April 4, 2008
Mobile Phones, Human Rights and Anonymity
I've been playing around with my new Nokia N95 for the last couple of weeks and quite amazed with its ability to stream live video from the phone to the Internet. Like last weekend when I streamed from the Smithsonian Kite Festival; for around 30 minutes I gave a tour of the festivities and took questions from users as they watched the stream over the Internet.
I've also spent some time talking it up with colleagues at NPR, brainstorming the possibilities of what would happen if reporters used these phones - or if their sources did. The example that keeps coming to mind regarding the latter scenario is the rioting in Tibet. While some video has leaked out, it's been limited and often delayed. Imagine if the protestors were able to webcast their protests - and the ensuing crackdowns - live over their phones using China's GSM network? The video would stream live and get crossposted via tools like YouTube, Seesmic and Twitter, spreading the content around so it can't be snuffed.
But that raises an obvious question - how long could protestors or dissidents get away with such activities before getting caught? If you were running software on your phone to send live video over a 3G network, like I've been doing on my N95, you'd think it wouldn't take too much effort on the part of the mobile provider and/or government to figure out which phone was sending the signal and its precise location.
So that got me wondering: is there a mobile equivalent of Tor?
For those of you who aren't familiar with it, TOR is a software project that helps Internet users remain anonymous. Running the TOR software on your computer causes your online communications to bounce through a random series of relay servers around the world. That way, there's no easy way for authorities to track you or observe who's visiting banned websites. For example, let's say you're in Beijing and you publish a blog the authorities don't like. If you just used your PC as usual and logged into your publishing platform directly, they could follow your activities and track you down. With Tor, you hop-scotch around: your PC might connect to a server in Oslo, then Buenos Aires, then Miami, then Tokyo, then Greece before it finally connects to your blogging platform. Each time you did this, it would be a different series of servers. That way, it's really difficult for authorities to trace your steps.
As dissidents and protestors embrace mobile devices for conducting civil disobedience or recording human rights violations, it would make sense for Tor and projects like it to adapt to their needs. That way, if that hypothetical protestor in Lhasa tried to stream live video over Qik, post a photo to Flickr or record a mobcast via over Utterz, they'd lessen the chance of getting caught so easily.
Does anyone know if there's a mobile equivalent of Tor, relaying voice connections or data from one network to another, anonymizing the user of the phone? If not, is it technically feasible? How might one go about creating one?
Tags: anonymity | human rights | mobcasting | mobile activism | mobile phones | Nokia N95 | protests | Tor
Posted by acarvin at 3:37 PM
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November 12, 2007
Pakistani Flash Mobs Protest State of Emergency
NPR's Bryant Park Project has a fascinating audio slideshow about an ingenious protesting strategy being employed in Pakistan. Pakistani dentist and blogger Dr. Awab Alvi has taken Howard Rheingold's concept of "flash mobs" and applied it to rallying against the state of emergency in Pakistan.
"If you announce a date a day in advance, the army and police show up" and they "beat the hell out of you," Dr. Alvi told the show. So he concluded it made more sense to organize very brief protests through telephone calls and other communication channels. At an appointed time, the protesters show up, pull out signs and shout slogans demanding an end to the state of emergency. After 10 minutes, they put away their signs and leave before the authorities can interfere with them.
"These flash protests are basically citizens protesting in a very smart way," Alvi said. So far the largest protest attracted around 50 protesters, who were quickly joined by random passers-by on the street. Pedestrians, though, have been somewhat puzzled by the brevity of each event.
"It's almost called a guerilla protest," he added.
Tags: Bryant Park Project | flash mobs | free speech | NPR | Pakistan | protests
Posted by acarvin at 1:37 PM
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July 7, 2007
Kong Nay, Cambodian Chapei Master
Tags: Cambodia | chapei | culture | genocide | Khmer Rouge | Kong Nay | music | Smithsonian Folklife Festival | tradition | Washington DC
Posted by acarvin at 8:32 PM
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June 12, 2007
Nobody Expects the American Inquisition!
Wish I'd come up with this... -andy
Hat tip: Tom Regan
Tags: Inquisition | interrogation | John McCain | Monty Python | satire | torture | video | YouTube
Posted by acarvin at 12:30 PM
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April 7, 2007
Project Hope International
Tags: 07ntc | Cambodia | human trafficking | Project Hope International | prostitution | Thailand | videobloggingweek2007
Posted by acarvin at 10:25 AM
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March 7, 2007
China: 113,000 Cybercafes Are More Than Enough, Apparently
The Associated Press is reporting that Chinese government officials have decided that the country's 113,000 cybercafes are more than enough to support a country with a population of more than 1.3 billion people. Do the math and that works out to about one cybercafe for every 115,000 people in the general population. Let's be generous and assume each cybercafe has 50 computers. That gives us one cybercafe computer per 2,300 people.
