Cameran Ashraf, Ph.D.
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camerana.bsky.social
Cameran Ashraf, Ph.D.
@camerana.bsky.social
220 followers 510 following 12 posts
#HumanRights @wikimediafoundation.org / Human rights & cyberconflict @ CEU / Co-founder of @accessnow.org / Founder AzadiArchive

"Joy is not made to be a crumb" -Mary Oliver

www.cameranashraf.com
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camerana.bsky.social
Very pleased to have helped develop this new paper:

Privacy in public: a new whitepaper on privacy in #Wikipedia research diff.wikimedia.org/2025/11/02/p...

#HumanRights #Privacy
Privacy in public: a new whitepaper on privacy in Wikipedia research
Wikipedia is a global knowledge resource visited more than 15 billion times every month by humans and machines. However, the usage of Wikipedia does not stop here. Wikipedia is a vital resource for…
diff.wikimedia.org
November 3, 2025 at 11:58 PM
camerana.bsky.social
Visit Wikipedia - read, contribute to articles, and donate - free knowledge and the ability to have non-paywalled information available online is at stake!

www.engadget.com/ai/wikimedia...
Wikimedia says AI bots and summaries are hurting Wikipedia's traffic
The Wikimedia foundation says an AI-fueled drop in traffic could threaten the internets largest repository of trusted information.
www.engadget.com
October 17, 2025 at 6:49 PM
camerana.bsky.social
New report out: Think Again: Freedom of Thought in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Very pleased to have played a small part in this publication! #HumanRights
odihr.pl OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights @odihr.pl · Oct 9
New publication on freedom of thought launched as challenges multiply in the age of AI

#WarsawHDC

Find out more: buff.ly/cFD6ygr
October 11, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Reposted by Cameran Ashraf, Ph.D.
cpdpconferences.bsky.social
"Keeping Secrets While Exposing the Truth? Balancing Data Protection in Digital Human Rights Archiving"

Organised by Center for European Policy Studies with @camerana.bsky.social

More information: cpdp.be/31038

#CPDP.ai #CPDP2025 #TheWorldisWatching #CPDP #Workshop
"Keeping Secrets While Exposing the Truth? Balancing Data Protection in Digital Human Rights Archiving" Human rights investigators are increasingly using open-source, user-generated content scraped from online platforms as crucial digital evidence for human rights advocacy, accountability and analysis (witness accounts, footage of protests and state violence, etc.). This workshop will explore the intersection between the good-faith documentation of sensitive data on human rights violations and data protection and privacy standards. We aim to collaboratively answer the following questions: 1) What data protection standards should apply to gathering and processing such content and how? 2) How can data protection and privacy regulation negatively impact or impede digital evidence gathering and processing? 3) How can sensitive content be archived in challenging political contexts with restricted right to privacy and sophisticated surveillance? The workshop will provide the audience with a short brief on the topic, followed by an interactive exercise simulating both sides of the argument and a guided discussion to share and summarize findings. Organised by Center for European Policy Studies with Cameran Ashraf
May 9, 2025 at 11:52 AM
camerana.bsky.social
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
U.S. attorney for D.C. accuses Wikipedia of ‘propaganda,’ threatens nonprofit status
Ed Martin sent a letter to the Wikimedia Foundation accusing it of spreading propaganda
www.washingtonpost.com
April 26, 2025 at 3:21 AM
camerana.bsky.social
The State Department is changing its mind about what it calls human rights

www.npr.org/2025/04/18/n...
The State Department is changing its mind about what it calls human rights
The agency's annual human rights reports are being purged of references to prison conditions, political corruption and other abuses.
www.npr.org
April 18, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Reposted by Cameran Ashraf, Ph.D.
lokman.org
Hong Kong has been doing a deepdive into authoritarianism for 5 years now. What's happening in the US feels similar. A lot I want to share, but here's a start:

