The BHR Group Digital Rights Careers Newsletter - Issue 15

Aug 10, 2023

Dear Colleagues:

What formative events, people, or ideas helped shape your career direction, whether in or beyond digital rights? Sometimes it’s family, mentors, available opportunity, instinct, economic need, global events, or just serendipity. Often though there’s some thread that runs through how you position yourself, or want to, professionally.

Our guest practitioner this week, Mahsa Alimardani, an outstanding activist and scholar, writes powerfully about seeing and feeling the energy of young people in Iran during the Green Movement in 2009. She says: “[I]f I were to pinpoint one thing, it would be 2009. I happened to visit my family in Iran during that historic summer when a mass protest movement overtook Iran. I was still relatively young – I was fresh out of high school and just starting my undergraduate degree. I was very impressionable, and up until then I didn’t have much interest in what was going on in Iran. I was overtaken by how engaged my peers were in Iran and that powerful energy many people my age had that they could make history happen. I had never been more inspired and the optimism and hope there was in the role technology was playing in echoing that energy and agency seemed like one of the most powerful things I had seen at that time. From that point forward I became focused on what inspired me and what I knew I wanted to spend my time on. I rearranged my course work and focus during my undergrad to things that helped this interest and right away out of my degree I started working on projects related to access to the internet and Iran, and basically I haven’t looked back since.”

Because my own professional and personal life intersects with Iran, I’ve thought back to some of the formative events in my own youth. My first moments of political awareness probably came in 1978-1979 when my family was glued to the TV watching protests, strikes, and violence in Iran unfold as a revolution and the Shah’s departure from Iran on January 16, 1979. My parents had returned from a trip to Iran in 1977 (my mom’s from Tehran), and I have memories of their stories, photos, and silent 8mm flickering frame films. The TV scenes of the streets of Tehran were probably a confusing contrast for a kid. I have a vague memory of the day the Shah arrived in New York City from México for medical treatment, that too was on TV. And then the storming of the US Embassy in Tehran a week later on November 4^th, with militant students taking American embassy personnel hostage for what would be 444 days. You might remember or have read about the special reports that eventually became a nightly news program called Nightline, hosted by Ted Koppel of ABC News. I remember being a kid waking up each morning interested mostly in baseball and then falling asleep many evenings to Nightline’s political reports of my mom’s birthplace.

In college, a decade after the revolution, I studied international affairs and wrote my thesis on the Iranian revolution and then completed a fellowship by writing on U.S. diplomacy with Iran. After college, graduate school, and eventually law school my connection to Iran was mostly personal and through our large Persian family and long-standing traditions. Given U.S. sanctions on Iran, it seemed unlikely a corporate career in technology, policy, and law would intersect Iran topics. But it did in small ways eventually, like offering views (sometimes solicited, sometimes not) to the State Department or to U.S. technology companies on possible ways to protect online expression and privacy in Iran or advocating for statements by academic institutions as a response to state violence against students or trying to convene experts on technology and human rights for policy-makers concerned about ongoing repression in Iran. It’s interesting to look for the threads running through your career. Try it yourself.

In last month’s newsletter, guest practitioner Charles Mok talked about persistence, even over decades, in human rights advocacy. Mahsa Alimardani expresses a similar and poignant sentiment: “It’s not easy to continue working on Iran, honestly. There are small wins and moments when you see you make a difference, but the overall landscape of continued tragedies, ongoing trauma and deterioration – at least in the internet freedom space – really tests your ability to stay hopeful. It’s been over a decade now I’m doing this work, so I love to see new people take up the cause, because they have a level of energy I don’t have. The only thing that keeps me going sometimes is seeing that people in Iran are sacrificing so much more and don’t have the luxury of walking away the way I do living in the safety of being outside of the country.”

Follow Mahsa’s work at Article 19 and beyond, she is one of the world’s leading experts and advocates on technology and human rights issues in Iran. And read more of Mahsa’s remarkably thoughtful answers below for insights on advocacy, civil society, academia, leadership, and more. The messages she delivers are raw and deeply insightful career advice for human rights advocates on any topic in any sector. I promise you’ll learn a ton; I did.

