Benetech is pleased to announce that it has received funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Knight Prototype Fund, which helps people explore early-stage media and information ideas with $35,000 in funding. Developed by Benetech’s Human Rights Program (HRP) and led by Collin Sullivan, HRP Outreach Associate, the project supports data privacy […]
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) Tom Malinowski visited Silicon Valley recently to meet with corporate, civil society, and academic leaders for discussions on the current and future challenges related to human rights online and what the United States government can continue doing to promote and protect these rights. Benetech CEO, […]
Adopting an open source philosophy has proven to be quite effective when furthering technology-for-good, notes online magazine Opensource.com in an interview with Benetech CEO Jim Fruchterman. Fruchterman goes on to describe the open source tools Benetech builds; clarifies why it is important that cybersecurity tools in particular are open; explains how Benetech’s culture of “open” shapes its product development as well as broadly serves its social mission; and reflects on the reasons why the open source ethos is well suited for creating social impact.
As we start to grasp the scope and scale of unchecked surveillance, it is clear that having the know-how to protect personal information and privacy is no longer something that only human rights activists need. That’s why our Human Rights Program is working to increase use of end-to-end, open source encryption among journalists, citizen reporters, and activists, as well as broad awareness of the self-empowerment that open technology can generate. Team members of the Benetech Human Rights Program have just hosted a two-day workshop in New York City, where they introduced Martus, Benetech’s open technology for secure information management.
