WITNESS Presents at Netroots Nation, June 9, 2012

Matisse Bustos Hawkes joins a panel at the Netroots Nation, an annual conference of bloggers. She will speak on the panel "Safeguarding Democracy: Innovations in Technology and Human Rights" on June 9th at 10:30-11:45am. The conference is being held in Providence, Rhode Island.

Activists have been incredibly innovative in using technology to pormote human rights--their efforts range from using satellites to track conflicts in Sudan, encrypting videos to protect protesters in the Middle East, and using geo-tracking apps to fight famine in East Africa. This panel will discuss recent and potential uses of technology, with particular attention paid to privacy and safety concerns. It will look at the power dynamics between governments and movements, and will discuss why progressive policies are critical to foster the use of technology by activists.

The moderator will be Caitlin Howarth of the Roosevelt Institute Pipeline, and in addition to Ms. Bustos Hawkes, panelists will include: Sabrina Hersi Issa (Digital Director at Be Bold Media), Emily Jacobi (Executive Director of Digital Democracy), and Lauren Wolfe (award-winning journalist and director of Women Under Siege).

If you can't be at the conference in person, you can watch the livestream of the panel here. Matisse will also be tweeting from the conference @matissebh and you can follow the hashtag for the conference #nn12.