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RightsCon is an annual human rights conference, run by Access Now Alaa attended the first ever RightsCon in October 2011 Every year Access Now honour his work In 2017, he was able to write a letter to the conference   To RightsCon,   This week I start my fourth year in prison I might be released in October, if my appeal is accepted But then I might not I might be released in March 2019, when I have served my full sentence But then I might not They have other pending cases against me If released, I might be able to attend this conference, but then I might not: my sentence comes with five years of parole to follow, and who knows if you’ll be able to find a conference venue in a country that gives visas to people like me by the time I am allowed to travel   I don’t mean to be too pessimistic; the best-case scenario is as probable as the worst The real problem is there’s very little you can do to influence which will come to pass   But that’s not really what worries me We live in hugely reactionary times My defeat was inevitable   What worries me is that by the time I manage to make it to this conference, or another like it, I will be a total embarrassment to organizers and attendees In my isolation I can only build a fragmented picture of what the world outside looks like And when it comes to tech that picture is solely based on which views and actions of governments and giant tech companies manage to filter through state-controlled media Not what people and communities are doing and saying   You wouldn’t enjoy watching a Luddite ramble on about a terrifying dystopia in which labour rights are trampled by startups that don’t even plan to make a profit (or pay taxes) but are somehow able to raise enough capital to flood markets, overwhelm regulators, influence policy, litigate perpetually and still have enough left to spend on PR that spins all this as the glorious disruptive effect of the gig economy A dystopia in which