Not only is RightsCon 2025 being held in East Asia for the first time, but it has also chosen Taipei (臺北) as its hub. It is expected that approximately 3,000 experts from industry, government, and academia, representing 150 countries, will visit Taiwan in person, featuring over 500 sessions across 18 tracks to discuss topics such as artificial intelligence, digital governance, open-source applications in civic advocacy, and resistance to digital oppression. It is an excellent opportunity for Taiwan’s open-source technology community and human rights organizations to get involved global digital rights issues!
- Date: 2025/2/24 (Mon) - 2025/2/27 (Thu) UTC+8
- Location: Taipei International Convention Center (TICC) (台北國際會議中心)
- Participation: Hybrid (Online and Onsite)
- Main Language: English (with some sessions offering real-time Mandarin interpretation)
- Official Website: https://www.rightscon.org
We are thrilled to invite you to a full-day event dedicated to online privacy, censorship circumvention, and censorship monitoring, hosted in partnership with Open Culture Foundation, the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), and The Tor Project on February 23rd, 2025, in Taipei, Taiwan. (UTC+8)
This free pre-event will feature hands-on workshops and a public keynote by Roger Dingledine, co-founder of The Tor Project.
The event will feature:
- Two hands-on workshops for journalists, activists, and human rights defenders focused on digital security and censorship resistance.
- A public keynote by Roger Dingledine, co-founder of The Tor Project, on defending online privacy in an era of mass surveillance.
✔ Open Parliament ✔ Digital Identity and Privacy Autonomy ✔ Digital Gender Violence Issues
This event aims to present Taiwan and East Asia’s digital rights landscape, highlighting current challenges faced by digital rights defenders and fostering resonance with participants' experiences.
Organized by the Open Culture Foundation in collaboration with local partners - Odditysay Labs, Citizen Congress Watch and FLAME. This event is open to all RightsCon participants, a half-day series of events will be co-created, to be held on Monday, February 24, from 09:00 to 12:30. (UTC+8)
* All RightsCon attendees are welcome to participate. If you are already planning to attend RightsCon, please register: https://forms.gle/DG54v47vjXUnFBCWA
It will begin with an overview of Taiwan’s digital human rights landscape, setting the stage for in-depth discussions across three key subtopics:
- Privacy protection and digital self-sovereignty
Decentralizing Trust: the Challenges of Implementing Self-Sovereign Identity
- Open data and parliamentary transparency
Parliamentary Transparency and Public Accountability: A Cross-National Dialogue and Action Workshop
- Platform governance and combating digital gender-based violence
What have we learnt from combating gender-based violence in Taiwan.
Dialogue (In-Person)
February 26, 14:00–15:00 (UTC+8)
Room 101C
Weichem Lim/Open Culture Foundation
Toomore Chiang/Open Culture Foundation
Pellaeon Lin/Citizen Lab
Li-Yi Shao/TechSoup Global
Ddio Chuang
Human rights defenders in East Asia face growing digital threats, increasing the demand for security support. How can we engage more tech-savvy talents in this work? Using Taiwan as a case study, this dialogue brings together four citizen representatives to explore solutions. An April 2024 report by the Open Culture Foundation (Open Culture Foundation) found that half of 35 surveyed human rights groups faced data leaks, hacking, or platform shutdowns, often from authoritarian actors. With limited technical skills and manpower, many rely on volunteers.
Despite strong citizen support, sustaining long-term resources remains a challenge. This session gathers regional and local representatives to discuss challenges, opportunities, and the resources needed. It features two segments: first, speakers share their experiences; and second, an interactive discussion opens with key questions, encouraging both global and local participants to explore ways to involve citizens in digital security efforts.
TBC
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華語版本
Side Event Schedule (Event details subject to each organizer) |
Date |
Time (UTC+8) |
Event |
Organizer |
Contact |
2025/2/18 |
14:20 - 15:00 |
Trial Monitoring: Taiwan National Household data leak cases at Taipei High Administrative Court
Event Link
|
g0v |
jothon-organizers〈AT〉g0v.tw |
2025/2/20 |
19:30 - 21:30 |
Internet Freedom Meetup – Discussion on Digital Service Regulation
Registration
|
Open Culture Foundation |
hi〈AT〉ocf.tw |
2025/2/21 |
10:00 - 11:00 |
Internet Governance: Its Past and Future in the Age of Trump 2.0
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Jeanette Hofmann
College of Social Sciences, National Taiwan University
|
TWIGF |
Facebook Post |
2025/2/21 |
14:00 - 18:00 |
Taiwan-Germany Digital Human Rights Watch: Multilateral Dialogue on Government Surveillance and Platform Regulation
|
FNF / IIAS / GFF / NTU Public Law Center |
yawei.Chou〈AT〉freiheit.org |
2025/2/22 |
09:30 - 17:00 |
Bi-monthly hackathon hosted by the g0v community.
