Difference between revisions of "Manual introduction"

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This manual came out of the Gender and Technology Institute, organised by Tactical Technology Collective and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) at the end of 2014. The event brought together almost 80 participants and facilitators, mostly from the Global South, to focus on some of the issues faced daily by women and trans* persons on the internet and to share strategies and tools for better protecting our privacy and security online.
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== Aims of the manual ==
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This manual is the result of a conversation among many different actors (be it GTI participants and facilitators, the multiple authors and reviewers of this manual, from the global south and global north among which are women, queer, tran* and men) about what does it mean to include a gender perspective into privacy and digital security.  It addresses how to better manage our online identity and how to build and promote safe spaces on the internet and in the physical world. Because we understand that packing those fast evolving privacy and digital security practices into our already very busy lives as human rights defenders and activists is not an easy task, we believe in the importance of crafting collective mechanisms of support to keep advancing together, empower each other and zen in order to have our tech working for us.
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Since then, the network has expanded, with the result that this manual has involved the input and review of a wide range of people, and is informed by the stories and creative practices of grassroots activists working all over the world. Many of whom have been using and developing alternative technologies for some time in order to tackle gender based violence and advance gender social justice around the world.  
  
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Storytelling and documentation of practices and experiences are key for achieving social transformation. The inventivity, creativity and knowledge happening on the ground when developing appropriated and liberating technologies to ensure gender justice, privacy and security should be honored and shared. To do so, the diversity and heterogeneity of experiences deriving from our daily practices with technologies (be those digital or social ones) need to include all parts involved at every step of the technological cycle. From dreaming technologies to developing those, from using them to contributing to their governance. Imagining liberating technologies that encompass a feminist Internet where everybody is truly welcomed and respected is not a women and trans persons only task, it is a duty for anybody involved in creating an inclusive, accessible, decentralised and neutral internet.  
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The internet is not a safe space for women and trans* people, and it is all too common to see the work of feminists and activists being deleted, (self)censored, and actively prevented from being seen, heard or read. In such a hostile environment, how then can we then as women and trans* persons develop trust when creating content and interacting with others online, and grow our trusted networks, to create safe space among us? This manual seeks to present some of the strategies and tools to help develop that trust so that women and trans* people can continue to safely enjoy the freedoms and empowerment that the internet offers.
  
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In a nutshell, including gender into privacy and security requires to engage with the diversity of cultures, social status, gender identification, sexual orientations, race, ethnicities and other power structures that create various forms and levels of inequality for individuals and communities into their access to security tools and practices. Enabling enthusiasm for privacy and digital security practices encompass an integrated approach linking those to our well being and physical security as human right defenders and our feminists and queer activism. By exposing the many invisible contributions that sustain digital security communities, avoiding frustrated expectations, gaining self confidence and losing fear through Do It With Others processes, gender and cultural diversity on those fields can be included. Accordingly, adapted, updated and targeted resources and training methodologies focusing on specific threats and strengths is required in order to activate curiosity and better understanding through contextual references.  
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The first part of the manual looks at the information traces you leave behind on the internet, and offers various strategies and tools available for taking control of these traces. It presents what metadata and digital shadows are, and why these matter; how you can minimise, create and manage new online identities; and what are the risks and potentials involved in using different types of identities such as anonymity, pseudonyms, collective names and real names. 
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The second part focuses on safe spaces. It starts with the online world and discusses how safe spaces can be created for community-building, organising and support. Then, it looks at some creative tactics for addressing exclusion and harassment of women and trans* people online. Finally it discusses different methods for creating safe space in the physical world where women and trans* persons can learn about privacy, digital security and technologies in order to be empowered and further contribute to those fields.  
  
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Gender roles are sets of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable for a person in relation to their actual or perceived biological sex. These are usually centered around binary conceptions of femininity and masculinity, although there are myriad variations and gray scales in between. The first step for including gender consists in acknowledging the gender roles that society attribute to us at birth and during the rest of our lives and that generate stereotypes that can become prejudices. Latter can result into specific threats and violences against women, queer or non binary persons along the technological cycle.  Gender gaps, discrimination and specific Violence Against Women are happening along the process in a structural way that influence our experience of/with ICT.
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While you're reading this manual (and putting some of what's in it into practice), it's important to keep some things in mind.  
  
