Digital Verification Corps Student Summit

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DIGITAL VERIFICATION CORPS STUDENT SUMMIT Evaluating the First Year of University-Based Open Source Investigations for Human Rights Participants in the first Digital Verification Corps Student Summit at UC Berkeley in June 2017. DIGITAL VERIFICATION CORPS STUDENT SUMMIT Evaluating the First Year of University-Based Open Source Investigations for Human Rights

26–29 June 2017

Human Rights Center School of Law University of California, Berkeley HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER

e Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law conducts research on war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights. Using evidence- based methods and innovative technologies, we support eorts to hold perpetrators accountable and to protect vulnerable populations. We also train students and advocates to document human rights violations and turn this information into eective action.

Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley School of Law, Simon Hall, Berkeley, CA Telephone: .. | Email: [email protected] Web: hrc.berkeley.edu and Medium.com/humanrightscenter | @HRCBerkeley

Photos credits: Monica Haulman Design: Nicole Hayward CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION / 1

II. BACKGROUND / 2

III. DAY 1: EVALUATION / 4

IV. DAY 2: TRAINING and DAY 3: COMMUNITY BUILDING, GOVERNANCE, AND NEXT STEPS / 13

V. SUMMIT TAKEAWAYS / 16

VI. CONCLUSION / 18

AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS / 19

APPENDIX I: OPEN SOURCE INVESTIGATIONS STUDENT SUMMITAGENDA / 20

APPENDIX II: OPEN SOURCE INVESTIGATIONS STUDENT SUMMITROSTER / 22

APPENDIX III: HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATIONS LAB AND DIGITAL VERIFICATION CORPS MEDIA IN 2016/2017 / 24

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I. INTRODUCTION

THIS REPORT PRESENTS major points of discus- e Human Rights Center’s Alexa Koenig sion and analysis from the rst global student con- and Eric Stover and Amnesty International’s Scott ference on open source human rights investigations, Edwards welcomed participants to the summit hosted by the University of California, Berkeley’s during opening night festivities. Participants then Human Rights Center and Amnesty International, enjoyed dinner and live music by Alexey Berlind – June , at UC Berkeley. More than and band on the Bowles Hall lawn, with a view of people participated, including students from hu- the Golden Gate Bridge. man rights centers at the University of Pretoria, Day-one of the summit focused on hearing stu- University of Essex, University of Toronto, and UC dents present their work, including what they had Berkeley who are part of Amnesty International’s achieved, and critiquing everything from training Digital Verication Corps. Also attending were ex- to communication to collaboration. e second perts in open source investigations, cybersecurity, day featured presentations from pioneers in open international criminal law, and journalism. source investigations in order to help students and e international summit marked the start of a leaders take their work to the next level. e third new era in open source human rights investigations day enabled students to build community through a on college campuses, where students are trained to sightseeing tour of San Francisco and DVC leaders use digital techniques to nd and verify information to discuss governance and next steps for replicating related to potential human rights abuses and poten- the model worldwide. tial war crimes. At this seminal moment, students Participants stayed in the historic Bowles Hall came together with global experts to take stock of on the eastern ridge of the UC Berkeley cam- the rst year and lay groundwork for the future. pus and sessions were held at Bowles Hall and at e summit objectives included: Berkeley Law. Open Society Foundations provided funding • Evaluating the rst year of university-based to make the summit possible. Additional core sup- investigations and beginning to build a model port to the Human Rights Center was provided by that can be shared with other campuses to the Oak Foundation and the Sigrid Rausing Trust. facilitate ecient scaling. Amnesty International receives funds from the • Advancing student verication, discovery, and Swedish Postcode Lottery for the Digital Verication presentation skills. Corps. • Building community and collaboration among students from campuses worldwide. • Convening leaders to discuss next steps.

1 II. BACKGROUND

UC BERKELEY’S Human Rights Center launched Over the past year, students in the Digital its Human Rights Investigations Lab in September Verication Corps have worked on projects rein conjunction with Amnesty International’s lated to Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Cameroon, Sudan, Digital Verication Corps (DVC) to document and Democratic Republic of the Congo, and elsewhere verify human rights violations and potential war around the world. Using Slack messaging, students crimes. e DVC included the University of Essex, collaborate with Amnesty International experts and University of Pretoria, and soon expanded to the with students located on other campuses globally. University of Toronto. e University of Cambridge Students have Beta-tested platforms developed by will join the DVC at the start of the academic Meedan called Check and Keep to collaboratively year and participated in the Summit as an observer. verify and archive information. Amnesty International experts have trained, in- Additionally, students at UC Berkeley, through structed, and mentored students at each of these cam- their Human Rights Investigations Lab, are con- puses on how to use cutting-edge, open source research ducting open source investigations to contribute methods to verify information (photographs, video to specic legal cases for the Center for Justice footage, satellite imagery and social media posts, for and Accountability and the International Human example); use tech tools and open source methods to Rights Law Clinic at UC Berkeley, among other discover new information for use in human rights ad- partners. Berkeley students are also contributing to vocacy, news stories, and legal cases; store and archive Documenting Hate, a ProPublica project to docu- veried information and reports related to potential ment the rise in hate speech and hate crimes in the war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide as United States since the election. potential evidence for international trials; and build e university-based DVC labs draw on the ex- resilience to watching disturbing and potentially pertise of the diverse and multilingual students and traumatizing user-generated content. faculty found on university campuses around the Students in UC Berkeley’s Human Rights world as well as the skills and knowledge of jour- Investigations Lab have also been trained by Paul nalists from organizations that have been pioneers Myers of the BBC on digital discovery techniques; in the eld of open source investigations, including Kim Bui of Now is and formerly of Reported.ly on Storyful, Bellingcat, and Reported.ly. additional verication and discovery methods; and In this rst year, these open source labs oen Felím McMahon, an investigator at the International felt like start-ups, full of great uncertainty and pos- Criminal Court, who worked with students on in- sibility. Because most campuses had few resources, vestigative techniques for legal cases. the work was ultimately very student-driven, which

