Open-Source Investigations Provide Avenues for Communities Around the World
By Eric Sype, Graduate Intern
Last April, Derek Chauvin was convicted for the murder of George Floyd. If you paid attention to the trial, you know that the prosecution relied heavily on video evidence. A citizen journalist at the scene of the crime video taped the events that eventually led to the murder of Floyd. That citizen journalist then uploaded the video to open-source platforms for the world to see. Many reading this will have certainly seen the video. That content was then verified by experts, and legal professions used key information in the video to prove that Derek Chauvin had indeed murdered George Floyd. That process was an open-source investigation (OSINT).
OSINT is becoming more and more important for truth and fact finding. Like the murder trial of George Floyd, the January 6th insurrection that took place at the United States Capitol was seen around the world due to content uploaded on open-source platforms. When the insurrection eventually led to an impeachment trial of then President, Donald Trump, the prosecution opted to utilize video evidence rather than witness testimony. Though that trial did not end in an impeachment, the video evidence played a critical role in the court of public opinion. OSINT technology is having a huge impact on current events, and this is not only happening in the United States.
Chile recently experienced its largest political uprising in decades. In the Fall of 2019, Chileans flocked to the streets in the thousands to protest. Chile’s militarized police force, known as the Carabineros, responded with violence. As police brutality became a continual theme of the protests, Chileans documented the actions of the Carabineros. In one particularly gruesome case, a police officer pushed a teenager off of a bridge. Another protestor captured the scene on their phone and uploaded the video to social media. Once the video started circulating publicly, the officer was arrested almost immediately. The mass protests may have died down, but the digital advocacy has not. The organization Testiga en Linea has set up an intake form for Chileans to document abuses they suffered during protests. Once Testiga en Linea receives someone’s information, they begin using OSINT methodologies to find digital evidence of the crime.
On the other side of the world, Nigerian activists found used OSINT to protect citizens during the #ENDSars protest movement. In Fall of 2020, Nigerians across the country called for the abolishment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) for its notoriously horrible treatment of civilians. A video surfaced of SARS officers killing two Nigerians, and enough was enough. As people began protesting en mass, the government started arresting, unlawfully detaining peaceful protestors, and denying that they had individuals in custody. When video evidence of the arrests were found on twitter, the government was no longer able to deny that they were indeed unlawfully holding these citizens, and lawyers were able to secure their release.
OSINT methodologies have the potential to provide marginalized communities another avenue for justice, accountability, and liberation. However, the spread of OSINT knowledge needs to be equitable for communities to benefit. There is an alarming trend of this work being picked up and spread primarily in the global north. Because OSINT relies on open-sourced materials, and technological capacities in the global north provide the ability to investigate situations anywhere around the world. However, it is vital that individuals from communities impacted by rights abuses are the ones leading their own investigations. This will put marginalized communities at the center of defining what justice, accountability, and liberation look like. Chile and Nigeria are good examples of this, and just imagine what OSINT professionals in Myanmar might be able to provide right now?