UpVote 12: tech and human rights in Turkey

Amnesty International’s tech adviser, Tanya O’Carroll, tells us about the crackdown in Turkey and what it means for the UK

On UpVote this week we discuss Turkey’s deepening crackdown against critics of the Erdogan regime, which recently imprisoned IT trainers who were teaching citizens how to secure their digital communications.

We’re joined by Amnesty International’s tech adviser, Tanya O’Carroll, to work out why the net has widened to include tech experts who help human rights’ advocates stay safe in a country that is increasingly and chillingly hostile to freedom of speech, following a failed coup to topple Erdogan in 2016.

End-to-end encryption isn’t only perceived as a threat to oppressive regimes, however. This week, the UK’s Home Secretary Amber Rudd once again pushed tech firms such as Facebook and Google to do more to prevent terrorists from using their services. Rudd claimed “real people” don’t care about an app’s security. Is she sure about that?

UpVote is a WIRED and Ars Technica UK co-production hosted by Rowland Manthorpe and Kelly Fiveash.

This episode was recorded on Wednesday, August 2.

This article was originally published by WIRED UK