Secure My Video Guide

Publishing securely

You need time to upload video and the internet may know who and where you are. The IP address from where you publish a video can be concealed, but if your video contains recognisable faces they can and will be identified. Facial recognition software is now widely spread.

Additionally, publishing via mobile devices can be risky. Carriers may collude with authorities to shut down networks, intercept video uploads and provide details of individual users. Mobile phones, for instance, may also embed your location within video meta-data.

Case study

The problems for activists in Papua are many and perilous. When Papuan leader Agus Alua died, text messages were blocked for almost 24 hours in Jayapura preventing, for instance, any coordinated response. Intelligence officers are known to act as phone credit sellers in order to obtain the numbers of suspected Papuan activists which are then alleged to be shared with the Special Forces (Kopassus).

Getting online comes with its own complications. The fastest and most reliable networks are only accessible nearby government buildings and military commands. As such, using poor bandwidth as an excuse, many internet cafes in Papua block YouTube.

Then there are the costs. In some remote areas certain Internet cafes charge a fee simply for opening a Facebook account.

Once you're there, do you publish under your name or anonymously? Publishing anonymously is little known in countries like Indonesia and in many other countries it is not encouraged.

Known issues and what you can do

Bandwidth constraints

Whilst there are bandwidth constraints in Papua, many other parts of Indonesia are better serviced.

Publish preview clips and provide an alternative means to distribute the entire video. For example, ICT Watch publishes short clips on YouTube and post CDs or DVDs on email request.
Shared directories on services such as Dropbox are a viable option so long as you can afford storage costs and rely on the service to keep your videos online.
Establish a trusted offline network to assist in distribution.

Publishing without the consent of your subjects

Responsible shooting and distribution.

Refer to Securing consent, page 4.
To secure the safety of their members some NGOs urge their them to upload videos under the name of their organisations so that the liability falls to them, not individuals producers who may not have the resources to combat any likely repercussions.

Outstanding issues / research questions

Uploads from mobile phones can be intercepted and / or meta data provided to authorities. How can such practises be mitigated?
What can online service providers do to assist in mitigating the threat to publishers (see WITNESS, Recommendations for Online and Mobile Service Providers)?
How can we address bandwidth constraints? Is this purely a technical problem, or can video producers employ more sophisticated compression tools, or limit themselves to shorter clips?
What are the most efficient compression tools that provide the smallest file sizes and clearest image? Noting clarity is required for authentication purposes.
What are the regulatory requirements of mobile phone carries in Indonesia in terms of user / client privacy? What kind of information are carriers required to make available to authorities and under what circumstances?
Which mobile phones geo-locate by default and which are optional?