Panel + Q&A
With: Marwa Fatafta (Researcher, Policy Analyst and Digital Rights Expert, PS/DE) and Hadi Al Khatib (Managing Director at Mnemonic SY/DE). Moderated by Enrico De Angelis (Co-Founder and Editor, UntoldMag, IT/DE)
When: Thursday, October 31, 2024, 19:00-21:00
Where: Stadtwerkstatt, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 11/13, 10178 Berlin.
In cooperation with neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK).
In collaboration with UntoldStories.
No technical skills or equipment needed.
Background
Artificial Intelligence is concretely changing the way conflicts are managed, and human rights violations are recorded. Wars, such as the attack on Gaza, are being used extensively as laboratories to test new lethal autonomous weapons, advanced recognition systems, biometric surveillance, and AI-based programmes to identify targets on the ground.
These elements add to the impact of new technologies on the gathering of evidence of war crimes. Social media algorithms increasingly challenge media activists and journalists in their efforts to distribute and archive relevant content to inform the public. The rise of synthetic images is changing the relationship between the visual and the factual/fictional, paving the way for an unexplored regime of truth.
At the same time, AI and digital technologies can also serve as effective tools to promote constructive, rather than destructive, narratives, facilitate the exposure of war crimes, and aid forensic organisations in identifying those responsible for war crimes and human rights violations. Israel’s onslaught on Gaza has pushed the boundaries of warfare to unprecedented and dangerous levels. From the use of killer drones, AI targeting systems, and biometric surveillance in Gaza to the weaponization of low-tech devices in Lebanon, this unprecedented digital warfare foreshadows a dystopia future for armed conflicts where technologies can help automate, rationalize, and maximize destruction and human suffering.
Are technologies destined to become tools of destruction and surveillance for those already in power? Are other paths possible? What are the possible scenarios for the revolution in synthetic imagery and its impact on the gathering of evidence and the establishment of a system of truth in our societies?
After a 1.5-hour presentation and sharing with the guests, a Q&A session will open the floor to the audience to discuss these questions.
Talks
In Marwa Fatafta’s talk, she will dive into two key issues. Firstly, she’ll map the different technologies and systems used by Israel in the current war in Gaza and highlight the role of Big Tech in furnishing or powering such tools. Some, if not most, of these technologies are not new or complex but rather systems that are widely used (such as in predictive policing) or publicly available tools for everyday use (Google Photos as an example). However, their repurposing for military purposes puts a magnifying lens on their harms. The role of tech companies in providing these services also emphasizes the glaring lack of robust safeguards against the weaponization of such systems for warfare. Secondly, she’ll delve into the boomerang effect of this digital warfare outside of Gaza. Taking two particular Israeli military tech industries — the manufacturing and sales of surveillance tech and drones— as cautionary tales, Israel’s state capabilities are often re-packaged as off-the-shelf commercial products for sale leading for the proliferation of human rights abuses worldwide. To that effect, she will close her remarks by outlining key actions and policy recommendations to ensure the dystopian tech-enabled violence we are witnessing in Gaza is neither normalized nor harnessed in future armed conflicts.
Hadi Al Khatib will discuss how technology is transforming conflict reporting and documentation. He will describe the use of publicly available materials as evidence of international crimes and human rights violations, address content moderation challenges, and discuss strategies for archiving large volumes of media to preserve it and organise it for future use. Using examples from Syria, Ukraine, Sudan, and Palestine, his talk will highlight issues like synthetic imagery and verification difficulties and the crucial role of civil society organisations in developing effective solutions.
Speakers
Marwa Fatafta
Researcher, Policy Analyst and Digital Rights Expert, PS/DE
Marwa leads Access Now’s policy and advocacy work on digital rights in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Her work spans a number of issues at the nexus of human rights and technology including content governance and platform accountability, online censorship, digital surveillance, and transnational repression. She has written extensively on the digital occupation in Palestine and focuses on the role of new technologies in armed conflicts and humanitarian contexts and their impact on historically marginalized and oppressed communities. Marwa is a Policy Analyst at Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, an advisory board member of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, and an advisory committee member for Bread&Net. Marwa was a Fulbright scholar in the US and holds an MA in International Relations from Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. She holds a second MA in Development and Governance from the University of Duisburg-Essen.
Hadi Al Khatib
Managing Director at Mnemonic SY/DE
Hadi is the Managing Director of Mnemonic and the founder of the Syrian Archive. Hadi has worked since 2011 to collect, verify, and investigate citizen-generated data as evidence of human rights violations. Hadi previously worked with Tactical Technology Collective to support journalists and human rights groups in securing their data, devices and communications online. Hadi worked as a part-time open source investigator with Human Rights Watch and Bellingcat. He also worked as a consultant with the UN International, Impartial, and Independent Mechanism. Hadi is a fellow at Ashoka, and the Centre for Internet and Human Rights. He was selected for the 2021 #TIME100NEXT list, the FastCompany's Most Creative People in Business list for 2021, and as one of Wired UK's 2021 list of changemakers.
Enrico De Angelis
Co-Founder and Editor, UntoldMag, IT/DE
Enrico De Angelis holds a PhD in Media Studies. He works on new media and the public sphere in Syria and Egypt, but also on grassroots media, political communication and journalism in the MENA region. Between 2012 and 2014, he was a post-doc at Cedej, Cairo, where he analysed the networked public sphere in Egypt. He is a co-founder of the media organisation UntoldStories and one of the editors of the Italian version of Orient XXI. He currently works as a research consultant for organisations such as Free Press Unlimited, UNESCO, International Media Support, Hivos, Deutsche Welle and Canal France International. He has taught at the American University of Cairo, Roberto Ruffilli Faculty, and the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Bologna. He has published a monograph on media and conflict and several articles on media in the MENA region.
The Meetup programme “Decoding Agency” by Disruption Network Lab is funded by the Capital Cultural Fund (Hauptstadtkulturfonds), Reva and David Logan Foundation.
The series is organised in cooperation with neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK), Berlin.
Disruption Network Lab is part of New Perspectives for Action (2023-2027). A project by Re-Imagine Europe, a collaboration between Paradiso and Sonic Acts (NL), Elevate Festival (Austria), A4 (SK), INA GRM (FR), Borealis (NO), KONTEJNER (HR), RUPERT (LT), Semibreve (PT), Parco d’Arte Vivente (IT), Disruption Network Lab (DE), BEK (NO), Kontrapunkt (MK) and Radio Web MACBA (ES). Co-funded by the European Union.