Witness.org: Using Video to Document and Tell Stories
Witness.org is a Brooklyn-based non-profit that “…makes it possible for anyone, anywhere to use video and technology to protect and defend human rights.” Throughout the world, they have found many citizen journalists are “using video to document and tell stories…[but] are not filming safely or effectively.” Witness provides training and technology to use video as a vehicle to “protect and defend human rights” and to “create positive change in [their] communities.”
Witness.org had myriad websites under their umbrella and were looking for a consistent message under one web property. As there were multiple properties, there were some theme inconsistencies to clean up and also a larger narrative about Witness.org holistically.
Witness.org: Protecting the Human Rights of Citizen Journalists
The biggest challenge was privacy-related, as Witness.org’s stated goal is to “protect and defend human rights”, that means they also had to protect and defend the brave journalists they arm in the battle against human rights abusers. Freelock consulted on many different approaches to protect the citizen journalists and deployed a new site that anonymized the traffic—a critical piece of to protect the citizen journalists.
Freelock Protection Plan
Witness.org is now on Freelock’s protection plan, which means their new site is updated and backed up without their involvement. Organizations like witness.org are standing up to some of the biggest challenges of the day, and they need a website that quickly and accurately communicates their position to their stakeholders all over the world. The challenge of arming citizen journalists is a real challenge that requires the staff’s undivided attention. Website maintenance and security upgrades (required to make the anonymization work) would be a distraction from a committed team. Putting Freelock in charge of the consistent delivery of their website was a strategic and effective path forward.
Witness.org: Standing up to Unspeakable Circumstances
For those brave enough to tackle the challenges of the day and to stand in the face of some of the world’s most egregious regimes, Freelock is proud to partner with Witness to arm the citizen journalists with the training and tools they need—and to do it in a way that maintains their safety.