[Ssc-dev] AlJazeera on SSC

[Nathan of Guardian]

Great mention here:
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/09/2011914105953917897.html

A whole article to read but here are the best parts:

YouTube, a double-edged sword

Although the benefits of visibility are indisputable, activists are
aware that the publicity garnered can be a double-edged sword. It helps
them gain media attention but it also exposes them. Through
crowdsourcing of identification of people appearing in the videos, the
Syrian regime has been able to track people participating in
demonstrations and has carried out raids on neighbourhoods - where they
threatened, imprisoned or killed those who were geatured in the online
clips. Syrian activist Alexander Page told Al Jazeera: "We have realised
that the Syrian regime was, although annoyed at what was happening, very
fond of the information these videos provided, and used mukhabarat
[intelligence service operatives] to help them identify the faces."

<snip?

There are also projects that focus on creating technology to serve this
purpose, such as the "SecureSmartCam" software that human-rights
organization WITNESS is developing with the Guardian Project. This
software is built on the Android operating system and could be used to
protect people by blurring, pixelating or removing faces that
unintentionally appeared in a photo or video filmed on a mobile phone.
It is also designed to be used to protect the visual anonymity of people
who deliberately speak out in repressive situations or bear witness to
human rights violations. Program Director of WITNESS Sam Gregory told
Aljazeera: “We are extremely concerned about the way freedom of speech,
and many other rights, are repressed in Syria. As more and more people
use video to communicate to the world around human rights violations, we
hope that Syrian activists will find this software we are working on
useful as a tool to protect those who courageously stand up against
injustice.”