Michael Samway
The Business and Human Rights Group
Website: www.thebhrgroup.com

Guest Spotlight: Mahsa Alimardani

Mahsa Alimardani is an internet researcher focusing on the Middle East and North Africa region with a specialisation on Iran. She has worked on matters related to human rights, technology, and freedom of expression online for over a decade within civil society and is currently a senior researcher with the international human rights organisations ARTICLE19 leading their digital rights projects on content moderation in the MENA region, and digital rights within Iran. She’s also a DPhil candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford, and has previously served as a Senior Information Controls Fellow for the Open Technology Fund at the University of Oxford. Her writing and analysis on technology and freedom of expression in Iran is regularly featured in academic journals as well as media such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and Slate.

What are some of the most formative period or events in your life that shaped your work in technology and human rights?

This is difficult to answer given I’m still evolving and being shaped by so much around me. But if I were to pinpoint one thing, it would be 2009. I happened to visit my family in Iran during that historic summer when a mass protest movement overtook Iran. I was still relatively young -I was fresh out of high school and just starting my undergraduate degree. I was very impressionable, and up until then I didn’t have much interest in what was going on in Iran. I was overtaken by how engaged my peers were in Iran and that powerful energy many people my age had that they could make history happen. I had never been more inspired and the optimism and hope there was in the role technology was playing in echoing that energy and agency seemed like one of the most powerful things I had seen at that time. From that point forward I became focused on what inspired me and what I knew I wanted to spend my time on. I rearranged my course work and focus during my undergrad to things that helped this interest and right away out of my degree I started working on projects related to access to the internet and Iran, and basically I haven’t looked back since.

How do you continue doing what you do, pushing and advocating for digital rights, and human rights more broadly, in Iran?

It’s not easy to continue working on Iran, honestly. There are small wins and moments when you see you make a difference, but the overall landscape of continued tragedies, ongoing trauma and deterioration-at least in the internet freedom space-really tests your ability to stay hopeful. It’s been over a decade now I’m doing this work, so I love to see new people take up the cause, because they have a level of energy I don’t have. The only thing that keeps me going sometimes is seeing that people in Iran are sacrificing so much more and don’t have the luxury of walking away the way I do living in the safety of being outside of the country.

Who are some people or an individual you’ve met during your work in this field who have had profound influence on your work? And in what way?

There are too many people to name. I work with some amazing colleagues at ARTICLE19, which is probably why I’ve been working there for so long now. My team in particular including my colleague Afsaneh Rigot. I’ve learned what it means to build community and trust from her, which is such an invaluable skill when you’re working in these spaces. Afsaneh awed me with her ability to build community and trust. My colleague Bahar Saba who does relentless and quiet work to document the atrocities of the Iranian regime-her dedication, often uncredited, always inspires me. Additionally, very early on in my career I volunteered for this project called the Iran Tribunals and met some inspiring women advocates and academics who I’m still in touch with, including Gissou Nia and Pardis Shafafi. Gissou has been doing amazing advocacy work to hold the crimes of the Islamic Republic accountable. Pardis is one of the greatest intellectuals on Iranian history, philosophy and crimes of the Islamic Republic.

What are some of the values, broadly speaking, that guide you in this field or in life more broadly?

That’s a great question. None of us enter this field of work for financial gains, so our values really underpin and energize us often-at least they do for me. Justice, empathy, equality, freedom…there are so many but those come to the top of my mind.

What’s a specific event when you feel like your team’s or organization’s work (or your own work) was able to make a significant impact in the field of digital rights?

