PHILANTHROPY AND DIGITAL CIVIL SOCIETY: BLUEPRINT 2

infrastructure upon which we communicate,the same rights to privacy and protectionconnect, associate, and organize. Digitalagainst unwarranted search that they wouldsystems and networks underpin all of civilhave of the information on paper in their filesociety today. We have reached the point wherecabinets. EFF’s beginnings were rooted inall of civil society is digital civil society.fighting for the same rights and protectionsin digital space that we have in physical space.CYCLES OF CHANGE AS CIVILThe second phase of digital civil societySOCIETY BECAME DIGITALbegan when we started to take collectiveCivil society's move to digital has been inaction about the regulation of digital systems.process for much longer that just the decadeWe’re now in a third phase, and on the brinksince the Blueprint began.of a fourth. The third phase is the way we areThe earliest manifestations of digital civilsociety took the form of groups of peoplecoming together to share their enthusiasmfor networked technologies, computing,and software. Back in the 1950s peoplecame together to outsmart the telephonecompanies—discovering ways to make freelong distance phone calls by mimicking thefrequency and exact sound that an approvedlong distance code would make when dialedinto the system. These “phone phreaks,” asthey were known, gave rise over the next fourdecades to groups of software developerssharing code, finding ways to govern theinternet (which had no government orcorporate owners), and starting nonprofitgroups to manage and promulgate certainkinds of software and software licenses.The earliest days of digital civil society wereabout groups of people coming togetherto experiment with, manage, debate, andnegotiate over certain kinds of digitaladapting collective action to digital systems.As more and more of the world’s populationhas become digitally dependent, ourassociations and communications have alsochanged. New organizations and associationsare born digital. They often have small staffsbut a global, dispersed membership. Theyraise money online and are sure to “listen” totheir social media channels. The aspiration isto decentralize decision-making, encouragingfar-flung individuals to raise money ontheir own, plan their own events, and tweakthe branding of the movement to fit localneeds. This describes everything from#GivingTuesday to the Sunrise Movement,MoveOn to the Extinction Rebellion, politicalcampaigns to the Digital Public Library ofAmerica. Digital dependencies haven’t madeorganizations irrelevant, but they have madethem operate differently. There are signsthat even the most resistant to change—the centralized, pre-digital civil societysystems. The first phase of digital civilorganizations—are beginning to grapple withsociety was when we took collective actionthe challenges of digital relationships. Staffedwith digital systems.foundations are spending time and moneyIn 1990, a shift occurred. This was the yearthat a group of lawyers and technologists gottogether to fight for civil liberties in whatwas then called “cyberspace.” The ElectronicFrontier Foundation was founded to fighton data governance policies and are thinkingabout the digital security challenges facing theirgrantees. Participatory grantmaking efforts areincreasing, premised in part on decentralizingand diversifying decision makers.against the US government’s overaggressiveThe fourth phase is visible in small ways,approach to fighting “cybercrime.” Thebut has not yet become the norm. We see itEFF argued that, in terms of the digitalin the diverse alliances seeking to addressinformation on their computers, people hadthe discriminatory and rights-violatingPHILANTHROPY AND DIGITAL CIVIL SOCIETY: BLUEPRINT 20207

Collective action on any social issue requiresattention to the ways that digital regulationsinfluence and shape every other policy domain.and legal). Rather than simply jumping onthe bandwagon of new technologies, thisphase considers both the benefits and harmsof digitally dependent organizations andregulations. This phase will be markedeffects of certain technologies. These includethe widespread recognition that everycivil rights groups, civil liberties groups,domain of action in which civil societyracial justice organizations, community andorganizations now work is shaped by digitaleconomic development advocates, disabilityassumptions, products, and laws. Collectiverights groups, transit and environmentalaction on any social issue, in this fourthactivists, and many others. Other examplesphase, requires attention to the ways thatinclude efforts by European and Californiadigital regulations influence and shapeorganizations to expand data and privacyevery other policy domain.protections in their respective jurisdictions.This work brings together domain expertisewith digital expertise (both technologicalAnd these cycles will repeat with eachnew leap in technology. Today’s collectiveactions about artificial intelligence—the groups rising up to understand it,demystify it, and write new laws aboutAI—are similar to their predecessors in the1980s and 1990s who were taking actionto regulate the internet. The technologykeeps changing, our collective responsesfollow in identifiable phases. These cyclesare not linear, evenly distributed, orconsistently paced. Figure One belowshows phases one through threeas they’ve played out in the UnitedStates. The timing and examplesdiffer in other parts of the world.Figure One: Cycles of change in digital civil society8

