Signing Highlights Vietnam’s Curb on Online Dissent
The Cybercrime Convention will further entrench control and surveillance over peaceful expression of dissent online beyond the borders of repressive states.
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Human Rights Watch @hrw.org · 10/10/2025
Microsoft should suspend business activities that are contributing to grave human rights abuses and international crimes by the Israeli military and other Israeli government bodies. There is no time to delay.
hrw.org
Israel/Palestine: Microsoft Should Avoid Contributing to Rights Abuses
Microsoft should suspend business activities that are contributing to grave human rights abuses and international crimes by the Israeli military and other Israeli government bodies, Human Rights Watch...
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
New calls on Microsoft to suspend business activities that are contributing to grave human rights abuses & international crimes by the Israeli military & other government bodies www.hrw.org/news/2025/10... @hrw.org @accessnow.org @amnesty.org @7amleh.bsky.social @eff.org @fightforthefuture.org
hrw.org
Israel/Palestine: Microsoft Should Avoid Contributing to Rights Abuses
Microsoft should suspend business activities that are contributing to grave human rights abuses and international crimes by the Israeli military and other Israeli government bodies, Human Rights Watch...
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
If you read one thing today, let it be this by @eminacerimovic.bsky.social Survivors of genocide and starvation should not have to retell their stories and relive their trauma. But when they do, we should listen. And act. archive.ph/NCbTj
inquirer.com
What Palestinians in Gaza are going through brings back all the trauma of my childhood in Bosnia | Opinion
In the early 1990s as Serb armed forces besieged towns, the local people and displaced people like me and my family experienced severe and persistent food shortages, writes Emina Ćerimović.
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
The deportation of dissent. Important read of one journalist’s account www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
newyorker.com
How My Reporting on the Columbia Protests Led to My Deportation
As an Australian who wrote about the demonstrations while on campus, I gave my phone a superficial clean before flying to the U.S. I underestimated what I was up against.
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Reposted by @deblbrown.bsky.social
Human Rights Watch @hrw.org · 13/05/2025
Why are governments talking about killer robots? 🔊 ⤵️ Governments should seize the opportunity to adopt a new international treaty to address killer robots' threats to human rights. #StopKillerRobots
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Anna Bacciarelli @abacci.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
New @hrw.org report: a deep dive on the gig economy in the US, by @lenasimet.bsky.social, @amostoh.bsky.social + me. It looks at 7 major platform companies, the extractive business model, and a growing workforce reliant on precarious work that denies them hard-won rights. www.hrw.org/news/2025/05...
hrw.org
US: Major Companies Violate Gig Workers’ Rights
Major digital labor platforms, also known as gig companies, operating in the United States misclassify gig workers as independent contractors, denying them labor rights.
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Reposted by @deblbrown.bsky.social
Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
We hosted an event on “digital authoritarianism and democratic freedom” last night at Columbia. Meanwhile there were NYPD helicopters overhead, strange surveillance vehicles like this outside, and eventually a battalion of NYPD special ops called in to end a student occupation of the library.
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Turkish authorities have escalated their crackdown on free expression & social media companies are complying with arbitrary requests. On May 8 X blocked access to the account of jailed Istanbul Mayor İmamoğlu Social media companies should resist Turkish state censorship www.hrw.org/news/2025/05...
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Excited to join this fantastic line up of speakers for the launch of the 2025 Ranking Digital Rights index. No better time to reflect on lessons learned from a decade of pushing for accountability for tech companies. Not in DC? tune in online today at 10am ET 👇 forms.office.com/pages/respon...
 Poster for launch event for the 2025 RDR Index: Big Tech Edition May 1
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Nanjala @nanjala.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
One argument that I make repeatedly in my work is that many of the things that technologists call “inefficiencies” are moments where people are able to take back power from the state. You don’t want the state to have a monopoly on data because the state is not always a positive or even neutral actor
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Nanjala @nanjala.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Those of us who live or have lived in authoritarian regimes will tell you that data collection is an obsession of authoritarianism. Not that data collection is inherently bad - but that authoritarian regimes rely on procedurality to mask the cruel reality of what they do - self absolution.
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
A sobering and dark, but essential read. This was a herculean effort by @hrw.org colleagues 👇 100 Human Rights Harms in 100 Days: The Trump Administration’s Assault on Rights in the US and Abroad www.hrw.org/feature/2025...
hrw.org
100 Human Rights Harms in 100 Days
To mark the first 100 days of President Trump's second term, Human Rights Watch has cataloged 100 of the administration’s executive policies, orders, and actions that pose significant risks to the hum...
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
My latest for @justsecurity.org on what Trump's call to eliminate “information silos” within government means for human rights. This dangerous and dystopian move underscores the desperate need for comprehensive privacy and data protection laws in the US @hrw.org www.justsecurity.org/110133/what-...
justsecurity.org
DOGE's Growing Reach into Personal Data: What it Means for Human Rights
Congress should update the Privacy Act to prevent DOGE from violating U.S. international rights obligations by creating a massive database.
