The Deployable Camera Competition

The Deployable Camera Competition aims to jump-start the creation of camera systems that can be easily deployed in urban areas.  There are ongoing problems in many nations with police brutality, especially during large-scale demonstrations and protests—see recent events in Burma and Iran, for example.  The worst abuses occur when no one is watching, and when demonstrations are suppressed, the state often also suppresses any video of the event.  However, if video does get out, it can often be very useful in at least helping to shape public opinion.  Beyond that, though, an independent video record that cannot be suppressed by the police can support the prosecution of police acting outside the law, and may even act as a deterrent.  The camera systems in this competition are intended to provide more effective and secure solutions than simply recording video on a hand-held camera, although that is still a useful technique.  For more information on the rationale behind the competition, see the script that accompanies the talk below.

The Next HOPE Talk

The slides from the talk on July 16th at The Next HOPE in New York, NY are available here.  More information will be posted here shortly.  This talk was also given on May 24th at SIGINT 10 in Cologne, Germany.  This site is a bit light on further information right now; I'll be fixing that momentarily.