What is a g0v hackathon?
Signup
|
g0v |
jothon-organizers〈AT〉g0v.tw |
2025/2/22 |
15:30 - 17:30 |
Report release: The Expansion of PRC Cybersecurity Norms: Implications for the Indo-Pacific and the Taiwanese Alternative
Registration
|
Article 19 |
wilbourne〈AT〉article19.org |
2025/2/23 |
14:00 - 17:30 18:00 - 19:00 19:30 - 21:30 |
Online privacy, censorship circumvention, and censorship monitoring workshop and keynote by Roger Dingledine
English |
zh-TW
|
OONI & Tor/Tails |
toomore〈AT〉ocf.tw |
2025/2/23 |
15:00 - 18:00 |
Building Resilient Connections: A Hands-on Local Network Workshop
Community networks are transforming how underserved communities access and steward internet infrastructure, safeguarding their privacy, autonomy, and digital sovereignty.
Taipei Tech University
Registration
|
dWeb & g0v DigiResiThon |
cheng〈AT〉ocf.tw |
2025/2/23 |
18:00 - |
Social Happy Hour
|
Article 19 |
wilbourne〈AT〉article19.org |
To post your event on to the table, please go to this link to upload(GitHub account required), we’ll update ASAP
Event details subject to each organizer, the table here is for reference only.
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Side Event Schedule (Event details subject to each organizer) |
Date |
Time (UTC+8) |
Event |
Organizer |
Contact |
2025/2/24 |
09:00 - 11:15 |
Digital Human Rights and Data Protection: Shaping Taiwan’s Future Policies
Room: 201A
All participants also need to register separately for RightsCon in order to attend.
Registration
|
Department of Human Rights and Transitional Justice Executive Yuan | Preparatory Office of the Personal Data Protection Commission
in collaboration with the National Institute of Cyber Security
|
- |
2025/2/24 |
09:00 - 12:30 |
RightsCon Satellite event: Mutual Support – Amplifying the Voices of Digital Rights Defenders in Taiwan and East Asia
Registration
|
Open Culture Foundation |
hi〈AT〉ocf.tw |
2025/2/24 |
09:00 - 15:00 |
RightsCon Satellite Event: SplinterCon
Event Link
|
eQualitie |
Contact |
2025/2/24 |
09:00 - 15:00 |
Taiwan Business & Human Rights Forum
This session will be hosted with interpretation.
RSVP
|
Rights CoLab | Environmental Rights Foundation, Taiwan Transnational Corporations Watch |
- |
2025/2/24 |
09:30 - 11:00 |
AI on the Open Web: Policy, Rights, and Responsibilities
This event will address the rapidly evolving landscape of AI development and its implications for Internet and web governance.
202B in the Taipei International Convention Center
|
DigitalMedusa |
farzaneh〈AT〉digitalmedusa.org |
2025/2/24 |
10:00 - 12:30 |
Digital Human Rights International Workshop: Human Rights Defenders, Digital Privacy and AI & Human Rights
Grand Hyatt Taipei — The Residence
Registration
|
The National Human Rights Commission of Taiwan (NHRC Taiwan) and the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines (CHRP)
|
- |
2025/2/24 |
12:45 - 15:00 |
Taiwan’s Digital Security Pillars: Semiconductor, Information, and Cyber Infrastructure
Room: 201 A
All participants also need to register separately for RightsCon in order to attend.
Registration
|
The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET) |
- |
2025/2/24 |
13:00 - 15:00 |
Ask Me Anything with Signal president Meredith Whittaker
In-person only – Signal president will provide an overview on privacy, human rights, and tech strategy, followed by a Q&A session.
101C in the Taipei International Convention Center
|
Signal |
- |
2025/2/25 |
18:00 - 20:00 |
Connections Across the Globe: Networking Party
Join the Asia Democracy Network for a networking party with light refreshments.