2 served to develop student leaders and shape a cul- opportunity to meet face-to-face for the rst time, ture of innovation. share experiences, evaluate and strengthen the proj- is summit was designed to give students ect, build community, design a governance model, and professionals working on open source investi- and determine next steps, including potential gations—from Berkeley to Berlin to Pretoria—an replication.

Digital Veriﬁcation Corps Student Summit | 3 III. DAY 1: EVALUATION

DAY ONE OF THE SUMMIT focused on successes Dubberley noted a few specic successes and and challenges from the project’s rst year. Students challenges: presented their work in plenary and later debriefed • THE DRC ELECTION PROJECT included in small groups. e goal was to elicit an honest re- students “following the sun” around the world ection on successes and challenges. and collaborating on a project that included Campus Highlights—Year One discovery, verication, and reporting. More than pieces of content were checked over Sam Dubberley, Digital Verication Corps (DVC) three days, and, in particular, the arrests of director, opened the session with an overview of several protesters in Goma were geolocated, the accomplishments of the DVC since its launch in enabling Amnesty to issue an urgent appeal September . He said that shortly aer the rst for their release. Challenges for the project intensive training at UC Berkeley, students contrib- included a lack of access because nobody was uted open source research for a high-level Amnesty on the ground in DRC and Internet shutdowns International report. He noted his surprise at how hindered the use of WhatsApp. rapidly students were brought up to speed on ver- • FRENCH ARMS IN SAUDI ARABIA were ication and open source investigation techniques geolocated and veried by students for and how quickly they could make a meaningful con- an Amnesty France report to the French tribution to human rights reporting. government. Challenges included the fact In all, Dubberley reported that the DVC con- that the project was only desk-based research ducted projects across four campuses between and that there were uncertain time frames for September and June . At UC Berkeley verication and uncertain locations. alone, students contributed approximately , • CAMEROON TORTURE VIDEOS: Students working hours in the project’s rst nine months. were able to geolocate where Cameroonian e geographic area covered by the DVC in military combat units were performing torture year one included: Australia, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, thus directly contributing to an Amnesty Bahrain, Cameroon, Syria, Ivory Coast, United Arab International Report entitled Cameroon’s Emirates, Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Secret Torture Chambers. Egypt, Guinea, and the United States Research themes spanned the right to assembly, • MANUS ISLAND REFUGEE DETENTION torture, conict, extrajudicial execution, and arms sales. CENTER: Students received content via Australian activists from refugees in the Manus

4 Island Center about a shooting at the camp and would benet all students going forward. ose les- were asked to verify when it happened and to sons include: geolocate the incident. Amnesty International’s • Take a step back to consider your specic report led the Papua New Guinea and role in the project’s workow. What is your Australian authorities to change their narrative individual responsibility as a team member in about the events. the project? What is the content’s context? e DVC and Human Rights Investigations • Keep calm when researching online and getting Lab at UC Berkeley were highlighted in the New “nowhere.” Remember to record all of your Scientist, PBS NewsHour, San Francisco Chronicle, steps and keep in mind that what you don’t nd Opendemocracy, East Bay Times, and ABC Bay is as important as what you do nd. Area. UC Berkeley’s Public Aairs also wrote a • Don’t be discouraged if you don’t nd the story and created a video about the summit. See information you’re seeking right away. To this Appendix III for a complete list of news stories and end, work with a partner or team because links. another set of eyes is always useful. • Remember that you don’t always have to start Student Reports from Year One from square one on an open source verication UC Berkeley project. Use news reports and social media to provide context and don’t dismiss information Approximately students joined UC Berkeley’s Lab because it’s not veried. Use what is available in Fall and in Spring . e team includes as a starting point and then corroborate the students with signicant language and discipline di- information further. versity, with both undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to its DVC projects, Berkeley has Berkeley students also presented highlights and been working on two legal cases with public interest lessons learned from their rst legal project. e law rms, prompting the development of more in- Latin American legal team, consisting of students, tensive protocols for condentiality and cybersecu- was charged with using open sources to build a net- rity. e team is also working with ProPublica on its work of individuals involved in a high-prole mur- Documenting Hate project, with the Syrian Archive, der case. Given concerns related to revealing infor- and with NGOs focused on Burma. mation about the perpetrators, this project involved ree students from Berkeley’s French-Egypt a heightened level of cybersecurity. To that end, the arms sales DVC project presented lessons they felt team used “burner computers” for online browsing