WHERE WE ARE IN 2020Today, we’re experiencing the shift that Decisions that organizations make aboutnaturally happens when something ceaseshiring staff and selecting board membersto be new and becomes familiar, ceases towith expertise on digital security andbe optional and becomes essential. Not onlydata collection, access, use, storage, andare we dependent on our digital systems,security;our work is shaped by the regulations,motivations, and product design decisions ofthe companies that manufacture and provideour digital tools. Our work is also shaped bythe governmental policies that regulate theway our digital systems work.As civil society is now digital we face newdecisions at every level, from the individualto the organizational, from civil society todemocratic governments: Decisions people make about their own Decisions that nonprofit/philanthropicmanagers make about what information tocollect, hold, or share as well as increasingawareness of data regulations on certainsectors or populations (health, finance,insurance, children); and Decisions that governments make aboutlaws on data rights; regulation of internetplatforms and telecommunicationscompanies; surveillance technologies; civilliberties and human rights. At this level wedigital behavior, including protecting theiralso get considerations of the marketplaceprivacy, being aware of surveillance, orof technologies—what alternative toolsdeciding what is trustworthy informationand products and systems might we want,and what is not;need or develop?PHILANTHROPY AND DIGITAL CIVIL SOCIETY: BLUEPRINT 20209

As 2020 dawns, we are perched at thisas core parts of an organization’stransition from adapting to digital systems toresponsibilities. Effective organizationsassuming them as givens and addressing themwill be those that manage and govern all ofas part and parcel of civil society’s remit.their resources—time, money, staff, data,Here’s a visualization of how this happened,and digital systems—toward mission. Today,drawing from the cycles of change above:technological support and advice, boardgovernance, management or operationstraining, and program development aresiloed—within organizations and fromthe vendors and trainers that serve them.These will be integrated in the years tocome. One example: the Citizen Clinic(a digital security organization at UCBerkeley), the Center for NonprofitManagement (a Los Angeles-based capacitybuilding organization for nonprofits), andCommunity Partners (a fiscal agent andcapacity provider for small associations)are working together, with the Digital CivilSociety Lab at Stanford, to develop andtest integrated approaches to digital andorganizational capacity building.Second, integrated advocacy efforts mustrecognize that civil society today is shapedby laws about digital technologies, and thatthe digital policy agenda is civil society’spolicy agenda. Examples include diverseFigure Two: A brief history of the way civil society became digitalDigital civil society will advance effectivelyin the year(s) ahead if it is marked by collectiveaction in three broad arenas. And since allof civil society (everyone) is now digital civilsociety, the implications and opportunitiespertain to us all.alliances of rights groups fighting againstthe use of facial recognition technologies orfoundations and nonprofits working togetherto support expanded privacy protections forindividuals. Every domain where civil societyis active—from humanitarian aid to healthcare, education to environmental justice,immigration to cultural expression—is beingshaped by digital technologies and the lawsFirst, nonprofit and foundation capacitythat pertain to them. Safe and effectivebuilding efforts must recognize digitalservice delivery and advocacy requiressecurity and data governance issuesunderstanding the ways digital technologiesshape the issues on which you are working.Effective organizations will be thosethat manage and govern all of theirresources—time, money, staff, data, anddigital systems—toward mission.10Third, civil society must create or call fordigital systems that reflect civil society'svalues. There are two global success storieshere—Mozilla with its Firefox browser andOpen Whisper Systems’ Signal, an encrypted

messaging application. Mozilla and OpenWhisper Systems are nonprofits. Firefoxand Signal are globally used, open source,noncommercial products designed in thefirst case to protect access to the internetand in the second case to protect privateconversations. These two successes shouldn’tmask how hard it is to get widespreadadoption of noncommercial alternatives.Civil society must create or call for digitalsystems that reflect civil society's values.The graveyard of failed open source ornonproprietary digital tools is crowded,but efforts to build and use independentinformation tools and digital technologycontinue. As proprietary software makerscontinue to push everyone onto commercialclouds (read: commercially owned andmonitored servers) efforts to create viable,sustainable, easy-to-use alternatives becomeever more necessary. Pressure is buildingfor companies to build more appropriatetools. Expect an “impact investing-like"effort to emerge, in which investors pressurecompanies to build and sell more privacyprotecting technology. Early evidence canbe found in Ranking Digital Rights, theOmidyar Network’s Race to the Top, andthe Investors Alliance for Human Rights.PHILANTHROPY AND DIGITAL CIVIL SOCIETY: BLUEPRINT 202011

