RightsCon Toronto 2018

Online harms are becoming increasingly intersectional. Recent revelations linking the use of disinformation, fake accounts and hate speech to sway elections, coupled with the rise of harms from cyber-bullying, coordinated online harassment, misogyny and child sexual exploitation demonstrate the ever-increasing range of threats facing internet users.

Tech companies are being asked to tackle each of these forms of harm, but often by a huge range of uncoordinated voices from across civil society. Industry will need to develop responses to deal with each of these risks, while balancing user safety and human rights concerns, yet there is considerable scope to build coalitions and apply lessons from across these different fields. Attempts to make such responses collaborative and transparent across different issue-areas is of vital importance, as well as offering the potential for vital efficiency savings in tackling online threats.

ISD and the Berkman Klein Center are hosting a workshop to:
1. Discuss: Highlight the inefficiency of current silos in online harm prevention work.
2. Collaborate: Foster cross-sector collaboration on research and projects, building off preliminary connections built between tech companies, CSOs and academics at the Berkman & ISD conference hosted in July 2017.
3. Act: Create actionable suggestions for practical ways to make cross-harms collaboration successful and useful for CSOs and technology companies.