I wouldn't give the regime the benefit of the doubt. The track record of network shutdowns and communications disruptions in Iran span more than two decades. Please read the "Manifesto for a Free Internet" by the Iranian Women’s Coalition for Internet Freedom docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Funny, Iran's own spokesperson and Foreign Minister didn't use the cyberwarfare justification. They clearly said internet goes to those who can amplify the regime's voice. That's not a defensive posture. That's content policy.

Join us on 3/26 @ 10am EDT for the Gender & Tech Talk Series' 9th session, "Immigration & Techno-Authoritarianism" featuring @royapak.bsky.social & Ana B. Nougrères. Moderated by & co-organized with @yasmincurzi.com. Free & open to all dtdlab.virginia.edu/event/gender... @uvadatascience.bsky.social

This is "our" Manifesto for a Free Internet. We are Iranian Women's Coalition for Internet Freedom. Happy International Women's Day! initiated by @azadehakbari.bsky.social @farzdusa.bsky.social @mahsaalimardani.bsky.social @royapak.bsky.social & Afsaneh Rigot

Fantastic personal account from @royapak.bsky.social on how Khamenei’s surveillance tech deployed against Iranian women is precisely what killed him: “Iran is a lesson that the fragility of oppressive systems eventually comes back for the oppressor itself.” open.substack.com/pub/royapakz...

A reminder to join us this Friday, 12pm to hear from @rebeccawilliams.info @technolua.bsky.social @tamigraph.bsky.social @thakurdhanaraj.bsky.social @royapak.bsky.social B.Wylie & J.Bolthouse @ UVA & online. Free & open to the public: dtdlab.virginia.edu/event/digita... @uvadatascience.bsky.social

What if “safe” AI isn’t safe in every language? @royapak.bsky.social and Daniel Nissani explore how AI safety guardrails behave outside English, and why language can affect fact-checking and risk detection in humanitarian settings. See how the evaluation was done: link.mozilla.ai/multilingual...

As we navigate the undermining of democratic processes & witness how tech facilitates/resists authoritarianism, join us on Feb 20@12pm to hear from @technolua.bsky.social @tamigraph.bsky.social @thakurdhanaraj.bsky.social @royapak.bsky.social B.Wylie, J.Bolthouse dtdlab.virginia.edu/event/digita...

ICYMI, highly recommend this human rights impact assessment of @wikimediafoundation.org AI/ML work by @royapak.bsky.social (w/ @farzdusa.bsky.social and david liu)

I wrote about her and some of her company’s work in this chapter called “The Baby and the Black Box”: marhicks.com/writing/Hick...

New report: Key Considerations for AI Procurement in the Public Sector Covers: Third-party dependencies • Large vs small vendors • AI demos/pilots • Master Service agreements • Performance-based contracts • Union engagement • Function creep • Model contracts taraazresearch.org/ai-procurement

Less frustrated-sounding and more productive version 🙂 royapakzad.substack.com/p/guide-for-...

I'm at #TrustCon. Half the sessions are on tech companies' responsibilities on child safety (not Palestinian children though) and the well-being of trust and safety professionals, yet the conference design completely ignores the realities of working parents, especially for mothers. My experience 👇

Over 18 months, CDT studied content moderation in four low-resource languages—Maghrebi Arabic, Kiswahili, Tamil, and Quechua—across South Asia, North/East Africa, and South America. cdt.org/insights/con...

Happy to be a part of this cohort! My fellowship project, "Equitable AI Benchmarking for Linguistic Diversity," helps civil society to engage in AI evaluation, focusing on multilingual inconsistencies with human rights impacts.

🚨 Great new project by Algorithm Watch lead by @fabiochiusi.bsky.social pulling together research, policy briefs, and coalition building on #bordertech in the EU - including a great list tracking private companies and research projects! algorithmwatch.org/en/automatio...

My latest newsletter is about parenthood and GenAI. Read about: multilingual inconsistency in LLM generated responses, breastfeeding as a taboo in image generation tools, voice-cloned lullabies, embedded ads in LLM-based parenting advice, and more. open.substack.com/pub/royapakz...

I wrote about red teaming, from its origin in 16th-century Catholic Church to red teaming generative AI systems. Read here: https://open.substack.com/pub/royapakzad/p/old-advocacy-new-algorithms?r=9cbk0&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post