According to the China Internet Network Information Center, there are 137 million people in China with Internet access. Approximately 76% of them - 114 million people - access the Internet from home, compared to 32.3%, or 44 million people, relying on cybercafes. (The numbers don't add up to 100% because some people access the Net from multiple locations.) So for those people who use the Net at cybercafes, there's one cybercafe for every 389 people. That's pretty good for those folks who already have access. But there are still more than 1.1 million Chinese without any form of access.
Meanwhile, approximately 23 million Chinese access the Net over mobile phones, a number that's bound to grow as Internet phones become cheaper and data services penetrate rural areas. Soon, China will surpass the US as the country with the largest number of Internet users.
Still, you've got to wonder why 113,000 is the magic number for cybercafes. Perhaps it's possible that the Chinese government is satisfied with the growth curves of at-home Internet access and mobile penetration. Or perhaps the thought of even more people publicly congregating around tools for accessing and creating open knowledge scares the living crap out of them. Maybe some Chinese policymakers will want to chime with a comment. Oh, wait a second - my blog is blocked in China. Never mind. -andy
Tags: China | cybercafes | digital divide | Internet statistics | policy
Posted by acarvin at 10:44 AM
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France: Says "Non" to Citizen Journalists
Perhaps shaken by the long jail stint of Josh Wolf or rattled by the effect that the export of America's Funniest Home Videos has had on Francophonie, France has decided to ban citizen journalists from recording acts of violence. As reported by MacWorld and elsewhere, the French Constitutional Council has approved a law that would criminalize the recording or broadcasting any type of violence by non-professional journalists. Take those riots that happened in France not so long ago. Whipping out your phone and recording footage of someone setting a car on fire - or getting pummelled by police for that matter - could subject you to a five-year prison term and nearly $100,000 in fines. Taking it a step further, the French government has proposed a system to regulate websites, blogs, mobile phone operators and other purveyors of content in order to offer certification that they are or aren't government approved.
Reporters Without Borders is none too pleased with the new policy:
[A]ll Internet users are now in a position to participate in the creation and dissemination of information. They are often the "recorders" of an event, especially thanks to mobile phones with photo and video capability, and can disseminate their own content online.These "citizen journalists" can play a role in monitoring the activities of the authorities throughout the world. In Egypt, for example, bloggers recently revealed a series of scandals involving the security services and showed, by means of video recordings made clandestinely in detention centres, that torture is still regularly practised in Egypt.
In the field of human rights, it is them and not professional journalists who have been responsible for the most reliable reports and information - the information that has most upset the government. Reporters Without Borders thinks it would be shocking if this kind of activity, which constitutes a safeguard against abuses of authority, were to be criminalized in a democratic country.
In an ironic twist, the decision was announced on the 16th anniversary of a certain George Holliday using his videocamera to tape a group of policeman beating down an African American man named Rodney King. If the incident had instead taken place today in France, I wonder if Monsieur Holliday would have hesitated grabbing that camera knowing that he could get stuck in jail until 2012. -andy
Tags: BoingBoing | censorship | citizen journalism | Cyrus Farivar | France | George Holliday | law | policy | Reporters Without Borders | Rodney King
Posted by acarvin at 9:34 AM
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January 27, 2007
United for Peace
Posted by acarvin at 7:50 PM
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Photos from the Protest
I just uploaded a gallery of over 150 photos from today's United for Peace anti-war rally in Washington DC. This particular photo is of a Vietnam Vet protesting the Iraq War. I believe it might be David Cline, president of Veterans for Peace, but I'm not sure. Does anyone recognize him? -andy
Meanwhile, here's a slideshow of my photos:
Posted by acarvin at 7:38 PM
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Carlos Arredondo
Carlos Arredondo is an anti-war activist who lost his son in Iraq. In 2004, on his 44th birthday, representatives from the Marines notified him of his son's death. In his grief he tried to set their car on fire and accidentily burned himself over a quarter of his body.
Posted by acarvin at 7:36 PM
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Back from the DC Anti-War Protests
I just got back home a little while ago from the anti-war protests on the National Mall in Washington DC. Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of protesters began gathering there early in the morning to march on Washington. Here's a picture I snapped of Rev. Jesse Jackson backstage as the rally was starting. I've got lots of video and tons of pictures, which I will upload soon. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 5:36 PM
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January 12, 2007
Nuon Chea Says There Was No Cambodian Genocide
In an interview with the Phnom Penh Post, former Khmer Rouge henchman Nuon Chea discounted the deaths of Cambodians during their reign in the 1970s. "Why should we have killed our own people? I do not see a reason," he said. "We wanted a clean, illuminating and peaceful regime."
