Civic Tech Field Guide
Sharing knowledge and productively growing the fieldAdjacent Fields > Digital security and privacy - (201)
People will not (and should not) use tech that's untrustworthy. Too many tech projects, including civic tech projects, have abused user privacy and/or failed users in providing a secure user experience. Anyone advocating for increasing digitization of government, social benefits, or public conversation should invest in strong digital security and privacy-respecting approach from the onset and on an ongoing basis, as this area evolves rapidly.
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The Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) is a free software project that aims to empower decentralized efforts in increasing transparency of internet censorship around the world. You can run OONI Probe to collect evidence of internet censorship.
Fundación Karisma
Transversal 22a #59-44, Bogotá, Bogota, ColombiaOrganización de la sociedad civil que trabaja en la promoción de los derechos humanos en el mundo digital
Digital Attack Map
New York, NYDigital Attack Map visualizes the most powerful DDoS attacks happening in the world right now
Calyx Institute
Brooklyn, NYOur mission is to educate the public about privacy in digital communications and to develop tools that anyone can use. By embracing "privacy by design," we help make digital security and privacy more accessible to everyone.
Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor, by Virginia Eubanks
A powerful investigative look at data-based discrimination—and how technology affects civil and human rights and economic equity
Secure messaging, anywhere
ICRC Rules on Personal Data Protection
Avenue de la Paix 19, 1202 Geneva, SwitzerlandThe ICRC responds quickly and efficiently to help people affected by armed conflict. We also respond to disasters in conflict zones, because the effects of a disaster are compounded if a country is already at war.
Guide to organizational security
The Engine Room, Albany Street, London, UK
SAFETAG adapts traditional penetration testing and risk assessment methodologies to be relevant to smaller non-profit organizations.
Digital Defense Fund
United States of America (the)We are Digital Defense Fund, and we do digital security for the abortion access movement.
The aim of this document is to provide a running record of ‘data harms’, harms that have been caused by uses of big data. The goal is to document and learn from where things have gone wrong.
We support Human Rights Defenders facing digital threats and work to strengthen local rapid response networks.
Cities Coalition for Digital Rights
United Nations Avenue Nairobi, Kenya 00100We, the undersigned cities, formally come together to form the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights, to protect and uphold human rights on the internet at the local and global level.
eclips.is is a free, lightweight platform where you can launch your (virtual) servers. It is funded by Open Technology Fund (OTF) to facilitate an easy accessible cloud infrastructure.
Cloudflare for Campaigns
101 Townsend St San Francisco, CA 94107It is designed to make it easier for all political campaigns and parties, especially those with small teams and limited resources, to get access to cybersecurity services.
Civic Data Privacy Leaders Network
MetroLab Network, 777 6th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20001, USAA collaborative that will provide an active, authoritative resource for municipal leaders to navigate emerging privacy issues, share practical guidance, and promote fair and transparent data practices
Defend Our Movements is a web based clearinghouse of the most up-to-date and useful information about protecting your devices and data—whether on the Internet, through cell phone communications, or in your home or office.
In partnerships with local and international organisations, each GTI has further developed specific facilitation methodologies and training contents addressing the risks, attacks and contexts faced by activist women in the region.
Berkeley Institute for Free Speech Online
Berkeley, California, USAWe provide software that ensures free speech online
Defend yourself against tracking and surveillance. Circumvent censorship.
Intra
New York, NYIntra is an Android app that protects against DNS manipulation, making it easy to access blocked websites and apps and get safer access to the internet.
Project Galileo
101 Townsend St San Francisco, CA 94107If you are an organization working in the arts, human rights, civil society, journalism, or democracy, you can apply for Project Galileo to get Cloudflare’s cybersecurity protection
SecureDrop is an open-source whistleblower submission system that media organizations can use to securely accept documents from and communicate with anonymous sources.
European Digital Rights (EDRi)
Brussels, BelgiumEuropean Digital Rights (EDRi) is an association of civil and human rights organisations from across Europe. We defend rights and freedoms in the digital environment.
