Welcome to the SIF21 Security and Privacy page. Here, you will find information about various safety, privacy and security aspects related to this forum.

The ongoing pandemic has affected  us in many ways, including an increasing reliance on the Internet and digital technologies for connecting to loved ones, finding timely and important information, and collaborating and continuing our work.

Safety and privacy considerations

Gathering virtually means reaching each other through the Internet. It is important to remember that for some participants connecting to the Forum from where they are poses risks and can be even dangerous.
Therefore, it is important for all of us to take care in ensuring our own and each other’s safety, privacy and security online.

Your own safety and privacy considerations

It is a good reminder to be aware of our own risks and take appropriate actions. This includes:

  • HOW  you wish to communicate about participating in SIF in the run-up to the Forum.
  • HOW and from WHERE you connect and participate in the Forum.
  • How the content of the Forum is shared, both within the Forum, and broadly with the general public.

If you are curious or have questions about ways you can improve your own understanding and capacity to be safe and secure online, we encourage you to drop by the Community Digital Safety Clinic, and talk with one of our digital security helpdesk professionals.

Privacy and safety of other participants

During the Forum itself, we should also be sensitive to the varying contexts and situations of others in the Forum during our interactions, and take care to ensure their privacy and safety online is maintained according to their needs, not according to our own needs.

Courtesy items to note include:

  • Avoiding capture of images, text or voices of others during a session or in the Forum
  • Asking for explicit consent before quoting or mentioning other participants in social media, or anywhere outside the Forum environment
  • Engaging in respectful and constructive dialog with others during the Forum

These are among some of the precautions that are written in the Code of Conduct  that governs this and other aspects of participation in SIF, which you can explore further here.

Technical infrastructure

A note on SIF21’s Technical infrastructure

SIF21 will be held virtually using a software platform called Hopin. This tool was selected after investigating over 30 various proprietary software vendors. Hopin ranked the highest among those evaluated for providing the services we needed, while adhering to security and data protection regulations regarding any data the platform collects, uses, and retains related to the event.

About Trusted infrastructure

While we are confident about the efficacy, privacy, and security of the SIF21 technical platform, it is important to be transparent about the realities of using the Internet and proprietary software to convene, connect, and exchange ideas. The information we share (data) or the information about us (metadata) is being transmitted through (and used by) the Internet and various tools we use (e.g. browsers) as well as the technical platforms such as Hopin.

Additional Precautions

Being cognizant of participants’ diverse risk profiles and potential conversations needing an even more private way of convening, we have reached out to our trust network of partners (APC, OurVoices) to implement and provide an alternative platform for communications (including chat and videoconferencing) based on open-source software, with specific configurations not to retain any data or metadata.

This will enable a ‘more private’ setting for needed smaller interactions, such as conversations participants may wish to have with the Security Clinic colleagues, or smaller sessions which are sensitive in nature.

Privacy of interaction

Visibility of Forum activities to public

The events at the forum have varying levels of visibility to participants as well as to public at large. Below describes various ‘modes of privacy’ for different parts of the forum. They are arranged from most public to most private.

Not limited to SIF participants:

  • Open sessions where general public is able to follow the proceedings live as they happen (e.g. Opening remarks)
  • Sessions that are recorded and are publicized afterwards on the YouTube channel

Limited to registered participants:

  • Sessions that are NOT recorded.
  • Chats and ad-hoc group discussions on HOPIN platform
  • Chats with Security Clinic staff on the alternative platform
  • Ad-hoc group discussions and sessions by request on the alternative platform

For the sake of participant awareness, sessions that are recorded will show a red sticker on the thumbnail that indicates ‘Will be recorded’. All other sessions are considered closed and not recorded.

Privacy policies: If interested, you can also read the privacy policy of both Sida, as well as the technical platform for SIF here:

Sida’s Privacy Notice | Sida

Hopin Privacy Policy | Hopin