Digital Veriﬁcation Corps Student Summit | 5 and a set of “air-gapped” computers for analysis that weaknesses of individual team members when as- kept information separate from the rest of Berkeley’s signing projects. Human Rights Investigations Lab. ey developed Essex students said to “remember the big pic- new methods for le sharing, encryption, and infor- ture” about the end goal of the work, but also to be mation storage that will serve the lab going forward cognizant of when to stop. One Essex student said with other sensitive legal cases. that aer spending days conducting open source e legal team experimented with new systems discovery on a project, the team couldn’t nd any- for information gathering and sharing. For example, thing. When advised to stop, it was disheartening, they created a template for note taking that enabled but ultimately a good lesson. each student to see what everyone was working on Essex students emphasized the importance of individually and to share information. practice. ey said that geolocation is hard, but re- e team also used innovative approaches to quires a process of “learning by doing.” e more seeking information from Facebook, Twitter, and you do, the better you become. ey also said to Google that revealed connections among mu- “mix it up,” meaning to look at dierent, unexpected tual friends related to the perpetrators in the case. information related to a project when stuck. Students recorded what their team members were In order to increase collaboration among uni- able to nd and also what they were not able to nd versities and provide a reference for new members, and created detailed reports. e students wanted Essex created a “Beginner’s Guide for the DVC.” e to ensure that the information they had gathered guide, soon to be released, includes universal veri- would be shared appropriately with a new batch of cation methods and other research techniques. students working on the case in subsequent semes- ters—building upon each other’s work and not rein- University of Pretoria venting the wheel. Pretoria’s DVC team started with an email from In sum, in addition to developing basic discov- Amnesty’s Sam Dubberley to the director of the ery and verication skills the Latin American team Centre for Human Rights at the University of learned to . keep detailed notes; . divide tasks to Pretoria. e Centre, founded in and a recip- improve teamwork; . maximize the strengths of ient of UNESCO and African Commission awards, each individual; . allocate time eciently; and . was initially focused on addressing apartheid in create opportunities for outside social connection South Africa but has since broadened its work to all to strengthen community. of Africa. It is a “hybrid organization” because it is academic but also an NGO. University of Essex Amnesty came to Pretoria to train students for e University of Essex team noted a “steep learning its DVC in October . Students learned how curve” when it launched its DVC in October . to verify basic videos and photographs and how Eventually the team learned to take in the small to geolocate them. is type of work was new for details required for verication and to realize that the Center for Human Rights, a group of students verication is time consuming. Sometimes, they say, and faculty who say they were not particularly tech you need to step away and ask for help. savvy. Students say the DVC enables them to “feel e Essex team learned to cultivate teamwork like we have an impact not just theoretically, but so that the workload was well distributed. ey practically.” noted the importance of considering how much the Pretoria’s DVC has divided into groups of two team could handle and to look at the strengths and and pursued work on Cameroon (verifying videos

6 | Digital Veriﬁcation Corps Student Summit where civilians were being arrested and tortured) as well as some limited work on Syria and Gabon. e students said the strength of their team is their language diversity, which includes French, Arabic, Portuguese, and English. ey noted that they improved their personal tech skills over the course of the year. One of the team’s challenges is in balancing schoolwork with DVC demands—especially because the team is not very big. Additionally, although Pretoria’s team includes students pursuing undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees, they are all law students and therefore lack disciplinary diversity. Student Evaluation Sessions Pretoria’s future objectives include trying to Students from each of the participating campuses incorporate new members from other disciplines. joined four discussion groups to evaluate their ey will seek more training, develop better com- work in / and brainstorm ways to improve munication and synergy with project managers and impact and collaboration. Experts and profession- other university teams, and continue to put “faces to als from the summit sat in on the discussions but the names” of other students and professionals. mostly observed. Students focused on four topics: training, storytelling, resiliency, and collaboration. University of Toronto e University of Toronto’s Digital Verication Training Corps is housed in the International Human Rights Amnesty International conducted the lion’s share of Program. e newest DVC member, the Toronto verication training on DVC campuses in /, team has recently launched with eleven students. typically over a span of three days. Amnesty’s Sam e students completed successful work on projects Dubberley and other experts also provided addi- in Syria (which was the team’s rst attempt at veri- tional training via Skype throughout the semester. cation work), Bahrain, Western Sahara (in collabo- Berkeley brought in additional trainers to build ration with Berkeley), Niger, Yemen, and Egypt. e skills throughout the year with an emphasis on dis- team is currently strategizing about how to expand covery and report building. Here are some of the and train members. takeaways:

Digital Veriﬁcation Corps Student Summit | 7 On the type and timing of training Regardless of the model, students said training Students found it useful when they could practice should be standardized and based on a consistent new skills during the training to get immediate training document that provides lessons, tips, and feedback. ey said that having feedback (espe- tricks on verication work. ( is type of document cially during training or at the beginning of a proj- is currently in the works at Essex.) Some suggested ect) helps them understand areas of weakness and that training sessions be recorded and shared with ways to improve. Students suggested that follow-up other universities. training be conducted about two weeks aer the rst round of training in order to solidify skills and Additional training in the following areas is enable students to ask pertinent questions within needed: the context of specic projects. Students suggested • Discovery more frequent Skype sessions with experts. • Geolocation (videos on geolocation would be Students noted that a student-led “train the helpful) trainers” model is valuable for several reasons. First, • Special methodologies that correspond when veteran students train new students, the train- to special projects assigned by Amnesty ers reinforce and improve mastery of their own International and other NGO partners and skills. Second, the students receiving the training clients may be more comfortable turning to student train- • Organization and management (workow ers with questions. practices and organization structures)

8 | Digital Veriﬁcation Corps Student Summit • Soware skills (including using data visualization techniques or tools to organize and display information.) • Digital literacy (ensuring that everyone has basic training on how to use a computer, how to use Chrome and Chrome extensions, etc.) • Cybersecurity (enabling students to feel more comfortable working on social media)