In response, I would like to offer the following rebuttals:
Approximately 1.7 million other rebuttals available upon request. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:10 AM
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July 26, 2006
Baghdad Video Blogger Released!
Good news from Brian Conley of the Alive in Baghdad video blog. His Baghdad team member has been released after being kidnapped three days ago. Brian writes:
It is with great happiness that I can tell you our correspondent was released this afternoon in Baghdad, after approximately 72 hours in detention.We still cannot provide his name or any more specific information, as we have not been able to reach him for permission and the specific details baout his detention.
His brother contacted our correspondent, Omar Abdullah, to tell him the good news.
As soon as we have more information, we will update the site immediately.
I would like to thank all of you who made an effort to send the word out about our correspondent and for all the support we've been provided in the last 24 hours.
Alive in Baghdad will continue producing media from Iraq, despite these recent events, and we hope to say the same about our recently released colleague, but only time will tell.
Such a relief... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 12:30 PM
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July 25, 2006
Video Blogger Apparently Kidnapped in Baghdad
I've just received some disturbing news from Brian Conley, coordinator of the video blog Alive in Baghdad. One of his team members has been kidnapped in Baghdad while taping footage for the blog. Because of concerns from his family, Brian hasn't published the individual's name yet, but I hope this will occur soon so we can start mobilizing a campaign for his release.
Here's the text of Brian's post:
It is with deep regret that I type some of the words I hoped would never come.It is foolish to have thought we might somehow be safe from the violence and chaos of Baghdad's streets. However, I somehow believed we had a kind of special defense or protection against the ordinary violence of Baghdad in 2006.
On Sunday morning, between 11am and 12pm, one of our newest correspondents disappeared from the al-Amal Neighborhood. He was there with his brother, gathering B-roll of the security in place around Baghdad's gas stations, as well as the long refueling lines that continue to insult the residents of one of the world's most oil-rich countries.
At the request of his family, we can only reveal certain information at this time. We hope their perspective will change soon, because we believe that, in this case, publicity is one of our most important tools to ensure our colleague's safe return.
Before he began filming our correspondent confirmed permission with the Iraqi National Guard in the area who were maintaining security around the station. After they agreed to allow him to film, he took some footage of the National Guard's security position and then moved on to shoot nearby the gas station.
While his brother waited in their car across the street, he approached the station and began gathering footage. This correspondent was hired primarily to gather footage around the city of Baghdad to provide our viewers insight into the day-to-day life on Baghdad's streets.
Within ten to fifteen minutes of his approaching the gas station, gathering photos and video of the pumps, the long lines, etc. a civilian vehicle approached. Several men left this vehicle, they were not uniformed, but carried pistols, what appeared to be "police handcuffs" according to his brother, and other guns.
The correspondent was grabbed, blindfolded, and placed in the vehicle which then left the scene.
During this entire time, the Iraqi National Guard were nearby, within sight, and did nothing.
It is unclear who kidnapped him, but it is believed to be one of the militias that is connected to the current Iraqi government. The inaction of the Iraqi National Guard suggests it was either a militia or plain-clothed unit operating in the area.
It has now been over 48 hours since our colleague went missing. We are calling on press freedom outlets as well as other bloggers, vloggers, journalists, and governments to take a stance against this.
Alive in Baghdad has endeavored to be a non-partisan source of news about life in Iraq with Iraqis themselves producing content and telling stories about their lives.If you have information or wish to offer support in the safe return of our colleague, please send an email to aliveinbaghdad at gmail.com.
I'll post updates as soon as I learn more information. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:09 PM
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July 11, 2006
Hao Wu Released!
Wonderful news coming out of China today. The family of blogger Hao Wu reports that he has been released by the authorities after several months of detention. The entry is written in Chinese, but here's a rough translation:
Just received a phone call from home. Hao is released from detention. Thanks for everybody's concerns but Hao wants to be alone and calm down for a while. Anything new about this matter would be updated on this blog.
This news is a huge relief to his family, friends and all the bloggers around the world who rallied in support of him, particularly his colleagues at Global Voices. He was originally detained in February after shooting documentary footage of a secret Christian group in China, and was held until today. More information is available on the Free Hao Wu blog set up by Ethan Zuckerman. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:40 AM
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June 22, 2006
Alaa Released!
Just got this email from Julien Pain of Reporters Without Borders:
"I've just called Manal. Alaa has been released 5 minutes ago !!!! But he seems to be extremely tired."
