WITNESS Attends South by Southwest Conference to Demo Latest Visual Privacy Mobile Application

NEW YORK, March 9, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Human rights organization WITNESS and socially-conscious tech developers The Guardian Project will demo their latest visual and data protection mobile application at the South by Southwest Conference (SXSW) in Austin.

The ObscuraCam v2 mobile app adds face-blurring functionality to mobile video on smartphones in an effort to support visual anonymity and privacy. It is the second mobile app to be released under the SecureSmartCam Project, a collaboration between WITNESS and The Guardian Project, which aims to help protect and verify the images, metadata, and identities of those both in front, as well as behind the camera. It has been developed for use both by human rights activists working in high-risk contexts, as well as other people concerned about privacy in visual images.

Preview available of ObscuraCam v2: http://youtu.be/9hi4c_DCrkw

For more information about the ObscuraCam v2 demonstrations at SXSW, please contact Sam Gregory ([email protected]) or Bryan Nunez ([email protected]). And follow @witnesssxsw.

Hands-on demonstrations are scheduled after the selected SXSW panels listed below:

How to Run a Social Site and Not Get Users Killed
Sunday, March 11, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
AT&T Conference Hotel, Salon D, 1900 University Ave., Austin, TX
http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_IAP10727
Join the conversation on Twitter: #sxsw and #safesocial. Follow Sam Gregory @samgregory for more!

But Are You a Real Journalist? #jan25 #occupy
Monday, March 12, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
Hyatt Regency Austin, Texas Ballroom 1-3, 208 Barton Springs Road, Austin, TX
http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_IAP100706
Join the conversation on Twitter: #sxsw and #citizensx. Follow Sam Gregory @samgregory for more!

Recognize This! Ethics of Mobile Face Tagging
Monday, March 12, 11-2 p.m.
Hilton Austin Downtown, Salon J, 500 E. 4th St, Austin, TX
http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_IAP10446
Join the conversation on Twitter: #sxsw and #mofacetag. And follow Bryan Nunez, @tech_wit and Harlo Holmes, @harlo

About WITNESS
WITNESS is the global pioneer in the use of video to expose human rights abuses. We empower people to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice, promoting public engagement and policy change. Founded in 1992, WITNESS has partnered with more than 300 human rights groups in over 80 countries, trained over 3,000 human rights defenders, developed widely-used training materials and tools, and supported the inclusion of video in more than 100 campaigns, increasing their visibility and impact. www.witness.org.

SOURCE WITNESS