31 Dec 2010

Google and George Clooney Aim Satellites at Sudan, Become "Anti-Genocide Paparazzi" | Fast Company

Garang maousoleum

 

[Image copyright 2010 DigitalGlobe. Produced by UNITAR-UNOSAT]

Most media have focused on the celebrity status of George Clooney and the spooks-style 'eye in the sky' technology of the Satellite Sentinel project for monitoring violence ahead of South Sudan's secession vote on Jan 9. But as anyone involved in satellite surveillance will tell you, ground-level verification is necessary to deal with all the false positives and Fast Company is the only mainstream medium (according to Google News) to report on the involvement of the Ushahidi-based Sudan Vote Monitor, whose work involves crowd-sourcing reports of violence.

UPDATE: See this excellent analysis of the history, philosophy and practice of 'air surveillance' by Patrick Meier, including reference to an existing project -- Amnesty's 'Eyes on Darfur'.