Posted by acarvin at 9:52 AM
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June 20, 2006
Alaa to be Released by Egyptian Authorities
Wonderful news coming out of Egypt late today.... It's being reported that award-winning Egyptian blogger Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam will be released by the authorities later this week. "He will hopefully be out and back at home by thursday afternoon," his wife Manal writes on their blog. Elijah Zarwan provides a bit more detail on the Free Alaa blog:
The Heliopolis State Security Prosecutor today told Alaa his detention will not be renewed. Alaa will now spend at least a day on a tour of police stations, and will likely be interviewed at Lazoghly, the headquarters of the Interior Ministry. But he should be back where he belongs, with Manal, within the next 24-48 hours.Congratulations to Manal and thanks to all who worked on his behalf!
Now for the 26 Kifaya protesters and the more than 1,000 Muslim Brotherhood members arrested over the past months...
Alaa has been detailed since early May, when he and a group of pro-democracy activists were arrested by authorities for rallying publicly in support of an independent judiciary. Hopefully the police won't stall his release, and Alaa will soon be reunited with Manal. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 8:42 PM
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May 15, 2006
Belarus, Flash Mobs and the Ice Cream Revolution
Veronica Khokhlova of Global Voices recently posted a blurb about a group of young people in Belarus who were arrested for organizing an ice cream social.
For those of you who don't follow eastern European affairs, Belarus is one of the most authoritarian states of the former Soviet bloc, shutting down independent media and quashing all forms of public protest. Yet a determined group of Internet-savvy young people are pushing back by organizing gatherings through the use of flash mobs. A flash mob is a sudden, seemingly spontaneous activity planned through rapid transmission of announcements over the Internet, SMS text messaging and other communication devices. In many countries, flash mobs are often seen as communal practical jokes or even performance art, with hordes of participants suddenly showing up in a public place, doing something irreverent, then vanishing without a trace.
In Belarus, young people are employing flash mobs to push the boundaries of what the government will tolerate in terms of free assembly. Last Friday, flash mobbers descended upon a public square in the capital Minsk to gather together and eat ice cream. No rally, no speeches, no sit-in nor march - just standing around and eating ice cream:
If this were almost any other country in the world, standing around eating ice cream wouldn't even cause the local authorities to bat an eyelash. In Belarus, though, it was treated as an organized public assembly, so plainclothes government agents broke up the event, arresting some of the young participants:
How did the authorities know about the protest? They probably monitored the websites used to plan the flash mob, like this livejournal site. As reported on the Transitions Online Belarus blog,
Flashmobs are becoming an essential part of the Belarusian protest movement. The youth uses Internet to get organized, predominantly through the online communities at LiveJournal (there are specific communities for just the purposes of mobbing- http://community.livejournal.com/by_mob/, for example).The problem with all of that is that KGB is reading those online communities as well, so there are usually security people present at the flashmobs even before they start. It is even getting quite uncanny to read about the plans for a flashmob on Thursday and then read how many people got arrested on Friday-all on the same LiveJournal page.
The blog goes on to ponder whether it's time for Belarus flash mobbers to make their planning a little more clandestine.
What I could never understand is why the flashmob community never went for an online discussion forum that would be more secure and would require registration, so as to prevent the security people from reading the details…Could be a special password protected blog or a yahoogroup: both are easily implementable, and, if our flashmobbers are so picky, can be syndicated via RSS.
Techniques like this, or perhaps using an email-SMS relay like I recently discussed on my blog, might help decrease the chances of flash mobbers getting arrested. Unless, of course, the whole point of the activity is to draw attention to Belarus' absurd zero-tolerance policy towards any kind of protest. So the question remains whether these flash mobs are merely an attempt to rebel against authority in a relatively harmless way or test the waters for much bigger public actions against the government. For all we know, maybe the Ice Cream Revolution began last Friday. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:25 AM
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May 11, 2006
Vlogging for Alaa
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Video of me encouraging bloggers and video bloggers to participate in the online campaign to free Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam, the Egyptian blogger who was detained during a pro-democracy protest earlier this week. The video is 10 megabytes; I've also created two smaller versions: |
Posted by acarvin at 5:39 PM
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May 2, 2006
Si Se Puede! Marching for Immigrant Rights
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Video from the May 1 immigrant rights protests that took place in Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts. The video follows a group of 1,000 protesters from their rally at Harvard and along their four-mile march to Boston Common. I filed this story for today's edition of Rocketboom. |
Posted by acarvin at 1:28 PM
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May 1, 2006
Immigrant Rights Podcast, Part 2
My second mobile phone podcast today, recorded during the immigrant rights march from Cambridge to Boston. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:31 PM