WE NEED NEWOPEN SYSTEMSHarry Potter fans know that Platform 9 3/4 Ubiquitous surveillance cameras in publicat King's Cross Station is where you go to bespaces and your home “security” system;transported from the regular world to thewizarding world. I’m a bit old to be makingsuch literary references, but the train platformis an apt metaphor for what I want to discusshere. Simply put, philanthropy and civilsociety need to address the current ways inwhich people interact with digital systems,not the old-fashioned concept of going online.Today’s truth is we go back and forth fromphysical to digital (or wizard to muggle world,in Potter parlance) all day, every day. And weneed digital civil society and philanthropy tounderstand just how tied together the physical Government and/or workplace-requiredID cards, numbers, badges, licenses,passports; Any DNA genealogical service you or afamily member has used; Credit card or payment apps, and Any installed workplace monitoringsoftware you are forced to use (e.g.,time clocks, keyboard trackers, remotecomputer controls).and digital are, and how our human rights andThe number of such digital surveillanceassociational opportunities are implicated byportals increase dramatically for peopleseveral new “platforms” connecting the two.of color and marginalized communitiesPeople who came to the internet via desktopcomputers and web browsers may still thinkthey are in control of when they “go online.”This quaint belief may lead them to think theyare in control of when they generate digitaldata. This is no longer true. Here’s a list oftoday’s “doors” between physical and digital: Building sensors(e.g., the ID badge in your pocket);(see the videos/readings from the Color ofSurveillance conference for more examples).We are almost always slipping back and forthbetween digital and physical spaces. Most ofus are digitally connected more than we areoffline. Going offline takes conscious action;being tracked is the norm.Going offline takes consciousaction; being tracked is the norm. Commuter transponders(e.g., in your car or your train/bus card); Constant communication between yourcell phone and communication towers; 12We need to recognize that each of the manysystems that tie our physical selves to ourdigital twins is a commercially controlled,surveilled portal. In the 1990s Mozilla wasAny form of “smart” device you mightcreated to prevent Microsoft from “owning”wear on your wrist or have installed inthe browser space. It was a community andyour home (e.g. thermostat, television,technology effort to ensure that one companydoorbell, voice-activated anything);didn’t control what was then the front door

to the internet. The ensuing “browser” warsIn such a world, our 30-year-old notionswere about making sure that there were lotsof consent, privacy, control, access, andof ways to get online and that, at least onenetworks of relationships don’t help us. Webrowser (Mozilla's Firefox), was open source.in philanthropy and digital civil societyneed research, civic action, law, andWe need to recognize that each of thetechnology that understand andmany systems that tie our physical selves protect the rights of all humans in thedigital/physical world we’ve createdto our digital twins is a commerciallyfor ourselves. Today, we go back andcontrolled, surveilled portal.forth through Platform 9 3/4 multipleToday, there are many such “doors” betweenphysical and digital. Four of these areparticularly important for digital civilsociety and philanthropy: Voice-activated systems, Digital money, Genetic testing, andtimes every day. We need community-basedinnovation focused on security, privacy,and decentralized governance to keep theportals between the physical and the digitalsafe for civil society. Open systems—thosethat can be used, added to, audited, tweaked,and repurposed by members of the public,and that are not locked down as corporateproperty—enable this innovation. Digital ID systems.If there’s an “always on” listening devicein your house, all visitors will be heard. Ifpayment is only possible via credit card orphone app, many of us can’t shop not becausewe don’t have money but because we don’thave the “required” digital version of it. If anyof my blood relatives submits their DNA to agenealogy service, I’m implicated. As nationaldatabases of people’s biometric identitiesgrow, they will be hacked, abused, and usedto discriminate and oppress.PHILANTHROPY AND DIGITAL CIVIL SOCIETY: BLUEPRINT 202013

LARGER, CONTEXTUALSHIFTS SHAPINGDIGITAL CIVIL SOCIETYAND PHILANTHROPYThe first section of this Blueprint is meantas the transitions become unavoidable.to position digital civil society as the frameThe fingerprints of the climate crisis arewithin which we consider other importantfound all over political battles on issues thatshifts. It’s the space we occupy and the groundinitially seem unrelated, from immigrationfrom which we take action. All around us areto executive power, human rights to states’important shifts that are both the focus ofrights’, national sovereignty to internationalour actions and the forces changing how wealliances. Reducing the severity of thework. Here are a few of them.climate catastrophe and adapting to itsinevitable changes require direct actionfrom governments, corporations, and civilCLIMATE CRISISWe know what happens when we ignorethe warning signs of change. The climatecrisis is now the biggest and mostexistential threat to humanity sincewe first unlocked the power ofnuclear weapons. Many people findthemselves ruefully rememberingturn contribute to the reshaping of each ofthese sectors.Around the world, people in deep povertyand those on threatened landscapes areleading calls for the biggest changes.the first warnings from climatescientists, almost fifty years ago. Others,especially younger people who’ve come ofage experiencing ever more uncertainty,are putting their all into calls for differenteconomic systems, different political priorities,and less extractive lifestyles as ways to savethe planet. They are acting as if their very livesdepend on these changes. As they do.And their opponents, who have distracted,14society. And, the ecological effects will inOne way the climate crisis is shifting civilsociety is by centering communities that havelong been ignored, marginalized, and worse.As is so often the case, demands for justice arebeing led by the poor and most vulnerable.Around the world, people in deep poverty andthose on threatened landscapes are leadingcalls for the biggest changes. Women, peopleof color, poor coastal communities, and youngpeople are leading efforts from the Sunriseobfuscated, denied, and confused theMovement to the Extinction Rebellion topresentation of the science and have delayedClimate Strikes. They are pressing nationaland undermined previous efforts to addressgovernments and international bodies tothis collective crisis, will fight even harderrescue entire island populat

PHILANTHROPY AND DIGITAL CIVIL SOCIETY: BLUEPRINT 2020 3 INTRODUCTION This is the eleventh annual Blueprint. The second decade of the series. It’s time to try something new. Just as the first Blueprint was an experiment, so is this one. I’ve changed the format. What you’ll find are five short essays.