Storytelling/Impact In /, with some exceptions, the stories about the open source labs on university campuses were written by journalists or sta at the Human Rights social media) to educate others about open source Center or at Amnesty International. At the summit, techniques and the impact of open source work other potential outputs were discussed, the benets globally. and pitfalls of storytelling and social media, and the Students also would like more clarity about the need of students to better understand the impact of impact of their work and some acknowledgement their work. Here are some of the takeaways: for what they accomplish. For example, if they veried information for an Amnesty report, they would Establish clarity on the final product like to be acknowledged verbally by a researcher Students expressed a desire to know the end goal for or even within the report. is external validation an assigned DVC project at the outset. For example, strengthens student commitment to the project they want to know if the verication work is for a for several reasons. First, students want to have an report and if so, will it be public? Where will it be impact and to know they have an impact in order presented? to continue devoting time and energy to a project. To this end, students suggested creating a uni- Public validation also helps students to build a re- form intake form for each project that would state sume/portfolio, which they want and need for grad- the objective for the student work and also indi- uate school or jobs. Finally, validation mitigates the cate the overall goal of the work (i.e. to release a possibility of secondary trauma by highlighting the report, lay groundwork for legal action, etc.) is ultimate purpose of the work. form could also indicate whether additional student reporting or storytelling related to the work is ap- Utilize social media propriate, what degree of condentiality is required e Digital Verication Corps could use social (if any), establish clear objectives, dictate the point media more expansively to publicize its ndings. of contact for questions, and provide some back- As each social media platform targets a dierent ground on the relevant country and conict. audience for engagement, we might use them dif- Students said they would like to write stories, ferently. For example, the DVC might create a DVC op-eds, blogs and even create interactive timelines Instagram account or Snapchat account to post about the work they are doing. is type of story- stories. It’s possible that the DVC could collaborate telling serves multiple purposes—educating the with Buzzfeed or another media source that is al- public, raising awareness, generating funds, etc.— ready on Snapchat to do a featured story. e DVC and makes students feel part of something larger. might also create a Facebook account for the DVC Students also want to publish stories online (or on or use Amnesty International’s preexisting account

Digital Veriﬁcation Corps Student Summit | 9 to publish more about the DVC’s work. (Amnesty Skype trainings) should be held at the other DVC sta claried that because Amnesty is so large, it universities as well. All resiliency training should takes time and eort to get the institutional chan- consider both discovery and verication work as nel to post and therefore may be more ecacious discovery oen leads students to stumble upon to establish our own page.) emotionally dicult content. Other ideas for storytelling included creat- Some said that if the resiliency and mental ing a podcast, such as x ; establishing a Medium health events are not mandatory, fewer students channel for the DVC or posting student pieces to may attend—and possibly the students who most Lemming Cli, Berkeley’s Human Rights Center, need to attend will opt out. or Amnesty Medium channels; and creating a sep- In addition to the training format, students arate DVC website for publishing case studies and noted the importance of timing. e Essex training reports from student work, as with UC Berkeley’s happened two months aer students had started Documenting Hate project. Digital Verication Corps research and they said Some of the potential concerns and pitfalls re- this was not ideal. Other students said training lated to DVC storytelling include issues around should happen at the onset of work as well as mid- condentiality and domain. For example, what does way through the semester when students have more Amnesty want to share publicly before a report is of a context and a better sense of personal pressure issued? Also, who has the rights to a story (e.g. stu- points. A communicative culture around resiliency dents who are investigating the situation or Amnesty should be established so that students don’t feel researchers or frontline organizers)? Ultimately, awkward about discussing their feelings. Teachers questions related to storytelling and outputs may be and mentors should raise questions about resiliency unanswerable until a more permanent DVC struc- and mental health periodically because sometimes ture is established. students are unaware that they are aected by the work. For example, a student may not be sleeping Vicarious Trauma & Resiliency well or may be sleeping an inordinate amount and roughout and , Amnesty International not realize that either is connected to their DVC provided DVC students with resiliency training to work. reduce the potential for secondary trauma related to Some students said that aer the initial train- viewing dicult user-generated content. Students ing, they would like to have regular check-in meet- discussed this training and what could be improved ings throughout the school year. Inviting a therapist to mitigate the psychological eect of this work. to lead small groups or to conduct mid-semester Here are some of the takeaways. training or facilitated discussions could be eective. Campuses could also select “resiliency” mentors Providing students with more resources and who are seasoned DVC students to be resources. training to take care of their mental health Some suggested that mindfulness training spe- Students from the University of Essex said they re- cically designed for handling the emotional inten- ceived in-person resiliency training, which helped sity associated with open source human rights in- them to feel emotionally prepared to take on the vestigations could benet students. open source research. ey said the training brought Although more awareness about potential sec- their team closer together and helped them to feel ondary trauma is important for the DVC, it was also more comfortable talking to one another if they noted that not all stress or distress constitutes vicari- had issues related to the work. Students agreed that ous trauma and that emotional reactions to distress- this type of in-person resiliency training (instead of ing content are a normal aspect of the work.

