Nextcloud conference 2019: Renata Avila

Meet Renata

Executive Director, Smart Citizenship Foundation

Renata Avila, (Guatemalan), is an international Human Rights lawyer, specializing in the next wave of technological challenges to preserve and advance our rights, and better understand the politics of data and their implications on trade, democracy and society. She is currently writing a book on digital colonialism and designing international policies and prototyping technology for a democratic future. She is a Board member for Creative Commons and co-convener of the Progressive International. She also serves as a Board Member of the Common Action Forum and a Global Trustee of the Think Tank Digital Future Society. She is a member of the WEF’s Global Future Council on Human Rights and Technology and a Steering Committee Member of the Information Society Advisory Council (CSISAC) for the OECD.

Presentation

Renata will be our keynote speaker at Nextcloud conference 2019!

Converging crisis: an opportunity to advance our rights and save our planet

Sunday – September 15 – 10:00

Check out the schedule for both days of the conference!

Have you got your ticket? What are you waiting for? Register now! Or shoot us an email to events@nextcloud.com for a free contributor ticket! Remember that no contribution is too small to ask.

How it all started

Renata did her Master of Laws in Italy, focused on Intellectual Property and Technology over a decade and a half ago. There she discovered the importance of digital rights for human rights, such as the right to know, the right to privacy, access to knowledge, freedom of expression… and she also entered the World of Free Culture and Free Software movements.
“As a human rights activist, it was easy to reconcile struggles.”

Fighting for a better internet

“It means fighting for an Internet, as Francesca Bria says, that is rights preserving and human-centric. It means fighting for democracy and human rights, but also fighting to solve with it the current climate crisis. It is negligent to isolate our struggles. When people talk about a Green New Deal, in my view it has a Green New Internet as part of it.”

Current and future projects

Renata is working with her team in Rio, Brazil and Santiago, Chile offices on three big projects to take back the power of technology to the people.
“We are working to tackle gender inequality in algorithms, with policies and tech pilots, we are educating citizens and, especially, cities about digital rights and their duties, we will be training over hundred mayors from Latin America next two years, and we are launching a Latin American alliance to increase awareness on the power of digital whistleblowing, but also anonymity and encryption. While the topic is old here, in Latin America is just taking off and it is crucial.”

Check Renata Avila’s presentation at the Nextcloud Conference and register now!

Contributors, app developers and all people who want to attend the conference but can’t afford to buy a ticket can shoot us an email to events@nextcloud.com and get a ticket free of charge.

See you in Berlin!