Benetech

Aspiring social entrepreneurs often grapple with the question of what type of legal structure they should create—a nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid. This is one of the topics that CEO Jim Fruchterman will be discussing at the upcoming Social Enterprise Alliance Summit 14. In his newly authored CSRwire op-ed ahead of the Summit, Jim offers guidance to social entrepreneurs through the issues they need to consider before they determine the legal form of their new venture.

How do improvements in information and communications technology affect governance? A particular area of concern in this context is the use of technology in countries where the government is weak or altogether missing. In a story that examines the transformative impact of data and communication on governance, the Brookings Institution’s TechTank blog highlights Benetech’s role as an innovation center.

After Snowden, Whither Internet Freedom? This is the theme set for the fourth annual Cyber Dialogue conference on March 30-31, 2014, where VP of Human Rights Enrique Piracés will be speaking. To preview his discussion, Enrique has published an op-ed on human rights technology in the age of hyper-surveillance on the Cyber Dialogue blog.

Palo Alto, California, March 26, 2014—Benetech has been selected as a mentoring organization for this year’s Google Summer of Code (GSoC 2014) program. This is the third year in which Google Summer of Code accepts Benetech to the program, which encourages students to participate in open source coding efforts.

I had the chance to sit down with Ugandan LGBTI activist Richard Lusimbo earlier this month at RightsCon. At the conference, he represented the LGBTI community in Uganda, where he says he feels like a criminal since the signing of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in February. I spoke to him about a range of issues, including LGBTI Rights and digital security.