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Terrifying read. Sensitive personal data left exposed. Labor rights undermined. Intimidation of a whistleblower. Basic cybersecurity principles violated.
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Now a social security database being weaponized to cut people off from essential financial services so that they “self deport”. Putting aside the inhumanity of the approach, the list included a 13 yo & 7 other minors and may rely on faulty data www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/u...
nytimes.com
Pressuring Migrants to ‘Self-Deport,’ White House Moves to Cancel Social Security Numbers
By placing migrants in Social Security’s “death master file,” the Trump administration is seeking to cut off their access to credit cards, bank accounts and other financial services.
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Sasha Costanza-Chock @schock.cc · 22/03/2025
Information Silos exist for very good reasons. Do you want your medical data, tax data, social media days, etc combined in one place and made available to anyone in the federal government?
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Human Rights Watch @hrw.org · 19/03/2025
In yet another crackdown on LGBT rights, Hungary’s parliament has passed a law that will outlaw LGBT Pride and similar events. The law, which penalizes organizers and attendees, also authorizes the use of facial recognition technology to identify attendees.
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Philippe Dam @philippedam.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
#Egypt: UN Experts call for release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah, as his mother's life is in danger after 148 days of hunger strike @eudiplomacy.bsky.social: stop ignoring flagrant crackdown on free speech, make human rights core in future relationship www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel... @euinegypt.bsky.social
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Heba Gowayed هبة جويد @hebagowayed.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
A new McCarthy era is upon us. Stupid, depressing, and dangerous as ever. I wonder whose name will carry the dunce cap in the history books. Too many are complicit. I’ll need to find upset and action, but for now I’m feeling grief at the dehumanization inherent to all this.
Gov Hochul orders CUNY remove Hunter college Palestine studies job posting calls for probe into ‘antisemitic theories’
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 24/02/2025
“This continuing, unauthorized disclosure of the plaintiffs' sensitive personal information to DOGE affiliates is irreparable harm that money damages cannot rectify," the judge wrote.
arstechnica.com
Judge: US gov’t violated privacy law by disclosing personal data to DOGE
Disclosure of personal information to DOGE “is irreparable harm,” judge rules.
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Zach Campbell @notzachcampbell.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
The UK should drop its order to Apple demanding access to encrypted user data. Strong encryption should be the norm, and this order threatens the rights of users worldwide www.hrw.org/news/2025/02...
hrw.org
UK Encryption Order Threatens Global Privacy Rights
The United Kingdom government’s order to Apple to allow access to encrypted cloud data harms the privacy rights of users in the UK and worldwide.
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
US federal employees learning what activists, journalists , and people living under repressive governments have known for years www.theverge.com/news/610951/...
theverge.com
Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook
Chaos in Washington, DC, is forcing some to move to new platforms.
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Anna Bacciarelli @abacci.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Google has revised its AI Principles, scrapping a previous veto on developing AI weapons. A global industry leader suddenly abandoning its self-proclaimed prohibited uses of AI underscores why voluntary principles are not a substitute for regulation and enforceable law. www.hrw.org/news/2025/02...
hrw.org
Google Announces Willingness to Develop AI for Weapons
Google, a company that once went by the motto “don’t be evil,” appears to be changing tack. The tech giant on Tuesday announced significant changes to its artificial intelligence (AI) policy that had ...
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Human Rights Watch @hrw.org · 06/02/2025
Google announced significant changes to its artificial intelligence policy this week. This pivot from refusing to build AI for weapons to stating an intent to create AI that supports national security ventures is stark, and it sparks serious human rights concerns. Read more: bit.ly/4gwYBeL
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Last year my @hrw.org colleague @joeyshea.bsky.social & I attended the #UN Internet Governance Forum in Riyadh. We organized a session w/the Saudi human rights org ALQST. @linaalhathloul.bsky.social spoke remotely. The UN censored the session & retaliated against us 👇 www.hrw.org/news/2025/02...
hrw.org
UN Censors Criticism of Saudi Arabia at Internet Conference
United Nations officials removed criticisms of the Saudi government from the official record of a UN-organized internet governance conference in Riyadh in December 2024, and retaliated against civil s...
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
Last day to apply to join @hrw.org as a senior tech researcher. Location is flexible. Expertise in internet infrastructure, platform accountability, commercial data exploitation, or labor rights is desirable. More details in job spec linked below 👇🏻
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Last day of the #IGF in Riyadh. First time @hrw.org has official access to Saudi Arabia in nearly a decade. The UN should ensure that IGFs are held in environments in which civil society can participate safely without fear of retribution. www.hrw.org/news/2024/12...
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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
First post here👋 We @hrw.org are looking for a senior researcher on Tech & Human Rights. You’d be working with me, @abacci.bsky.social & @notzachcampbell.bsky.social plenty of room to shape the role. Closing date Jan 5. More details 👇 job-boards.greenhouse.io/humanrightsw...
job-boards.greenhouse.io
Senior Researcher, Technology And Human Rights
Multiple Locations Considered
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