Not that it’s a race, but the human rights sector should be way in front of the humanitarians in realising the importance of information assurance, having quite well-worked resources like those produced for Front Line Defenders by Enrique Eguren and Dmitri Vitaliev, and systems like Martus (which despite its limitations, is still the best replacement for a paper incident form so far devised, but that’s another post). However, opportunity to improve doesn’t necesarily translate into imrpovements, and I reckon we remain as vulnerable to complacency and over-optimism about tech security as the next chump, sadly, as Sanjana recently demonstrated.

I’d be happy to show how it integrates. As a technology-independent model, the infamous cubes works at a level of abtraction just above the technology layer. That is why the model (originally published in 1991) remains relevant even as technology changes.

You cannot solve policy probelms with technology, nor conversely, can you solve your technology problems with policy. The wisdom lies in knowing the difference.

~ John McCumber