Community Lab at Open Tech Fund
2025 M Street Northwest, Downtown, Washington, DC 20036, USAThe Community Lab provides services that empower the community to become stronger and vibrant by focusing on cultivating deeper trust relationships, improving knowledge share and collaboration, and supporting and diversifying the next generation of leaders.
Tella
Washington, DCTella is a secure documentation app for Android, making it easier and safer to produce verifiable evidence and collect data in challenging environments
The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto
Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Devonshire Place, Toronto, ON, CanadaThe Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto, focusing on research, development, and high-level strategic policy and legal engagement at the intersection of information and communication technologies, human rights, and global security.
Psiphon is a free and open-source internet censorship circumvention tool that uses a combination of secure communication and obfuscation technologies, providing open access to the internet for millions of citizens around the world.
Jigsaw
New York, NYHow can technology make people in the world safer?
Open Tech Fund
2025 M Street Northwest, Downtown, Washington, DC 20036, USASUPPORTING INTERNET FREEDOM WORLDWIDE Without Fear of Repressive Censorship or Surveillance.
Protecting democratic elections through secure, verifiable voting
Who Targets Me
LondonDid Facebook ads win the presidency for Donald Trump? Did they cause Brexit? Are they changing the way democracy works? Install Who Targets Me to find out who’s using Facebook ads to win your vote – and how they’re doing it.
Transformative Cyber Innovation Lab
Washington, DCThe Transformative Cyber Innovation Lab (TCIL or Lab) will find and nurture technologically feasible, testable pilot projects which begin to solve some of the hardest cyber problems afflicting the national security industrial base and our country.
Enjambre
MexicoWe are an organization that defends and promotes Internet freedom, through concrete actions of research, dissemination and defense in cases where there is a violation of digital rights.
Totem is an online learning platform on using digital security tools and tactics effectively for journalists, activists, and trainers.
HuriDocs
Geneva, SwitzerlandHuman rights defenders need evidence, law and research to advocate justice and accountability. We develop tools and strategies that make this information accessible.
The free and simple tool that enables civil society organizations to build better security policies.
The Kit offers a set of self-diagnostic tools for human rights defenders, bloggers, activists and journalists facing attacks themselves, as well as providing guidelines for digital first responders to assist a person under threat.
An online forum for community discussion
La Asociación de Tecnología, Educación, Desarrollo, Investigación, Comunicación (TEDIC)
Padre Cardozo 719 c/ Teniente Ruiz, Las Mercedes, AsunciónDesarrollamos tecnología cívica abierta: Promovemos el uso y desarrollo de software y hardware libre, diseño abierto y datos abiertos. Our mission is to promote the principles of a free culture and defend civil rights on the Internet, fostering spaces for interaction and exchange of knowledge and developing Web tools with open code and design, supported by an alternative and innovative communication and advocacy work.
CryptoHarlem
Harlem, Manhattan, New York, NY, USACryptoHarlem is a Digital Surveillance Clinic that has been meeting on a monthly basis since 2013 in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. It is always open to the public and completely free of charge.
NYC Libraries Digital Safety program
New York Public Library - Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, 5th Avenue, New York, NY, USANYC Digital Safety: Privacy & Security is a partnership between New York City’s three library systems and METRO, a library resources council serving NYC and Westchester County. With support from the City of New York Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, the project will ensure that NYC residents can rely on public libraries for their questions about internet privacy and security.
PersonalData.IO
Impact Hub Geneva, Rue Fendt, Geneva, SwitzerlandA collaborative tool to display data records on a map. Your data, Your control, Your options
MIT Privacy Legislation: Law and Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)This course brings together engineering students from MIT with law students from Georgetown Law School to explore current issues in privacy policy and technology.
Internet Freedom Festival
Las Naves, Carrer de Joan Verdeguer, València, SpainAn un-conference, one of the leading gatherings in the space, that brought together close to 1,000 attendees from 132 countries in 2018.
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Civic Tech Field Guide