See Nathan and the Guardian Project in this Feb. 23rd Wired article on the U.S. State Department’s Internet Freedom program and funding for innovative secure tech projects (a note from Nathan on the context of his quotes is here).
Freitas worries about the proliferation of camera phones — a somewhat counterintuitive concern, given the power of viral videos to inspire a protest movement or galvanize outside support. But impromptu video can reveal sensitive information like people’s faces. He sees a need to “tap on these faces and blur them out” before an innocent upload accidentally gives away someone’s identity and puts them in the crosshairs of a regime.
These are the kinds of ideas that the State Department says it wants to fund. But it’s just not clear how nimble the department can really be in dishing out money responsibly — a good-government encumbrance, remember — or even what it really means by a “venture capital approach,” says Sheldon Himelfarb, a technology expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Read the full article here.