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Because of all this, including gender is also about asking ourselves when we choose to use a specific technology if those are liberating or alienating ones for other groups and individuals. Liberating technologies could be defined as appropriated technologies that do not harm and are fairly produced and distributed, are rooted in the free software and free culture principles and are designed by default against gender based violence, surveillance, opacity and programmed obsolescence.  
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Including gender into privacy and security requires us to take an intersectional approach  - one that engages with a diversity of culture, social status, gender identification, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity and other power structures that create inequality for individuals and communities with regard to their access to security tools and practices. Besides, this is also based on the recognition that specific forms of violence against women, trans*, and queer persons happen in a structural way along the entirety of the technological cycle - from the moment a  specific form of technology is assembled, to its usage, right through to its disposal.  If this particular manual is, of course not able to address the entire scope of this; it is nonetheless useful to keep the big picture in mind. This includes:
  
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Nowadays, what is closer to feminist and liberating practices on the Internet are the Feminist Principles on the Internet developed by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) in 2014 when they gathered a group of Woman Human Rights Defenders and feminist activists to a Global Meeting on Gender, Sexuality and the Internet with the mandate to come up with a first list of principles. Those are about the ways in which the Internet can be a transformative public and political space for women, trans-persons, queer, feminists. It situates tech-related violence on the continuum of gender-based violence making clear the structural aspect of violence linking, expanding and/or mirroring online attitudes with offline prejudices. The principles also highlight surveillance and lack of privacy as patriarchal tools, whether they are used by the state, private individuals or corporation, to control women and trans-persons bodies and thoughts.
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* Acknowledging that gender gaps, discrimination and gender-based violence are structural, and influence the conditions of women and trans* persons in relation to their experience of and with ICTs.
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* Understanding how different women and trans* persons in different conditions find ways of accessing technologies, and how they can protect themselves and others in the process.
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* Sharing skills and knowledge on the ground so that women and trans* persons can strengthen their freedom of opinion and expression.
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* Remembering it is important to make women and trans* experiences in the management and development of technologies visible (not just the digital ones, but also appropriated ones like health and self-care technologies for instance).
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* Working to enable a greater participation of women and trans* persons in institutions which contribute to the governance of internet, as well as inside companies and organisations delivering services which support our networking and online identity.  
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* Imagining liberating technologies where everybody is truly welcomed and respected is not work for women and trans* persons only, it is the responsibility of anybody involved in creating an inclusive,accessible, decentralised and neutral internet.
  
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== What is this manual about? ==
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With these points in mind, we should ask ourselves when choosing to use a specific technology, if it is a liberating or alienating one for other groups and individuals. Liberating technologies can be defined as those that do not harm and are fairly produced and distributed; that are rooted in free and open-source software and free culture principles; and that are designed by default against gender based violence, surveillance, opacity and programmed obsolescence [1].
  
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The internet is an amazing space to explore, learn, speak up, listen and communicate with people across the world. Unfortunately, it has also become a contentious space. There is a pushback against people who speak against, question or challenge dominant discourses, moreover if those deal with gender and sexual orientations. When planning to be active on the internet as a vocal women, a woman human rights defender, a trans-persons and/or a feminist it’s a good idea to start from an assessment of the traces we leave behind us on the Internet, our digital shadow and the social domains that are spread across our online and physical activities. These two aspects can tell very accurate stories about us; who we are, were we live and hang out, what we are interested in and who our friends are. Because those traces and on-line identity can expose us to several threats, this manual is about presenting you different strategies you can adopt and tools you can use in order to shape or control your digital shadow and social domains in order to obtain a greater privacy and security on-line. The first part of this manual will enable you to understand the traces you leave behind on the Internet, your digital shadow and metadata, which are the risks and empowering potential of different on-line identities (real names, pseudonyms, collective names and anonymity), how you can create new on-line identities and manage alone or with others various on-line identities.  
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Because of these, it's important to have a look at the Feminist Principles on the Internet [2] developed by the APC in 2014, when they gathered a group of woman human rights defenders and feminist activists to a Global Meeting on Gender, Sexuality and the Internet, with the mandate to come up with a first list of principles. Those look at the ways in which the internet can be a transformative public and political space for women, trans* and feminists. They place tech-related violence on the continuum of gender-based violence, making clear the structural aspect of violence linking, expanding and/or mirroring online attitudes with offline prejudices. The principles also highlight surveillance and lack of privacy as patriarchal tools, whether they are used by the state, private individuals or corporations to control women's and trans* persons' bodies and thoughts.
  
