The DSA as a tool in the fight against gender-based violence

  • Panel
  • Grande Halle
  • Wednesday 21.05 — 14:15 - 15:30

Organising Institution

LSTS

Belgium

The interdisciplinary Research Group on Law, Science, Technology & Society (LSTS) is a Large Research Group at the Faculty of Law & Criminology of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) focusing on the articulations of law, science, technology, ethics and society.
  • Academic 2
  • Business 1
  • Policy 3
Gender-based violence keeps being a major problem online, with serious implications for our rights and freedoms. The Digital Services Act (DSA) was supposed to contribute to progress in this area, notably by obliging providers of very large online platforms and of very large online search engines to consider and act upon the possible systemic risk of negative effects in relation to gender-based violence. How is this working in practice, if it is? This panel, exploring developments in Europe but also other experiences and perspectives, will notably discuss:

Questions to be answered

  1. Is the DSA making a difference already?
  2. What can or must be done to get there?
  3. Are all forms of gender-based violence being adequately captured?
  4. Which other approaches and initiatives might be needed, and what can we learn from experiences outside of Europe?

Moderator

Gloria GONZÁLEZ FUSTER

LSTS/VUB - Belgium

Prof. Dr. Gloria González Fuster is a Research Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)’s Faculty of Law and Criminology, and the Director of the Law, Science, Technology and Society (LSTS) Large Research Group. She holds a research position on ‘Digitalisation & a Europe of rights and freedoms’, and teaches privacy and data protection law. She is also a Professorial Fellow at the United Nations University – Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS)

Speaker

Asha Allen

Centre for Democracy and Technology Europe - International

Speaker

Elisabetta Stringhi

Università degli Studi di Milano - Italy

Elisabetta Stringhi is currently employed at the Italian Data Protection Authority. She is a former lawyer specializing in privacy, data protection, IT, IP and consumer law. She is also a research fellow at the Information Society Law Center at the Milan “La Statale” University and a teacher of many courses at several First and Second Level Master programmes. She is the author of numerous scientific papers on data protection, AI and IT law, and has spoken at various conferences and advanced training programmes.

Speaker

Aleksandra Kuczerawy

KU Leuven - Belgium

Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Kuczerawy is an Assistant Professor of ICT law at the KU Leuven Center for IT & IP law. Her research focus is on fundamental rights online with particular attention to freedom of expression, platform regulation, moderation of illegal and harmful content, disinformation and Artificial Intelligence. She is a lecturer in media law and AI ethics and regulation at the KU Leuven. Aleksandra is the author of the book “Intermediary Liability and Freedom of Expression in the EU: from concepts to safeguards”.

Speaker

Farieha Aziz

Bolo Bhi - Pakistan

Farieha Aziz is a Karachi-based APNS-awardwinning journalist. She is a co-founder of Bolo Bhi, a digital rights and civil liberties group. She currently hosts her own podcast on Dawn News English called the DigiPod, on developments in tech and on digital policy and law, including gender and safety. She regularly conducts awareness training on digital safety, the cybercrime law and anti-harassment policies. She also provides assistance to women seeking legal recourse against harassment and gender-based violence, offline and online. In 2015, she led the campaign to stop the government of Pakistan from enacting the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016, and worked with other rights groups, business associations, legislators in the National Assembly and Senate, and the Standing Committees on IT of both Houses, to highlight the detrimental impact it would have on civil liberties – particularly speech and privacy. Since the passage of the law, through public seminars and trainings, articles and policy briefs, briefings and presentations before parliamentary committees, public interest litigation and assistance to the court as an amicus curiae, she regularly raises issues regarding the implementation of the cybercrime law – especially the misuse of the law and excesses by the investigation agency.