Round-table: Government hacking in different national contexts and strategies for challenging surveillance

Track 02: [In]security by Design

An increasing number of governments are adopting hacking techniques to facilitate their surveillance activities. Hacking is a particularly novel surveillance technique that raises new challenges. We urgently need to come together as civil society actors from diverse jurisdictions to discuss strategies for challenging or curtailing this power.

This session will be designed as a roundtable moderated by Privacy International. It will be broken down into two 45-minute segments as follows:

(1) Hacking in Different National Contexts (45 min.)

The first 45-minute segment will feature short (max. 5 minute) presentations by different civil society organisations. These presentations will touch upon government hacking developments in their respective national contexts and any ongoing legal or advocacy work to address these powers.

  • Privacy International (United Kingdom)
  • Bits of Freedom (Netherlands)
  • La Quadrature du Net (France)
  • CCC (Germany)
  • Hermes Center  (Italy)
  • Electronic Frontier Foundation (USA)
  • R3D (Mexico)
  • AccessNow (Global)
  • Dejusticia (Columbia)
  • King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (Thailand).

(2) Strategies for Challenging State Hacking for Surveillance (45 min.)

The second 45-minute segment will be an open discussion moderated by Privacy International on strategies for challenging state hacking for surveillance. This discussion may include the following topics:

  • What are strategies to unmask government hacking?
  • What are strategies to challenge government hacking?
  • What are strategies to limit government hacking?
  • What are strategies for combatting government efforts to compel companies to facilitate hacking?