2026-06-14 –, Hauptbühne (Saal 1)
This keynote is a personal reflection on what privacy means in practice for people living under surveillance, censorship, conflict, and political repression.
Drawing from over fifteen years of work supporting civil society organizations, journalists, activists, and communities at risk across Africa, Southwest Asia, and other regions, the talk will explore how privacy moves beyond an individual right and becomes a condition for participation, safety, dignity, and democratic life.
Rather than focusing primarily on technical solutions, the keynote will examine privacy through lived experience and the consequences of its absence.
Ramy Raoof Halim is a renowned technologist, security researcher and advisor who works with human-rights defenders, activists communities, and journalists in high-risk environments worldwide. Over the last 15 years, he has contributed to numerous high-profile investigations of state-sponsored surveillance, cyberattacks, and censorship in different regions, as well as to civic litigation to hold governments, tech and telecom companies to account. Ramy has worked on digital security, threat research, and infrastructure resilience on behalf of organizations including the European Union, Open Technology Fund, Amnesty International, Citizen Lab, Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. He also served on the board of the Tor Project from 2017-2021. He is currently a fellow with Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) focusing on surveillance and technology in the MENA region, examining how emerging technologies, spyware, and digital repression enable human rights abuses. His contributions have been internationally recognized, including with the 2023 Burke Distinguished Journalism Award, the 2017 Heroes of Human Rights and Communications Surveillance Award from Access Now, and the Deutsche Welle Bobs Award in 2016. He was named among the World Top 100 Info Security Influencers in 2016 by CISO Platform in India, and was featured in Newsweek’s Digital Power Index in 2012.