Voices under Threat

This page's content represents the Wikimedia Foundation's official position. The Wikimedia Foundation has requested that volunteers not edit it directly and instead make requests for edits on the talk page.

Wikimedia's vision is a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. However, all around the world there are challenging editing environments. In many regions, there are people in power—officially or unofficially—that want to control knowledge. This could – and sometimes does – cause different kinds of problems for Wikimedians who choose to share knowledge freely. As one part of our effort to help in these situations, we have collated links from organizations that can be useful should you wish to contribute from such an environment and encounter challenges.

Supporting people in such situations is difficult. Some relevant advice, like good online security practices, is applicable to everyone. However, some strategies that work for one region may not be advisable for others. Please review the resource closely before using it to make sure it is applicable to your situation—only you can make a decision on the level of risk you are willing to take. Also be aware that some resources may not be updated as often as we would wish them to be.

Please feel free to share the link to this page with anyone who may find it useful.

Note: The Trust and Safety team maintains this page. It appreciates additions to this list. However, we need to vet and research organizations and resources before listing them here. Please add suggestions to the talkpage, and we will review them. Thank you!

First steps towards staying safe online

Risk assessment

• Security plan by the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• A list of personas (fictional profiles of end users) that helps identify risks and challenges for different types of users by USEABLE, an initiative of Internews)

Managing personal information online

• Guide for journalists on how to manage personal data on the internet by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

Safe communication online

• Everyone's Guide to By-Passing Internet Censorship for Citizen's Worldwide by Access Now (from 2015).
• Surveillance Self Defense by the Electronic Frontier Foundation provides tips and tools for safe online communication.
• Security in a box by the Tactical Technology Collective is a toolkit for online security developped for human rights activists in the golbal south.
• Safe Sisters Guide is a guide on digital security developed especially for women in Subsaharan Africa
• Security planner by Citizen Lab provides recommendations on implementing basic online practices and gives advice on where to go for more help.
• Umbrella, an app on digital security by Security First, a private security company
• Do it yourself guide to online safety developed by Chayn, a volunteer driven open source project.

Trainings

• Trainings and Events from the Tactical Technology Collective. The Tactical Technology Collective provides trainings for safe communication online and related events worldwide.
• Safe Sisters provide a fellowship program to train women in Subsaharan Africa in digital security.

Emergency help

• Digital Security Helpline from Access Now
• Digital First Aid Kit by RaReNet (en, fr, esp, pt, ru, and ar)

Device security

• Your smartphone and you handbook by the Freedom of the Press Foundation

Comprehensive resource guides

• The Journalist Security Guide from the Committee to Protect Journalists is a ten part guide covering various aspects of security, including good preparedness, assessing risks, technology security, safety in war zones, corruption, and more. It is available in several languages (en, es, ar, ru, so, fa, pt, zh, tr, my). It had an update on the digital security part on July 2019, see this digital safety kit
• The Online Harassment Field Manual from PEN America is a six part guide for journalists and other writers on how to fight online harassment, including how to prepare, how to respond, how to do self care, legal considerations and more. As is is written for an US-American audience, some parts of it might not apply internationally, but many do.
• Guides and Training from the Freedom of the Press Foundation is a collection of practical information on topics ranging from Two-factor authentication for beginners to an in-depth guide to choosing a web browser. Other topics covered include password security, encryption, VPNs and mobile security.

Funding

Emergency funding

• The Urgent Action Fund provides help for women and transgender human rights defenders, mostly through rapid grants. They have regional branches in
  • Africa
  • Latin America
  • and Asia Pacific
• The Digital Defenders provide emergency grants for human rights defenders, NGOs, activists and bloggers who are facing an urgent digital emergency because of their online activities.

Long-term funding

• the Bassel Khartabil Free Culture Fellowship provides a one year fellowship for the Levant and wider MENA region

Help to find missing persons

• The International Committee of the Red Cross offers help in finding missing persons. The page is available in several languages (ar, de, en, esp, he, id, ja, fra, ko, pt, ru, th, tr, zh).