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Once, you have learn about the possible impact your online identities can have on your life, work and activism, and how you can develop strategies and use tools to mitigate possible risks and enhance possible strengths, the manual will introduce you to how build safe spaces for you and your organisation, but also how to develop safe spaces and spaces of resistance in mixed environments. Finally it will present how to create safe spaces in the physical world where women and trans persons can learn about privacy, digital security and technologies in general in order to get empowered and further contribute to those fields. Safe spaces have been used by marginalized groups and communities for many decades now. They have been a way to care for one-self and for a collective, to design and craft strategies and tactics of resistance and to create an oasis of peace in what sometimes can be a tiring struggle for resistance. Safe spaces have taken different meanings and bear different names depending on a variety of factors be it geographical, temporal, spatial, cultural and social, among others. This chapter will enable you to become a moderator well aware of fundamentals of net-etiquette and how to contribute to the creation and enforcement of social rules within online communities. You will learn the fundamentals about how to build Safe spaces online and offline, gain knowledge on process and methodologies to reclaim and resist into mixed environments spaced and become aware of current initiatives and processes that can be replicated in your community, organization, collective in order to become a safer space.
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''How to use this manual''
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== How to use this manual? ==
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This manual is written for anybody that is interested in including gender with an intersectional approach to digital security and privacy practices. It aims to raise questions in your mind and inspire you, not to give you step-by-step configuration advice on X tool (but it gives you links where you can find that!). It is also not a comprehensive security guide, it focuses on a few dimensions speaking to the needs of women and trans* persons. There are however some first-step digital security and privacy measures that you should already have in place before reading this manual (see what's recommended: https://gendersec.tacticaltech.org/wiki/index.php/Security_disclaimer).
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The manual is broken into a shorter printed (and online) version and a more extensive wiki. The wiki goes in depth,explaining how to manage identities online and build safe spaces, in addition to giving examples and instructions on how to turn abstract concepts into practice. The wiki will continue to be added to by the community from the Gender and Tech Institute. We intend it to be a repository of critical resources for women's human rights defenders and activists from the global south and the global north.
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[1] A longer version of the methodological aspects of this introduction can be found hereː https://gendersec.tacticaltech.org/wiki/index.php/Introduction
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[2] The Feminists principles of the internet can be consulted hereː http://www.genderit.org/articles/feminist-principles-internet
  
 
[[Category:Resources]]
 
[[Category:Resources]]

Latest revision as of 14:19, 4 June 2015

This manual came out of the Gender and Technology Institute, organised by Tactical Technology Collective and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) at the end of 2014. The event brought together almost 80 participants and facilitators, mostly from the Global South, to focus on some of the issues faced daily by women and trans* persons on the internet and to share strategies and tools for better protecting our privacy and security online.

Since then, the network has expanded, with the result that this manual has involved the input and review of a wide range of people, and is informed by the stories and creative practices of grassroots activists working all over the world. Many of whom have been using and developing alternative technologies for some time in order to tackle gender based violence and advance gender social justice around the world.

The internet is not a safe space for women and trans* people, and it is all too common to see the work of feminists and activists being deleted, (self)censored, and actively prevented from being seen, heard or read. In such a hostile environment, how then can we then as women and trans* persons develop trust when creating content and interacting with others online, and grow our trusted networks, to create safe space among us? This manual seeks to present some of the strategies and tools to help develop that trust so that women and trans* people can continue to safely enjoy the freedoms and empowerment that the internet offers.