10 | Digital Veriﬁcation Corps Student Summit Create a social bond and trust amongst teams • Create a culture that discourages viewing and across DVC groups content at night (especially before bed). Apart from training, students noted that building • Have a buddy system. When a student community is essential for mental health and re- struggles with trauma, their verication silience. is may come in the form of regular so- partner can be there to talk with them or to ag cial gatherings for entire teams or sub-groups. At graphic content. Berkeley, students found that social gatherings had • Crush the stigma about asking for help when it originally been planned around “happy hours,” comes to mental health. which wasn’t always as accessible for undergradu- Collaboration ates. Berkeley students expressed a desire for more outings in nature, such as hikes or picnics, while In / students at universities in Berkeley, also noting the need to be sensitive to students with Essex, Toronto, and Pretoria loosely collaborated limited mobility. Students said that they appreciated through Amnesty International via a Slack Channel the “detox” channel on Slack that enabled people to on specic projects. At the summit, students dis- post funny, o-topic videos and photos and encour- cussed ways to strengthen collaboration among aged others to use it more. A question arose about schools and with other partners. Here are the social media and whether a Facebook page should takeaways: be established for the DVC. Some said this would Use inter-campus resources effectively build community and “give faces to names,” but others felt that it could be a negative intrusion on pri- Students suggested generating an inter-campus vate lives. It was suggested that a Facebook page be spreadsheet where DVC student information is cen- created and that students could opt-in if they wanted tralized. e spreadsheet might include each stu- to participate and opt out at any time. dent’s major, discipline, past projects, and language skills as well as a head shot to increase community Mental health advice among campuses. A general (not project-specic) Students shared tips and tricks for handling content Slack channel could be created for inter-campus as follows: communication. • Make sure students know early on that they do Students suggested holding an onboarding not need to push through the trauma. Skype session at the onset of each project where all • Encourage students to take breaks when students and partners involved in a project could needed. University of Essex students said that discuss the project summary, objectives, workow, they don’t work at their homes and they don’t and logistics as well as delegate tasks. is process work for more than seven hours at a time would enable students to become familiar with team on research, noting that they feel it is more members across campuses and provide opportuni- productive to complete an hour every day than ties to better tap individual disciplinary, tech, and seven hours in one day. language skills. It would also allow lead researchers • Make sure that students know they can talk to (whether from Amnesty or other organizations) to one another. is will only happen if you build verbally express the project objectives and proposed trust and foster compassion with students and outcomes and to answer questions. professionals in the lab. • Students appreciated when Amnesty and other Addressing translation challenges partners informed them about graphic content One of the most vexing problems for the DVC has before they viewed content. been language capacity. While many languages

Digital Veriﬁcation Corps Student Summit | 11 are spoken among students (approximately in Standardization and uniformity Berkeley’s lab alone), there’s oen a need for less While the open source work on campuses has been common languages and dialects. When recruit- fast-paced and exciting, uniformity has suered. ing students for the teams, language and tech skills Students noted that standardization is critical to should be a priority. collaboration—so that a student from Berkeley can Students also suggested collaborating with lan- pick up where a student from Pretoria leaves o on guage studies departments on their campuses. While a certain project and vice versa. e areas that are this could increase capacity, it could also pose other most pressing include: report structure, common challenges related to ethics and safety. For example, terminology, tagging, and naming. recruiting native speakers, especially those who re- turn to their countries in conict zones, could make Alumni Engagement them vulnerable. Another solution might be part- Aer a year of establishing programs, four universi- nering with or establishing DVC hubs at universities have generated alumni—and many of those al- ties in regions where human rights work is being ums don’t want to leave the work. To continue to en- conducted—for example in the Middle East or in gage alumni, students suggested creating an alumni central Africa—and creating partnerships between roster or database that lists alumni skills (such as universities in the global north and south. discipline and languages) and the projects that they Students said that it is important to keep in worked on. Alumni would opt in to this type of list or mind that not all students who know a certain lan- database so as not to burden those who have moved guage want to serve as translators all of the time and on. A voluntary Slack channel could be a vehicle shouldn’t be pigeonholed into that role as, in certain for current students to pose questions to alumni. regions with certain languages, there is the risk of Alumni could also be invited to DVC groups for having to watch a higher proportion of violent or training purposes or agree to serve as mentors. distressing content. e only potential pitfall is that engagement by too many seasoned and active alumni could undermine the student-driven nature of the projects.

12 | Digital Veriﬁcation Corps Student Summit IV. DAY 2: TRAINING and DAY 3: COMMUNITY BUILDING, GOVERNANCE, AND NEXT STEPS

THE SECOND DAY of the summit was devoted to presentations by pioneers in the elds of open source investigations and cybersecurity. Links to video of each talk are provided (except for the ICC talk, due to security concerns).

Eliot Higgins, founder, Bellingcat Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat and a Human Rights Center research fellow, is a global pioneer in the eld of open source investigations. His methods are emulated by journalists and human rights researchers around the world. As much as Higgins is revered by those who seek to use open sources to • LEARN TO NOTICE THE SMALL DETAILS: document the truth, he is targeted by governments Practice recognizing minute details that can and other actors who want to discredit his work in provide information on time or location, i.e. order to dilute the impact of his reports. gasoline prices. Higgins was invited to deliver the keynote ad- • BEWARE OF FALSE IMAGERY: Governments, dress on the opening night of the summit as well as news agencies, and social media users can to kick o the rst day of training. He walked par- publish old images or alter new ones to ticipants through two Bellingcat investigations in construct a false narrative. order to illuminate his process of discovery, veri- Felim McMahon, investigator, International cation, and reporting. Criminal Court Some of the takeaways from his talk include: Felim McMahon is an International Criminal Court • CROWDSOURCE: Remember the power investigator who conducts open source investiga- of crowdsourcing for fast geolocation and tions. He recently led the ICC’s successful inves- verication. tigation into war crimes in Mali in a case that in- • FOLLOW THE MEDIA: In verication, follow cluded painstaking verication of digital evidence. social media posts across the time and space of McMahon, who helped pioneer the practice while a an incident to establish timelines and routes. journalist at Storyful, is now a global leader in open source legal investigations. He was invited to the

