- Use Video and Technology for the Defense of Earth and Indigenous Peoples Indigenous communities and broader climate justice movements have long been confronting capitalism, colonialism, white supremacy, and related forces of exploitation and destruction. Indigenous-led resistance to these threats has woven ancestral wisdom with emerging tools and tactics– including audiovisual technology. Visuals evincing the deterioration of the planet have strengthened demands for urgent, globally coordinated responses to […]
- Introducing { Latent Space } – a technology newsletter from WITNESS —August 2020 Technology touches all of our lives, so it touches all of the work we do at WITNESS. But there are some areas of technology more than others that are focal points for our Emerging Threats and Opportunities and Tech + Advocacy programs. We’re in the vanguard of conversations on artificial intelligence and synthetic […]
- Virtual Dinner Guest Project Connects Gaza and Native American Communities Using Video Technology Lindsie Bear sheds light on her experience connecting a group of Native American participants with a group from Gaza to discuss daily life and the issues faced in each community as part of The Virtual Dinner Guest Project.
- Lessons from RightsCon: Human Rights and Technology Leading human rights experts, investors, corporate leaders, engineers, activists, and government representatives came together to tackle some of the toughest human rights challenges in tech today.
- WITNESS at SXSW 2014: Talking Media, Mobile, Technology and Human Rights Details for the two panels WITNESS is participating in and our suggestions a few more to check out at this year's conference.
- Tactical and Technological Defences For Facial Recognition Technology In my last post I looked at how facial recognition technology (FRT) works, how it's now in our phones, social networks and media management, and how legislators and regulators are reacting to this. But it's also increasingly used by law enforcement and for surveillance of "public" spaces.
- WITNESS, Technology and #Video4Change at #SXSW WITNESS is at #SXSWInteractive, one of the world's largest conferences focused on interactive technologies and online innovation.
- The Ethics of Face Recognition Technology At SXSW next week, WITNESS is running a workshop on the ethics of facial recognition. It’s an issue we've talked about before – most recently in the Cameras Everywhere report, and with the ObscuraCam Android app.
- Setting a Global Standard for Human Rights and Technology Companies In a world with more than five billion mobile phone subscribers and where 48 hours of video footage is being uploaded to YouTube every minute, the challenges navigating the nexus of human rights and technology are too complicated for any single company or human rights activist to manage on their own.
- How Funders Can Support Technology for Human Rights and the Activists Using It Sameer Padania, the lead author/researcher of our "Cameras Everywhere" report spoke recently at "The Power of Information" conference in London, organized by the Indigo Trust, the Institute for Philanthropy and the Omidyar Network.
- It’s our defining moment: NOI Online organizing/ technology conference Some big ideas I’m just back from the New Organizing Institute’s training for progressive non profits “Online Organizing and Technology for Nonprofits”. Kudos to the team at NOI, specifically Rosalyn Lemieux and Heather Cronk, who kept the show on the road (& on time 99% of the time- a first for any conference I’ve attended) […]
- MySpace’s Video Filtering Technology While researching possible options for video filtering technology for the Hub, we came across some stuff about Audible Magic, a company that was developing a way to filter for copyrighted material. It appears that MySpace is going to use this technology for their videos. It will be interesting to see how well it works. In […]
- HRW’s essay: Technology as a Restraint: Internet Censorship and Surveillance If you have been following the developments of the Hub (no longer Video Hub) over the past months, you will know that safety and security of users and the people portrayed in the media is a very big concern of ours. It is one of the main reasons if not THE reason why we did […]
- Video as Evidence in West Papua: A Double-Edged Sword and Why Community Voices Matter On October 17, 2024, WITNESS hosted a webinar, "Human Rights Video Archiving: Paradox and Impunity in West Papua" exploring the challenges of using video evidence in the fight for human rights justice in Papua. The discussion covered how video documentation, despite its powerful potential, often faces manipulation, impunity, and digital security risks. Featuring activists like Bernard Koten and Raka Sudisman, the webinar highlighted the importance of community-led documentation, secure archiving, and ongoing solidarity for justice
- Toward Equitable and Effective AI Detection Tools: A Call for Standards That Serve All Communities Written by shirin anlen As generative AI technology evolves, so do the tools designed to detect it. Yet, in the race to develop high-performing detection systems, a critical element risks being overlooked. Effectiveness is often measured through technical benchmarks: accuracy, speed, scalability, and versatility. While these metrics are important, they fail to capture the full […]