RSVP
|
Asia Democracy Network |
- |
2025/2/25 |
18:00 - 20:30 |
Shaping the Future of Digital Rights
event details
RSVP, (please select "RightsCon VIP" and add "OCF" on "Corporations" part to get VIP free ticket)
|
Numbers Protocol,Content Authenticity Initiative(CAI) |
sofia〈AT〉numbersprotocol.io |
2025/2/25 |
19:00 - 21:30 |
SD Drinks: Service Design X Digital Human Rights
Explore human rights issues through the lens of design. Topics include: how to balance user experience and digital security, UX dark patterns that mislead or manipulate user behavior, how to bake particular security and privacy threats for different groups of people into service/UX design processes, designing for digital identity programs in Taiwan, and more.
RSVP
|
SD Drinks Taipei |
Slack Channel |
2025/2/26 |
19:00 - 20:30 |
Global Book Launch: 《YOU MUST TAKE PART IN REVOLUTION!!》
Registration
|
DOUBLETHINK LAB / KUMA ACADEMY |
|
2025/2/26 |
Evening (TBC) |
Chill-vibe gathering for digital rights activists and tech talents
registration details coming soon.
|
OCF, APC & eQualitie |
szuhui.h〈AT〉ocf.tw; liyhs〈AT〉ocf.tw |
2025/2/27 |
18:30 - 21:30 |
READr Mesh
A blockchain-based social platform for news where users support content creators via a community-driven ecosystem.
Location: Placebo Taipei – No. 83, Section 2, Keelung Rd, Xinyi District, Taipei 110 (Check-in starts at 18:30)
|
Readr |
azoezoe〈AT〉mirrormedia.mg |
2025/2/28 |
13:30 - 16:30 |
Unconference
Join an open-format session organized by g0v.
Location
|
g0v |
jothon-organizers〈AT〉g0v.tw |
2025/2/28 |
13:30 - 16:00 |
g0v Meetup / Unconference
Event link
|
g0v Jothon task force |
jothon-organizers〈AT〉g0v.tw |
2025/2/22 - 3/16 |
12:00 - 19:00 |
Immersive Exhibition on Digital Gender-Based Violence
Art Project “They told me it's not your fault. And I told them everything will be fine”
Event Link
|
Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit (FNF) |
yawei.Chou〈AT〉freiheit.org |
To post your event on to the table, please go to this link to upload(GitHub account required), we’ll update ASAP
Event details subject to each organizer, the table here is for reference only.
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華語版本
February 25 - Taiwan-Related Sessions
|
Submitter/Speakers |
Session Title |
Format |
Time (UTC+8) |
Venue |
g0v intl / Facing the Ocean Hackathon Network |
5 Years Facing the Ocean: Advancing rights to Information, gender equality, and youth engagement in East‑Asia
|
Dialogue (in-person) |
9:00–10:00 |
101C |
蔡志宏 (主持人); 余若凡, 周冠汝, 陳逸玲, 莫乃光 (與談人) |
Protecting the Public from Cybercrime: A Multistakeholder Model Approach
|
Dialogue (in-person) |
10:15–11:15 |
101B |
TW Presidential Office and National Security Council |
Taiwan Briefing: Insights, Digital Resilience, and Lessons from PRC Tactics
|
Dialogue (in-person) |
10:15–11:15 |
201D |
— |
Beyond a TikTok Ban: A rights-based approach to regulating platforms from authoritarian countries
|
Dialogue (in-person) |
10:15–11:15 |
401 |
Freedom House_TW office |
Resisting Repressive Regulations: CSO Strategies From Across the Indo‑Pacific
|
Workshop (in-person) |
11:30–12:30 |
201D |
Freedom House & Regional Partners |
當政府利用法律手段壓制人民的數位人權,公民社會該如何回應? – LESSONS LEARNED FROM INDO-PACIFIC CIVIL SOCIETY: Case Studies in CSO Efforts to Influence Online Regulations
|
Workshop (in-person) |
11:30–12:30 |
201D |
Cofacts |
Crowd‑sourced fact‑checking in AI era – Lessons learned by Cofacts
|
Tech demo (in person) |
14:00–15:00 |
South lobby |
Freedom House_TW office |
Dissenting behind China’s great firewall
|
Dialogue (in-person) |
15:15–16:15 |
201A |
Amnesty International Taiwan |
Taiwan's Next Step: How To End Online Discrimination And Hate Speech Without Compromising Civic Space? |
Roundtable (hybrid) |
15:15-16:15 |
201F |
FLAME / DDP/ Activist from India and Taiwan |
Re-thinking digital security training from a feminist perspective and victims’ experiences.
|
Workshop (in-person) |
16:30–17:30 |
201D |
To post your event on to the table, please go to this link to upload(GitHub account required), we’ll update ASAP
Event details subject to the RightsCon website.