13 summit to share his experience in using open source and presentation. He walked participants through methods to support legal investigations and to walk elements of his recent New York Times pieces. A participants through the details of a legal analysis. video of his talk can be found here. He shared his insights in a talk entitled “Anatomy of Some of his key takeaways included: an Investigation II,” which highlighted the key dif- • DEBUNK DOMINANT NARRATIVES: ferences between journalistic discovery and veri- Remember the importance of challenging and/ cation and legal discovery and verication. or debunking the dominant narrative or story Some of the takeaways from McMahon’s talk as a way to test assumptions and maximize the include: reliability of information. • REMEMBER THE IMPORTANCE OF VIDEO: • MAKE INFORMATION ACCESSIBLE: Make the When so much other evidence is being information you want to present approachable collected (interviews, physical evidence, etc.), for your specic audience. Use timelines, on- the importance of a video may fall away. screen cues, and crisp graphics to optimize a However, it can still be critical to include as computer screen’s “real estate.” part of the formal analysis for impact and • CATALOGUE: Organize information into presentation. chapters to help your audience digest that • VERIFY ALL DOCUMENTS: Content analysis content. facilitates the discovery of mistakes made by • DISTILL: ink critically about what legal investigators by testing assumptions. information to include. Consider what is Every document used in court must be veried; unnecessary for journalistic purposes and what thus, having verication skills is critical to evidence speaks for itself. successful practice. • CONSIDER AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHIC AND • ADVOCATE: e most important use of an CONTEXT: When should you post content for open source investigation is oen advocacy, not specic time zones? In what languages should legal application. Advocacy can help generate you post? What level of verication expertise the political will needed to facilitate successful does each audience have? prosecutions. Such investigations can be used • ENGAGE SOCIAL MEDIA AND MARKETING: to frame and change narratives ank users for any crowd sourced eorts. and put pressure on states to cooperate. Use tight cuts of any content on social media. • CONSIDER THE DIGITAL DIVIDE: Will an em- Create response threads. phasis on digital materials and digital communication more generally aect which voices are Bill Marczak, postdoctoral researcher and heard and which cases are brought to court? cybersecurity expert, UC Berkeley Bill Marczak is an expert in cybersecurity and pri- Malachy Browne, story producer, vacy. He spoke to participants about basic security New York Times measures that can be taken to protect information Malachy Browne is a story producer at the New and privacy and shared insights into the mindset of York Times who has pioneered investigative eyewit- hackers. A video of Marczak’s talk can be found here. ness journalism. He recently published high-prole Some of the key takeaways from his talk include: stories about the use of chemical weapons in Syria • BE AWARE: e “wiretaps” of today are and the beating of protesters by armed Turkish the hackers who have to interact with you to security forces in DC. An original member of gain access to your computer. ey have to Storyful, Browne’s talk focused on video analysis

14 | Digital Veriﬁcation Corps Student Summit trick you into complying, so be aware when this kind of social engineering is happening. • KNOW THE RATIONALE FOR SPYING: Why would a hacker want to spy on you? “You are as interesting as the most interesting person you k n ow.” • DON’T BE “FREE”: Make yourself expensive to hack by updating your devices, using two-factor authentication, setting strong passwords, not automatically clicking on links or attachments, and being careful about the information you share online. • ENGAGE IN THREAT MODELING: Conduct a basic analysis to understand the realistic threats • DON’T LEAVE ANYONE BEHIND: Everyone to you and/or your project. Digital security is must have the same level of skill as everyone always connected to physical security. else. Training never ends, and skill “focuses” Gavin Sheridan, founder, Vizlegal are only brought to the table once everyone has reached the default skill level. Hierarchies Gavin Sheridan, one of the founders of Storyful, prevent innovation. is an expert on the use of Freedom of Information • CHECK, PUBLISH, ALERT: e check, publish, Acts (FOIA) around the world. His startup Vizlegal alert process deepens training by allowing is providing access to open source information and veterans to check new recruits and facilitates investigative methodologies. Sheridan spoke about “handholding” to get them to the default level basic philosophies and best practices associated of skill. with establishing an open source investigations lab, • PRIORITIZE TEAMWORK: Bring everyone to sharing key insights from Storyful. A video of his the same skill level. If someone on your team talk can be found here. isn’t performing, they might be happier not Some of the key takeaways include: being in it. • BOIL YOUR PROJECT DOWN: Go to rst • INNOVATE: Know what products or known principles and work from there. What are we processes could be used or created to reduce doing? What happened? Who did it? Where tasks and clicks for humans. did it happen? • FACILITATE COMMUNICATION: Encourage THE THIRD DAY OF THE SUMMIT involved a trip open communication among all team to San Francisco for students to sightsee and de- members. Over-communication is key (i.e. velop connections across campuses, while leaders Google Hangouts running /). is builds and professionals discussed potential governance camaraderie and enhances training capacity structures, how to facilitate global replication, between all core and remote team members. and identified critical next steps for year-two of • EMBRACE YOUR INNER NERD: Control the university-based open source investigations. technology. Don’t let it control you.