The first part of the manual looks at the information traces you leave behind on the internet, and offers various strategies and tools available for taking control of these traces. It presents what metadata and digital shadows are, and why these matter; how you can minimise, create and manage new online identities; and what are the risks and potentials involved in using different types of identities such as anonymity, pseudonyms, collective names and real names.

The second part focuses on safe spaces. It starts with the online world and discusses how safe spaces can be created for community-building, organising and support. Then, it looks at some creative tactics for addressing exclusion and harassment of women and trans* people online. Finally it discusses different methods for creating safe space in the physical world where women and trans* persons can learn about privacy, digital security and technologies in order to be empowered and further contribute to those fields.

While you're reading this manual (and putting some of what's in it into practice), it's important to keep some things in mind.

Including gender into privacy and security requires us to take an intersectional approach - one that engages with a diversity of culture, social status, gender identification, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity and other power structures that create inequality for individuals and communities with regard to their access to security tools and practices. Besides, this is also based on the recognition that specific forms of violence against women, trans*, and queer persons happen in a structural way along the entirety of the technological cycle - from the moment a specific form of technology is assembled, to its usage, right through to its disposal. If this particular manual is, of course not able to address the entire scope of this; it is nonetheless useful to keep the big picture in mind. This includes:

  • Acknowledging that gender gaps, discrimination and gender-based violence are structural, and influence the conditions of women and trans* persons in relation to their experience of and with ICTs.
  • Understanding how different women and trans* persons in different conditions find ways of accessing technologies, and how they can protect themselves and others in the process.
  • Sharing skills and knowledge on the ground so that women and trans* persons can strengthen their freedom of opinion and expression.
  • Remembering it is important to make women and trans* experiences in the management and development of technologies visible (not just the digital ones, but also appropriated ones like health and self-care technologies for instance).
  • Working to enable a greater participation of women and trans* persons in institutions which contribute to the governance of internet, as well as inside companies and organisations delivering services which support our networking and online identity.
  • Imagining liberating technologies where everybody is truly welcomed and respected is not work for women and trans* persons only, it is the responsibility of anybody involved in creating an inclusive,accessible, decentralised and neutral internet.

With these points in mind, we should ask ourselves when choosing to use a specific technology, if it is a liberating or alienating one for other groups and individuals. Liberating technologies can be defined as those that do not harm and are fairly produced and distributed; that are rooted in free and open-source software and free culture principles; and that are designed by default against gender based violence, surveillance, opacity and programmed obsolescence [1].

Because of these, it's important to have a look at the Feminist Principles on the Internet [2] developed by the APC in 2014, when they gathered a group of woman human rights defenders and feminist activists to a Global Meeting on Gender, Sexuality and the Internet, with the mandate to come up with a first list of principles. Those look at the ways in which the internet can be a transformative public and political space for women, trans* and feminists. They place tech-related violence on the continuum of gender-based violence, making clear the structural aspect of violence linking, expanding and/or mirroring online attitudes with offline prejudices. The principles also highlight surveillance and lack of privacy as patriarchal tools, whether they are used by the state, private individuals or corporations to control women's and trans* persons' bodies and thoughts.

How to use this manual

This manual is written for anybody that is interested in including gender with an intersectional approach to digital security and privacy practices. It aims to raise questions in your mind and inspire you, not to give you step-by-step configuration advice on X tool (but it gives you links where you can find that!). It is also not a comprehensive security guide, it focuses on a few dimensions speaking to the needs of women and trans* persons. There are however some first-step digital security and privacy measures that you should already have in place before reading this manual (see what's recommended: https://gendersec.tacticaltech.org/wiki/index.php/Security_disclaimer).

The manual is broken into a shorter printed (and online) version and a more extensive wiki. The wiki goes in depth,explaining how to manage identities online and build safe spaces, in addition to giving examples and instructions on how to turn abstract concepts into practice. The wiki will continue to be added to by the community from the Gender and Tech Institute. We intend it to be a repository of critical resources for women's human rights defenders and activists from the global south and the global north.

[1] A longer version of the methodological aspects of this introduction can be found hereː https://gendersec.tacticaltech.org/wiki/index.php/Introduction

[2] The Feminists principles of the internet can be consulted hereː http://www.genderit.org/articles/feminist-principles-internet

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