Summer Bootcamp: Digital Safety & Online Abuse Defense
Writers, journalists, and media organizations are increasingly doing their work online, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This digital shift offers tremendous opportunities, but it also carries risks. Nation states, corporations, and ideological groups can surveil and hack into personal and professional devices to destroy years of work or expose sources. Online abuse, from hateful slurs and sexual harassment to impersonation and doxing (the publishing of private info), can threaten livelihoods, damage reputations, and lead to self-censorship and even real-life violence.
Join PEN America, Freedom of the Press Foundation, and the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) for a free webinar series offering a crash course on digital safety and online abuse defense for journalists, writers, and media organizations.
JUMP TO:
- Session 1: Online Abuse Self-Defense Training
- Session 2: Hands-on Anti-Hacking, Anti-Doxing Workshop
- Session 3: Bolster Your Cyber Hygiene Training
- Session 4: Digital Safety Office Hours
Session 1: Online Abuse Self-Defense Training
Wednesday, July 7
1:00pm – 2:30pm ET
Writers and journalists are facing unprecedented levels of harassment online, from threats, hateful slurs, and sexual harassment to coordinated cyber mobs. Whether you’ve been targeted by online abuse or witnessed it, this session will equip you with practical tools and strategies to defend yourself. We’ll talk about how to prepare, respond, take care of yourself, and support others. While there are no easy answers, open conversations about the impact of online abuse and how to fight back can empower you to stay online and continue exercising your free expression rights.
Speakers
Viktorya Vilk is the program director for digital safety and free expression at PEN America, where she leads initiatives on a range of free expression issues, including developing tools and strategies to empower writers, journalists, and media organizations to defend against online abuse. She has over a decade of experience working in nonprofits to expand access to the arts and defend creative and press freedom.
Gisela Pérez de Acha is a journalist focused on digital forensics and investigative reporting, with over a decade of experience combating online gender-based violence. She has a master’s degree from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, where she now teaches cybersecurity, and is a reporter on the extremism beat at the Investigative Reporting Program. She is a trained human rights lawyer and an open source researcher at the Human Rights Center Investigations Lab.
Session 2: Hands-on Anti-Hacking, Anti-Doxing Workshop
Wednesday, July 14
1:00pm – 2:30pm ET
Writers and journalists are increasingly expected to have an online presence and engage on social media, which puts them at risk of abuse—especially if they identify as women, LGBTQ+, and/or BIPOC. From impersonation and hacking to doxing, abusive trolls join forces to intimidate, discredit, and silence. But there are concrete steps you can take to protect yourself.
With your devices in hand, join PEN America and Freedom of the Press Foundation for an interactive workshop where we’ll teach you how to outsmart the trolls. Learn how to audit your social media accounts, tighten your privacy settings, and track your personal information online so you can maintain the public profile you need to do your job.
Speakers
Viktorya Vilk is the program director for digital safety and free expression at PEN America, where she leads initiatives on a range of free expression issues, including developing tools and strategies to empower writers, journalists, and media organizations to defend against online abuse. She has over a decade of experience working in nonprofits to expand access to the arts and defend creative and press freedom.
Harlo Holmes is the director of digital security at Freedom of the Press Foundation. She strives to help individual journalists in various media organizations become confident and effective in securing their communications within their newsrooms, with their sources, and with the public at large.
Session 3: Bolster Your Cyber Hygiene Training
Wednesday, July 21
1:00pm – 2:00pm ET
Digital security is critically important to protecting your research, your sources, and yourself. Building on Global Cyber Alliance’s free Cybersecurity Toolkit for Journalists, this session will walk you through real-world scenarios and practical tools and guidance for protecting your devices, accounts, and communications, whether you’re an independent journalist, staff reporter, editor, or small newsroom.
Speakers
Julian Hayda is the Craig Newmark Journalist Scholar at the Global Cyber Alliance. His role is to provide journalism domain knowledge to cybersecurity projects at GCA. He has a decade of experience in multimedia journalism, nonprofit media, and community engagement in the United States and Ukraine. Most recently, he produced and reported on a human rights beat for various NPR member stations.
Rodney Lee is the Internet Integrity program manager at the Global Cyber Alliance. His role is to provide support and technical training for The GCA Cybersecurity Toolkit for Journalists. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran with over 12 years of experience in maintenance and operations.
Session 4: Digital Safety Office Hours
Thursday, July 22
3pm ET
Need to figure out more secure channels to communicate with sources? Wondering how exactly VPN and TOR works to protect you when browsing online? Want to set up multi-factor authentication but have no idea where to start? Join Freedom of the Press Foundation, Global Cyber Alliance, and PEN America for an open office hours session, and we can talk you through your questions on digital safety and online abuse.
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