Persian history is long, but the past century in Iran has seen almost a constant struggle for human rights, equality, dignity, and freedom. To understand what it is like to live and grow up in Iran, we sat down with Amir Soltani, author of the graphic novel Zahra's Paradise. Purchase a copy of Zahra's Paradise here. See the archived Vote4Zahra campaign website here. Read more from Amir on Zahra's Paradise for Amnesty International here. Read coverage about Zahra's virtual run for the presidency of Iran here, here, and here. Read more about Yousef and Farhad, Amir and Khalil's second graphic novel on the LGBT community in Iran, here. Send us your feedback on Twitter or join our community on Flick Chat!

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Amir Soltani: Finding Zahra's Paradise in Iran

In the next season of Dot Citizen, we're diving into human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. With the 2009 Green Revolution, Iranians paved the way for a new world of technology, activism, and protest. At the time, it seemed as if it was a sign technology would bring a new flourishing of human rights. But since then, we've seen how technology has been increasingly used by governments to circumvent and limit human rights. No more so than in Iran. Chrisella Herzog and Zachary Stickney introduce the season by discussing their background with Iran issues, and how they both came to be interested in the topic. Then they introduce our interviewees this season. Send us your feedback on Twitter or join our community on Flick Chat!

The Iran and Human Rights Season: Introduction

Dot Citizen is back, and this week is a special Book Chat episode! We're discussing Virginia Eubank's book: Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor. A book that is as much a work of searing investigative journalism as it is brilliant political analysis, Automating Inequality examines how our attempts to engineer away human biases are creating a new "digital poorhouse." Zach and Chrisella talk about the points from the book that stuck with them, the questions it raised, and the ethics of technology automation in a world of systemic inequalities. We want to hear your thoughts! Send us your feedback on Twitter or join our community on Flick Chat!

Book Chat: "Automating Inequality" by Virginia Eubanks

In the finale episode of Dot Citizen's first mini-series, Chrisella and Zach reflect on the main points and takeaways from the interviews throughout the series.  Stay tuned for our next series on tech + human rights in Iran! Send us your feedback on Twitter or Voxer!

The Election Security Season: Closing Thoughts

In the fourth episode of Dot Citizen's Election Security season, we sit down with Harri Hursti, founding partner at Nordic Innovation Labs and co-founder of the DEF CON Voting Machine Hacking Village. DEF CON is one of the world's largest hacker conventions, and after the 2016 elections, they announced that their 2017 conference would include a Voting Machine Hacking Village for attendees to explore and hack voting and election machines. Since then, their work has done a great deal to bring attention to vulnerabilities in our elections infrastructure.  Harri Hursti's biography DEF CON 25 Voting Village 2017 Report (PDF) DEF CON 26 Voting Village 2018 Report (PDF) WhiteHat Magazine: The Race to Secure American Infrastructure Send us your feedback on Twitter or Voxer!

Harri Hursti: A Hacker's Look at Election Infrastructure

In the third episode of Dot Citizen's Election Security season, we sit down with Shannon McGregor, Associate Professor in Communications at the University of Utah. Facebook's role in the 2016 election has drawn a great deal of scrutiny, and the role of technology firms in shaping political communication is the subject of some of Shannon's most recent research. Shannon talks to us about the nature of political communication in a social media era, and discusses what we know (and don't know) about the role of the tech giants in our democratic process. Find out more about Shannon McGregor and her research here. Send us your feedback on Twitter or Voxer!

Shannon McGregor: Technology in Political Communication

In the second episode of Dot Citizen, we speak with HE Valeriy Chaly, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States. Ukraine has been the target of a sustained, scored-earth cyberwar from Russia since 2015. Almost every sector of Ukraine's economy and government have been hacked, as Ukraine is used as a testing ground for Russia's technical capabilities and international red lines in a new era of hybrid war. Send us your feedback on Twitter or Voxer!

H.E. Valeriy Chaly, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States

In the first season of Dot Citizen, we are taking a look at election security as the 2018 midterms close in. Just a few weeks before the election, the U.S. Department of Justice accused Russia of continuing to interfere in American elections and indicted a St. Petersburg woman for her role in the multi-million dollar operation. Clearly, our elections are not yet secure. So how should we think about election security moving forward? Chrisella Herzog and Zachary Stickney introduce the season by 1) telling you to go vote first; and 2) discussing the framework of the topics that we'll be covering in this season. Send us your feedback on Twitter or Voxer!

The Election Security Season: Introduction

Introducing Dot Citizen, a podcast exploring the intersection of technology, politics, and human rights. 

Introducing Dot Citizen

Dot Citizen examines the intersection of technology, politics, and human rights. Technology changes are causing disruption globally, and we're on a journey to explore what those changes mean to the lives of people living through it. Each mini series takes a deep dive into a different facet of technological disruption.

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Dot Citizen

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