Digital Veriﬁcation Corps Student Summit | 15 V. SUMMIT TAKEAWAYS

. DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT A GOVERNANCE basis for standardizing training and workow. UC STRATEGY: In evaluating the rst year, it became Berkeley has developed an intake form and a veri- clear that the Digital Verication Corps needs a cation form and is in the nal stages of designing governing body and structure. Discussion among a handbook that addresses issues like student in- students during the summit raised questions that centivizing, mentor structures, ethical practice, cy- require centralized decision-making, stang, work- bersecurity, non-disclosure agreements, and other ow, replication, communication/branding, and structural issues. resources. Related to the question of governance is the question of replication. How, where and when £. DETERMINE DIGITAL TOOLS: e DVC and will new labs develop? Will universities in the global Human Rights Investigations Lab at Berkeley have south be given precedence? If so, how will resources worked closely with tech partners to beta test new be shared to ensure that eorts succeed? ese ques- tools and platforms over the past year. As the DVC tions feed into the need for a replication strategy and Berkeley’s lab gain notoriety, multiple tech in- that will ultimately be determined by a governing novators are coming forward to pitch collaboration. body. Leaders took up these questions and made a e summit surfaced critiques and opinions about plan for next steps. what is working and what’s needed vis-à-vis technology. e DVC urgently needs to determine a pro- ¡. STANDARDIZE TO FACILITATE COLLABORA ¢ cess for selecting tech partners and tools and decide TION: Students and faculty expressed a desire for what will be used on DVC campuses in /. greater collaboration across campuses and emphasized that collaboration hinges on standardizing ¤. INCREASE COMMUNICATION: Participants high- forms, workow, training, communication, and to lighted the importance of proactive communication some degree, structure. Especially with a transient among all partners. Communication improves col- student population, it’s important for one student to laboration and also feeds into a sense of impact, espe- be able to pick up where another le o. Because cially for students. Specic ideas for enhanced com- of the fast and furious development of the DVC in munication included an intake form and/or an initial /, some of the uniformity fell by the way- on-boarding session for each project over Skype or a side. However, many eorts are in the works to similar platform to allow students in dierent coun- make the DVC more ecient and potentially col- tries to discuss objectives and workow face to face. laborative. e University of Essex will soon publish Also needed is clear communication from Amnesty a “Beginner’s Guide to the DVC” that will provide a and other partners about the end-goal of student

16 assignments as well as public acknowledgement, when among DVC campuses. An annual face-to-face possible, for completed work. meeting among students, faculty, leaders, and experts will provide an opportunity for ongoing ¥. ORGANIZE ANNUAL STUDENT SUMMITS: evaluation and training as well as strategizing Participants expressed an overwhelmingly pos- about collaboration, governance, replication, and itive reaction to this first summit and left with more. Rotating campuses will also potentially en- a desire to organize an annual event that rotates ergize the host university.

Digital Veriﬁcation Corps Student Summit | 17 VI. CONCLUSION

THIS FIRST GLOBAL OPEN SOURCE student what worked and what needs improvement in summit at UC Berkeley marked the beginning order to craft a blueprint for future work. The of a new era in human rights investigations, one first two days of evaluation and training led to in which the expertise and energy of students is a third day of discussion to design a governance tapped worldwide. The summit brought together structure to facilitate collaboration and replica- students and faculty from five university teams tion in thoughtful, productive ways. By meeting at varying stages of development, all seeking to in person and having time to socialize, partici- improve and build upon their work. The students pants accomplished what would be exponentially and faculty learned from each other and from the more difficult otherwise: building a collabora- experts who pioneered open source investigations tive, global, university-based community of open as journalists and court investigators. Participants source human rights investigators at universities had a chance to air and document reflections on worldwide.

18 AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS

Andrea Lampros, Haley Willis, and Alexa Koenig Kat Madrigal, and Haley Willis; and to the Berkeley authored this report. ank you to Eric Stover, students who served as rapporteurs and helped sta Sam Dubberley, Scott Edwards, Samer Muscati, the summit: Hannah Bagdasar, Michael Elsanadi, and Daragh Murray for review and editing. Special Martha Fein, Karin Goh, Alexandra Gonzalez, thanks to the Human Rights Center sta and stu- Tatum Halligan, Monica Haulman, David Latt, dents who organized the summit: Alexey Berlind, Johann Laux, Nickie Lewis, Andrea Trewinnard, Monica Haulman, Alexa Koenig, Andrea Lampros, and Haley Willis.

19 APPENDIX I DIGITAL VERIFICATION CORPS STUDENT SUMMITAGENDA

MONDAY, JUNE 26: WELCOME DAY : : : Year-One Debrief : Bowles Hall Lounge : : : Welcome Reception : Bowles Hall Lounge : : : Breakout Groups: Berkeley Law : : : Picnic Dinner rooms , , and (pick up food in dining hall) • Collaborations : Bowles Hall Lawn • Psychosocial : Dinner, live music, and • Trainings group photo on the lawn • Public Outputs and Storytelling

TUESDAY, JUNE 27: DEBRIEF DAY : : : Report-back from Breakout Groups : Bowles Hall Lounge : : : Breakfast : Bowles Dining Hall : : : Break : : : Reception and Keynote : : Welcome and Introductions : Bowles Hall Lounge : Bowles Hall Lounge : Keynote speaker Eliot Higgins, Bellingcat

: : Year in Review: initial objectives, : :: Dinner highlights, accomplishments : Bowles Dining Hall : Bowles Hall Lounge

: : : DVC Projects WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28: TRAINING DAY : Bowles Hall Lounge : : : Breakfast ( ) : Bowles Dining Hall • Pretoria • Berkeley I : : : Anatomy of an Investigation • Essex : Bowles Hall Lounge • Toronto : Eliot Higgins • Berkeley II : : : Anatomy of an Investigation II : : : Lunch : Bowles Hall Lounge : Bowles Dining Hall : ICC Investigator

