Technology
Twitter in Emergencies
This morning I came across Luis Suarez’s very
informative post about micro-blogging
in emergencies at elsua.net. His post led me
to a great YouTube
video by W David Stephenson.
David’s video led me to the American Red Cross’s twitter feed and their Safe and Well feed. Ike Pigott at Occam’s RazR has a great post that explains how Twitter can be used to keep the Safe and Well database up to date.
I left a comment on Ike’s site wondering about how to get the word out to the general public. After all most people wont be reading blogs like this before an emergency. While I was writing this post it occurred to me that Red Cross t-shirts would be the ideal medium. Just include the instructions for how to SMS the Safe and Well feed on the back of the shirt.
David’s video led me to the American Red Cross’s twitter feed and their Safe and Well feed. Ike Pigott at Occam’s RazR has a great post that explains how Twitter can be used to keep the Safe and Well database up to date.
I left a comment on Ike’s site wondering about how to get the word out to the general public. After all most people wont be reading blogs like this before an emergency. While I was writing this post it occurred to me that Red Cross t-shirts would be the ideal medium. Just include the instructions for how to SMS the Safe and Well feed on the back of the shirt.
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IT Security and NGOs - A Little Knowledge?
16/09/07 13:42 Filed in: NGO Security
| Technology
The other night I was having dinner with some NGO
friends when the subject of government eavesdropping
on NGOs came up. One of the people at the table said
that in the past they had used an email trick to
allow sharing sensitive information amongst team
members. Essentially the premise was that one could
sign up for a free web mail account and share the
account password amongst team members. Members would
draft emails as usual but rather than sending them
they would simply leave them as drafts. Other team
members would then read them by going to the account.
The idea was that as long as the email wasn’t sent it couldn’t be monitored. Unfortunately it is just not true as Nart Villeneuve points out here.
I recalled the conversation a few days later and wondered what the problem was. It is not that my friends weren’t aware of the potential risks, and they are certainly not unintelligent. I think the issue is that most aid workers already have more than enough work to do without trying to keep up with the latest developments in IT security. So the problem becomes one of learning about IT security in small, manageable, easily absorbed bits.
Fortunately there are resources that can help. Thanks to Bruce Schneier at Schneier on Security for pointing out securitycartoon.com. I don’t think it is meant to be funny but it does present IT security in a straightforward and comprehensible manner. Subscribe to the RSS feed to make it even easier.
Privaterra is a good resource that covers data privacy, secure communications, and information security for Human Rights NGOs.
Over course you shouldn’t miss Nart’s blog. It isn’t NGO specific but it covers Internet privacy, freedom of expression, censor-ware, security, surveillance and anonymity. Whether you are interested in "Cyber-Cafe Monitoring in India" or need to know how to avoid internet filtering Nart’s blog is a good place to start.
The idea was that as long as the email wasn’t sent it couldn’t be monitored. Unfortunately it is just not true as Nart Villeneuve points out here.
I recalled the conversation a few days later and wondered what the problem was. It is not that my friends weren’t aware of the potential risks, and they are certainly not unintelligent. I think the issue is that most aid workers already have more than enough work to do without trying to keep up with the latest developments in IT security. So the problem becomes one of learning about IT security in small, manageable, easily absorbed bits.
Fortunately there are resources that can help. Thanks to Bruce Schneier at Schneier on Security for pointing out securitycartoon.com. I don’t think it is meant to be funny but it does present IT security in a straightforward and comprehensible manner. Subscribe to the RSS feed to make it even easier.
Privaterra is a good resource that covers data privacy, secure communications, and information security for Human Rights NGOs.
Over course you shouldn’t miss Nart’s blog. It isn’t NGO specific but it covers Internet privacy, freedom of expression, censor-ware, security, surveillance and anonymity. Whether you are interested in "Cyber-Cafe Monitoring in India" or need to know how to avoid internet filtering Nart’s blog is a good place to start.
The Economist on Tech, Response, and NGOs
29/07/07 15:05 Filed in: Technology
| NGO Security
The economist has an interesting
article on how technology is changing the
power dynamics between NGOs and their
beneficiaries. There are even a couple of
paragraphs covering concern about how mobile
phones and similar technologies might impact on
NGO security.
NGO in a Box - Security Edition
NGO in a Box has a
Security
Edition that includes Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS) to aid NGOs in securing and
protecting their data and online activities. The
package seems ideally suited to human rights,
anti-corruption, and womens groups, as well as
independent media outlets. Any other group that
wants to protect their data from abuse, misuse,
and vandalism might want to check it out as
well.