Activists, Engineers, Researchers: Speakers at MozFest 2018
This October, 18 speakers will tackle issues like privacy, misinformation and censorship on the web
This October, leading voices from across the internet health movement are coming together to discuss and debate who controls the internet, how to harness data for good, and the collateral damage of artificial intelligence.
MozFest’s annual speaker series — slated for October 27 and 28 — will feature panels and compelling talks that explore the role of data online and in our everyday lives. Speakers include technologists, activists and researchers from France, India, Afghanistan and beyond.
Talks feature a single speaker and run 20 minutes; panels feature two to four speakers and run 40 minutes. Our moderator is Economist news editor Leo Mirani.
Below, learn more about each talk and panel. Can’t join us in London? No worries — we’ll stream everything live on Air Mozilla. In the meantime, watch last year’s talks.
Meet the 2018 speakers, and learn when they’re presenting:
[1] TALK: Amba Kak on data and digital rights in Asia
Amba Kak is a policy advisor with Mozilla focusing on privacy, net neutrality and free speech in India. Prior, Amba was a Mozilla Fellow and legal consultant at the National Institute of Public Finance & Policy. Read Amba’s recent op-eds in the Times of India, the Business Standard, and other publications.
When: Saturday, Oct. 27, 11:15–12:15 time block
[2] PANEL: The Data Balancing Act
As billions more people and tens of billion more devices come online, boundless amounts of data are created. How do we use it for good (development, smarter cities) and not bad (surveillance, insecurity)?
Who: Zara Rahman, researcher at the Engine Room working at the intersection of technology and social justice
Malavika Jayaram, executive director of Digital Asia Hub and faculty associate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
When: Saturday, Oct. 27, 11:15–12:15 time block
[3] TALK: Renee DiResta on flaws in the data-driven digital economy
Renee DiResta is a Mozilla Fellow in Media, Misinformation and Trust. In her work at Mozilla and as the director of research at New Knowledge, Renee investigates the spread of disinformation and manipulated narratives across social networks. She also volunteers as a policy lead at Data for Democracy and is a founding advisor to the Center for Humane Technology. Read Renee’s recent op-eds in WIRED.
When: Saturday, Oct. 27, 12:45–1:45 time block
[4] TALK: Tim Berners-Lee on his latest work
Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the web in 1989. He is the founder and director of the World Wide Web Foundation and a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at Oxford University. He is co-founder and CTO of the newly launched company inrupt, that’s helping to fuel the success of Solid, the technically potent open-source platform built to decentralize the web.
When: Saturday, Oct. 27, 12:45–1:45 time block
[5] TALK: Julie Owono on the state of privacy in Sub-Saharan Africa
Julie Owono is the executive director of Internet Sans Frontières, an organization protecting human rights online. Julie also writes columns for Al Jazeera English and Quartz.
When: Saturday, Oct. 27, 15:15–16:15 time block
[6] PANEL: Data in Oppressive Regimes
How do citizens operate online when surveillance is routine and dissent is dangerous?
Who: Esra’a Al-Shafei, Bahraini human rights activist and founder of Majal.org
Mahsa Alimardani, internet researcher with ARTICLE19, and reading for a DPhil at the University of Oxford’s Oxford Internet Institute
When: Saturday, Oct. 27, 15:15–16:15 time block
[7] PANEL: AI’s Collateral Damage
Silicon Valley, Washington, DC, Beijing and other power centers are in an AI arms race. What does this mean for human rights and the centralization of power?
Who: Camille Francois, Mozilla Fellow, research director at Graphika and affiliate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
Guillaume Chaslot, founder of AlgoTransparency and former software engineer at Google/YouTube
Alondra Nelson, president of the Social Science Research Council
Clinton Watts, fellow at Foreign Policy Research Institute and the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, former FBI special agent, and author of “Messing with the Enemy”
When: Sunday, Oct. 28, 11:00–12:10 time block
[8] PANEL: Inclusion and Literacy As Remedies
Tech has an inclusion problem, and too few new users fully understand the web. Separately, harassment and misinformation reign online. Or are they separate? Can addressing the former fix the latter?
Who: Roya Mahboob, co-founder and CEO of the Digital Citizen Fund
Nathalie Richards, co-founder of EduKit
When: Sunday, Oct. 28, 11:00–12:10 time block
[9] PANEL: Who Controls the Internet?
The internet was intended for many, but today it’s controlled by few. A discussion about centralization and possible solutions, from antitrust to a new economic model.
Who: Maryant Fernandez, senior policy advisor, EDRi
Chris Riley, director of public policy at Mozilla
When: Sunday, Oct. 28, 12:45–13:45 time block
[10] TALK: Soudeh Rad on privacy, identity and gender online
Soudeh Rad is an Iranian queer feminist immigrant. Soudeh has been working as an activist, researcher and freelance journalist on human rights, digital rights and SOGIESC-based discriminations, with a focus on LGBTI+ individuals from or living in the MENA region, since 2008. Soudeh is President of Spectrum, a French queer feminist NGO.
When: Sunday, Oct. 28, 15:15–16:15 time block
[11] TALK: Mitchell Baker
Mitchell Baker co-founded the Mozilla Project to support the open, innovative web and ensure it continues offering opportunities for everyone. As Chairwoman of Mozilla, Mitchell Baker is responsible for organizing and motivating a massive, worldwide collective of employees and volunteers around the world who are building the internet as a global public resource, open and accessible to all. Mitchell has written the key documents that set out Mozilla’s enduring mission and commitments: the Mozilla Public License in 1998, the Mozilla Manifesto in 2007 and the Mozilla Manifesto Addendum (also known as the Pledge for a Healthy Internet) in 2018.
When: Sunday, Oct. 28, 15:15–16:15 time block