20 : : : Lunch THURSDAY, JUNE 29: : Bowles Hall Dining Hall SIGHTSEEING AND PLANNING DAY

: : : Video Explainers : : Berkeley Law Room : : : Breakfast : Malachy Browne : Bowles Dining Hall

: : : Cybersecurity : : Shuttle pick up for San Francisco trip : Berkeley Law Room : : : Sightseeing activities and : Bill Marczak lunch in San Francisco : : : Break : : : : Storyful: Building a global UGC : : : Breakfast newsroom from scratch. Lessons and ideas in tech : Bowles Dining Hall and skills : : Discussion and Planning for Year-Two : Berkeley Law Room : Bowles Hall Library : Gavin Sheridan : : Lunch : : : Wrap Up and Next Steps : Bowles Dining Hall : Bowles Hall Lounge : : : Discussion and Planning for : : : Break Year-Two (continued) : : : Dinner : Bowles Hall Library : Dining Hall : : : Break

: : Wrap up and Next Steps : Bowles Hall Library

Digital Veriﬁcation Corps Student Summit | 21 APPENDIX II DIGITAL VERIFICATION CORPS STUDENT SUMMITROSTER

: Alexa Koenig, Executive Director, Human Rights Center, Sam Dubberley, Manager, Digital Verication Corps

Calum Agnew University of Toronto, Student Fredrik Aahsberg University of Essex, Student Abi Ashena University of Pretoria, Student Hannah Bagdasar UC Berkeley, Student Alexey Berlind Human Rights Center, Programs Administrator and Events Coordinator Ed Bice Meedan, Founder Malachy Browne New York Times, Senior Story Producer Kim Bui Now is, Editor at Large Alison Cole New York University, Adjunct Professor Jenna Dolecek University of Essex, Student Sam Dubberley Amnesty International, Digital Verication Corps Manager Alix Dunn e Engine Room, Executive Director Elizabeth Eagen Open Society Foundations, Program Ocer Scott Edwards Amnesty International, Senior Advisor Henrietta Ekefre University of Pretoria, Student Michael Elsanadi UC Berkeley, Student Kody Emanuels UC Berkeley, Student Mayra Feddersen UC Berkeley, Student Martha Fiehn UC Berkeley, Student Nicole Forougi Archer Conor Fortune Amnesty International, Deputy Head of News and Media Lindsay Freeman Human Rights Center, International Criminal Lawyer Karin Goh UC Berkeley, Student Alexandra Gonzalez UC Berkeley, Student Mark Groenendijk University of Essex, Student

22 Tatum Halligan UC Berkeley, Student Monica Haulman UC Berkeley, Student Eliot Higgins Bellingcat, Founder Olivia Iannelli University of Essex, Student Alex Kang UC Berkeley, Student Alexa Koenig Human Rights Center, Executive Director Christoph Koettl Amnesty International, Senior Analyst Andrea Lampros Human Rights Center, Communications Director David Latt UC Berkeley, Student Johann Laux UC Berkeley, Doctoral Researcher Michelle Lee UC Berkeley, Student Dana Levine UC Berkeley, Student Nickie Lewis UC Berkeley, Student Alice Ma Archer, Founder Matthew Mahmoudi University of Cambridge, e Whistle Project, Program Lead Tokollo Makgalemele University of Pretoria, Student Bill Marczak UC Berkeley, Postdoctoral Researcher Milena Marin Amnesty International, Senior Innovations Campaigner Alexandria Matic University of Toronto, Student Ella McPherson University of Cambridge, Lecturer in the Sociology of New Media and Digital Technology An Xiao Mina Meedan, Director of Products Daragh Murray University of Essex, Professor Samer Muscati University of Toronto, International Human Rights Program Director Bryan Nunez Open Society Foundations, Program Ocer Michael Nyarko University of Pretoria, Student Adebayo Okeowo University of Pretoria, Doctoral Student and DVC Coordinator Bethanie Pascutto University of Toronto, Student Nushin Sarkarati Center for Justice and Accountability, Sta Attorney Gavin Sheridan VizLegal, Founder Michael Sproule University of Toronto, Student Samaruddin Stewart Stanford University, John S. Knight Fellow Eric Stover Human Rights Center, Faculty Director Andrea Trewinnard UC Berkeley, Student Tom Trewinnard Meedan, Director of Development Erica Williams University of San Francisco, Analyst Tom White Human Rights Center, Advisory Board Haley Willis UC Berkeley, Student

Digital Veriﬁcation Corps Student Summit | 23 APPENDIX III HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATIONS LAB AND DIGITAL VERIFICATION CORPS MEDIA IN 2016/2017

“UC Berkeley students work to authenticate “How the Internet Can Help Stop Human Rights photos, videos from conict zones,” ABC News, Abuse,” interview with Alexa Koenig by Chris July , . Riback, Working Capital Review, March , . “World’s next generation of human rights investi- “A New Generation of Human Rights Investigators gators meets at Berkeley,” UC Berkeley News, June Turns to High-Tech Methods,” PBS Newshour, Feb. , . , “As ‘fake news’ ies, UC Berkeley students verify “Human rights squad detects abuses in social and document,” e Mercury News, June , . media images” New Scientist, Nov. , . “UC Berkeley program seeks to help prosecute war criminals,” San Francisco Chronicle, April , .

HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER UC BERKELEY SCHOOL OF LAW 396 SIMON HALL BERKELEY, CA 94720 510.642.0965

HRCBERKELEY.EDU HRC.BERKELEY.EDU MEDIUM.COM/HUMANRIGHTSCENTER HRCBERKELEY