By @ramshajahangir.bsky.social with @nighatdad.bsky.social @camerana.bsky.social @mishi.bsky.social

www.techpolicy.press/what-happens...
What Happens When Democracy Falters? Lessons from The Global Majority | TechPolicy.Press
A confluence of troubling trends is reshaping the landscape of global human rights and democratic governance in the Global Majority, writes Ramsha Jahangir.
www.techpolicy.press
March 4, 2025 at 6:04 AM
camerana.bsky.social
A Powerful Conservative Think Tank Is Targeting One of the Last Good Things on the Internet (hint: it's Wikipedia)

slate.com/technology/2...
A Powerful Conservative Think Tank Is Targeting One of the Last Good Things on the Internet
The Heritage Foundation plans to “identify and target” Wikipedia editors it accuses of antisemitism.
slate.com
February 6, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Reposted by Cameran Ashraf, Ph.D.
foreignaffairs.com
The effects of the Bashar al-Assad regime’s demise will extend far beyond Syria’s borders, write @natashahall.bsky.social and @joosthiltermann.bsky.social. “The end of Assad seems certain to transform the Middle East’s balance of power.”
The Day After Assad
The Syrian dictator’s stunning fall will scramble the balance of power in the Middle East.
www.foreignaffairs.com
December 9, 2024 at 9:59 PM
camerana.bsky.social
Makes you wonder what Khamenei and Iran's elite have in their palaces

www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...
Luxury cars and high-end labels: shocked Syrians roam Assad family residences
Footage shows people looting expensive items after ‘butcher of Damascus’ fled to Moscow with family
www.theguardian.com
December 9, 2024 at 4:56 PM
camerana.bsky.social
What incredible women!

www.ft.com/content/fdbc...
Three Iranian women fighting for artistic freedom
Shirin Neshat, Nazy Nazhand and Sheree Hovsepian’s friendship is seeded in their heritage — and has bloomed through their work
www.ft.com
December 6, 2024 at 11:49 PM
Reposted by Cameran Ashraf, Ph.D.
jwherrman.bsky.social
There are moral and ideological cases for leaving X, of course, but you don't even need them: the old platform is just *gone* and has been for a long time nymag.com/intelligence...
December 5, 2024 at 2:22 PM
camerana.bsky.social
#ArtificialIntelligence #AI

foreignpolicy.com/2024/12/04/t...
Trump Must Rebalance America’s AI Strategy
The Biden administration’s approach was risky and needs to be corrected.
foreignpolicy.com
December 4, 2024 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Cameran Ashraf, Ph.D.
iethics.bsky.social
"... an attacker might interrupt a #ChatGPT session using a... prompt injection of [a filtered name].... The filter also means... it's likely that ChatGPT won't be able to answer questions about this article when browsing the web, such as through ChatGPT with #Search" arstechnica.com/information-...
Certain names make ChatGPT grind to a halt, and we know why
Filter resulting from subject of settled defamation lawsuit could cause trouble down the road.
arstechnica.com
December 2, 2024 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by Cameran Ashraf, Ph.D.
citizenlab.ca
NEW REPORT: We investigate the rising trend of gender-based digital transnational repression by drawing on the lived experiences of 85 women human rights defenders living in exile across the globe.
Read the full report: citizenlab.ca/2024/12/the-...
No Escape: The Weaponization of Gender for the Purposes of Digital Transnational Repression - The Citizen Lab
Building upon our prior research and the contributions of other scholars to this field, the aim of this novel study is to understand the security risks and harms caused by digital transnational repres...
citizenlab.ca
December 2, 2024 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Cameran Ashraf, Ph.D.
sentdefender.extwitter.link
Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi is now in Ankara to talk Syria with his Turkish counterpart. Via Iranian state media.
December 1, 2024 at 10:33 PM
camerana.bsky.social
Lots of rumors of coup in Damascus, #Assad fleeing to Moscow - alongside semi-verified rapid opposition advances - next 24-48 hours will be key as the situation is changing rapidly in #Syria
November 30, 2024 at 6:54 PM
camerana.bsky.social
Great take -
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | I’m done with Democratic purity tests
Seth Moulton challenges Democrats to ignore elites and speak freely.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 29, 2024 at 5:32 PM
camerana.bsky.social
Dozens of Central Asian targets hit in recent Russia-linked cyber-espionage campaign therecord.media/central-asia...

Central Asia is a strategic #cyber "weak underbelly" for Russia - this campaign targeting #humanrights orgs corresponds with offline infiltration and surveillance of the same orgs
Dozens of Central Asian targets hit in recent Russia-linked cyber-espionage campaign
A group labeled TAG-110 by researchers at the Insikt Group used custom malware to spy on organizations primarily in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan since July.
therecord.media
November 22, 2024 at 11:02 PM