That’s very hard, because the grand problems often persist, and especially when working in a country like Iran. There have been small wins, like pushing for changes in technology-getting Meta to expand expression for Iranians with “Death to Khamenei’s” allowance for example; or pushing for proxy settings on WhatsApp. The former change I was integral to making happen with efforts that spanned over a year and a half, I remember finding out it was about to happen at the same time I received news a young protester was executed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was hard to digest that as a relevant win in that context, to be honest.
I have to say, I’ve been incredibly proud of my team at ARTICLE19. Without any funding and just voluntary contributions of our time on top of existing work we had, we started doing rapid response support for folks on the ground. Some of the appreciation we’ve received from folks has been worth spending Sundays or middle of the nights making calls or sending emails. For example, we learned we helped prevent the outing of a queer student activist while he was incarcerated in the midst of the campus arrests last fall, by helping to secure all their social media and online accounts. Between just a few of us we’ve processed over 500 requests to help folks secure accounts since September.

What are some ways you think the technology, policy, and human rights fields can become more diverse, inclusive, and equitable in composition, policy topics, learning, and advocacy?

Including the majority world and their learnings from technology centrally to the issues of technology policy. So many questions around AI regulations and harms, facial recognition, encryption etc. would be so much easier if the learnings and harms to those in the most vulnerable positions were centered over those in the North.

For undergraduate or graduate students reading this, what type course (e.g., computer science, human rights, language) or activities (e.g., internships, summer jobs) do you think might be most helpful as they contemplate careers in technology, public policy, and human rights?

Interdisciplinary backgrounds that converge politics and human rights with technology are the best ways to have a holistic understanding of the future of technology and human rights.

For current practitioners in this field, and given your own career experience, what are some considerations you think are worth taking into account when deciding whether to change sectors, say from civil society or academia to the private sector? Or from the private sector to government or civil society? Or in your case, choosing to pursue a Ph.D. while also working in civil society?

Working in civil society is hard. Finding financial stability is a major consideration when choosing to work in civil society. If it weren’t for my values and the pursuit of contributing to the world, it would be hard to keep going in a sector where there is extreme mental pressure and little financial stability. I realize I am not selling this to anyone, but I think it’s a real consideration. My choice to pursue a PhD is really about harnessing my skills and reputation as an advocate and researcher. I think academia and civil society are different spaces, both you learn from. There is a tendency by those in academia to think they are superior to those working in other spaces, which I don’t understand. Of course academic research can have great impact, but when it’s not married to policy and on the ground work and advocacy, I find it’s just lecturing from an ivory tower. I hope my path can mobilize the power in both worlds for improving digital spaces.

What are some of the non-mainstream sources you turn to when building knowledge or keeping informed on tech, policy, and human rights related issues? And what sources do you follow to keep current on the latest happenings in Iran today?

In the past it was Twitter where I would turn to-and somewhat I still do, but I’m increasingly turning to newsletters and mailing lists to keep abreast of the latest tech debates. My favourite newsletters are “Everything in Moderation” by Ben Whitlaw, and Justin Hendrix’s Tech Polucy Press. The content moderation mailing list that Dia Kayyali and Jillian York have created is also a must follow. Your newsletter, Michael, is also something I also look forward to. On Iran, I can’t recommend Holly Dagres’s Iranist Newsletter enough!

What are some obstacles you’ve faced in the digital rights field? And what are some unconventional strategies you find helpful when responding?

I guess some of the issues around harassment and keeping abusers out was something that was a big issue that the digital rights community was dealing with circa 2017. Without delving too much into it, I just have to say, there are some amazing people working in this space that I’ve turned to for community and support, and that’s been the best strategy.

What’s something you didn’t expect in work in this field?

Finding a lot of lifelong bonds and friendships.

What are some ideas on how to find and engage regularly with mentors in this sector?

I really have no idea-I am attracted to projects, initiatives and spaces that naturally have brought me to people who have taken on “mentor” roles in my life. As a child of immigrants growing up in the diaspora, that concept of growing up or evolving with a mentor wasn’t really a concept. Just collections of people I’ve come across that inspire me or have given me advice from time to time.

What are two or three books, podcasts, albums, poems, works of art, etc. that inspire you or that you’d recommend to people interested in working in this field?

The BHR Group Digital Rights Careers Newsletter

The BHR Group Digital Rights Careers Newsletter - Issue 15

Guest Spotlight: Mahsa Alimardani

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