Day 2
Fireside chat: encryption ideology – a conversation with CEOs

Join Meredith Whittaker (Signal), Will Cathcart (WhatsApp), Matthew Hodgson (Element), and Raphael Robert (Phoenix R&D) in conversation with facilitator Mallory Knodel for a fireside chat on their motivations, concerns, and visions for the future of encryption and encryption policy.

Day 2
In Conversation with Timnit Gebru and Melissa Chan

Join Timnit Gebru in conversation with our Studio Host, Melissa Chan, as they reflect on building an alternative vision for the development and use of AI, and the work of the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (DAIR) in materializing this vision.

Day 2
In Conversation with Volker Türk and Marwa Fatafta

Join Volker Türk in conversation with Marwa Fatafta as they look back on the 75 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and reflect on its significance and enduring relevance in meeting the needs of the present moment as well as the future.

Day 1
Opening Ceremony

Join us for the RightsCon Costa Rica Opening Ceremony, broadcast live from our Studio in San José.

“The issues that RightsCon addresses deserve leader-level attention … these are some of the most important issues that we could be talking about today.” (2022)

Jacinda Ardern

Former Prime Minister of New Zealand

“This was my first RightsCon conference and what an experience it was, hosting a conversation about healing, hope and protest was just what I needed during a summer during which Black people were grappling with mass deaths through COVID and evidence that we are still continually hunted and killed by the police. […] I hope this will be the beginning of a long relationship with RightsCon as they think about how anti-racist policies and practices can become part of human rights frames.” (2020)

Mutale Nkonde

CEO AI for the People, Key Constituent of the UN 3C Round Table on AI

“RightsCon is the Davos of Digital Rights.” (2017)

Matt Peacock

Group Director of Corporate Affairs at Vodafone Group

“RightsCon is an online and offline space to build relationships on the digital rights’ agenda among actors and communities from diverse sectors and geographical locations. It allows people to imagine and strategize in the same space how digital technologies can create better and safer understandings between different societies.” (2019)

Alejandro Mayoral Banos

Executive Director, Indigenous Friends Organization

“I must say I’m amazed. It’s enormous. It gathers people from the NGOs, academics, private sector – a convergence and divergence of all these people.” (2018)

Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin

Chair and President of the CNIL

“I found the conference to be game-changing for my work in the peace and security sector in the UN, in that it pulled together actors from the private sector, NGOs, activist world and UN who can speak powerfully to the core issues. The multiple tracks allowed for a lot of flexibility and provided a real wealth of global expertise on all the issues that I needed to gain current insight on, and unexpected areas as well. The many tracks spoke directly to the heart of the core issue: the mixed impact of a technology-infused world on citizens, institutions, and governments who haven’t reconciled the market economy dynamics with long-standing norms and expectations on human rights. Complicated, yet RightsCon opened up multiple conversations that I am continuing to this day. Thank you for organizing this excellent space for dialogue.”

Christina Goodness

Chief, DPPA-DPO, Information Management Unit, United Nations

“I mean where have you been if you haven’t been to RightsCon! This is where you get to do the real work… It’s where you get to meet people who you can mentor, who want to do what you’re doing, where you can meet people who have done what you’re trying to do, who can mentor you, and it’s where you can meet your peers, so you know you’re not the only crazy person who wants to save the world.” (2018)

Gbénga Sèsan

Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative

“Perhaps the most striking, joyous, part of it was being at a conference where diversity in all its forms was essential to its lifeblood – in contrast to most conferences I attend where diversity is too often thought of in terms of checking boxes.”

Bec Hamilton

Assistant Law Professor, American University

“There are other events out there of various sorts. But this one is increasingly seen as the most important event to come to.” (2018)

Ron Deibert

Director, Citizen Lab

“… a truly impressive event that clearly demonstrates how NGOs have become redoubtable players in cyberspace.” (2016)

Uri Rosenthal

Dutch Special Envoy Cyberspace and Former Dutch Foreign Minister

“For us in Venezuela, I think it’s very important to be in RightsCon because we can engage with the technology community and the people working worldwide on human rights. Here, we can have an update on what is happening in the tech world and all the tools we can use in Venezuela to keep our work going. I think it’s very important, all the connections we made here and all the people willing to help you do the work on the web without being blocked by the government.” (2018)

Melanio Escobar

Founder, Redesayuda