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February 26 - Taiwan-Related Sessions
|
Submitter/Speakers |
Session Title |
Format |
Time (UTC+8) |
Venue |
Asia Citizen Future Association (ACFA) |
Empowering Southeast Asian Women and LGBTI Defenders: Tackling Gendered Digital Violence at the Regional Level
|
Roundtable (in-person) |
9:00–10:00 |
202B |
Taiwan Equality Campaign / Cofacts / Citizen Congress Watch |
How to Achieve Diverse Democracy for LGBTI+ in the Digital Age
|
Roundtable (hybrid) |
12:45–13:45 |
202A (Mandarin) |
Open Culture Foundation |
Citizens for Citizens: Digital security supports in Taiwan from individual to regional projects.
|
Dialogue (in-person) |
14:00–15:00 |
101C |
MG Lee/g0v CongressThon/watchout.tw/OpenFun/TOPEP |
Building a Decentralized Movement for Parliament Transparency |
Dialogue (in-person) |
14:00–15:00 |
102(simultaneous translation between ENG and Mandarin) |
— |
Initiative for Enhancing Self-Sovereign Identity as Digital Civic Infrastructure in Taiwan
|
Dialogue (in-person) |
14:00–15:00 |
South lobby |
IORG / National Chung Cheng University |
Safeguarding the right to authentic online discourse: Detecting authoritarian propaganda on TikTok
|
Lightning Talk (in-person) |
15:15–16:15 |
South lobby (Mandarin) |
To post your event on to the table, please go to this link to upload(GitHub account required), we’ll update ASAP
Event details subject to the RightsCon website.
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February 27 - Taiwan-Related Sessions
|
Submitter/Speakers |
Session Title |
Format |
Time (UTC+8) |
Venue |
Amnesty International (East, South East Asia, and the Pacific Regional Office) |
Empowering Southeast Asian Women and LGBTI Defenders: Tackling Gendered Digital Violence at the Regional Level
|
— |
11:30–12:30 |
101C |
Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit (FNF) |
Gender-Based Misinformation Targeting Politicians and Leaders: A Neglected Risk to Democracy
|
Dialogue |
12:45–13:45 |
201A |
Weiping Li |
Global Giants, Local Influence: The Role of International Social Media in Shaping National Discourse |
Dialogue |
12:45–1:45 pm |
- |
Kenny Huang, Yachi Chiang, Charles Mok |
Taiwan's Digital Lifeline: The Resilience and Security of Its Undersea Cable Infrastructure
|
Dialogue (in-person) |
12:45–13:45 |
101C |
— |
Leveraging technology to enhance civic participation, and monitoring of international aid
"The Civic-tech Experimental Field in Taiwan: the potential, value and limit of digital civic participation"
|
Dialogue (in-person) |
12:45–13:45 |
South lobby |
Taiwan Association for Human Rights |
Bypass Consent: Loopholes Make us Lose Control of Health, Location Data, and Even More.
|
Roundtable (in-person) |
14:00–15:00 |
401 |
— |
Critical digital infrastructures: Public code, and data security in health and migration contexts
Public Code as a Critical Digital Infrastructure: Achiventing Software Openness and Interoperability Among Governments
|
Dialogue (in-person) |
14:00–15:00 |
South lobby |
Tainan Sprout |
Tainan City Council AI Chatbot: Using AI to Lower Barriers of Civic Engagement |
Tech Demo |
19:00–20:00 |
Online |
To post your event on to the table, please go to this link to upload(GitHub account required), we’ll update ASAP
Event details subject to the RightsCon website.
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TBD Sessions (Event details subject to the conference official website)
|
Independent |
Global counter surveillance |
Panel Discussion |
TBD |
|
Event details subject to the RightsCon website.
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