Human Rights Investigations Lab

Koenig and Freeman publish in Hastings Law Journal

July 13, 2022

HRC executive director Alexa Koenig and Tech, Law, and Policy director Lindsay Freeman co-authored "Cutting-Edge Evidence: Strengths and Weaknesses of New Digital Investigation Methods in Litigation," in the UC Hastings Law Journal. The piece delves into the risks present with the use of OSINT investigation methods in litigation, with an eye towards challenging the investigator, the methods, the evidence, the analytical findings, the testimony...

Seven Essential Questions for Ethical War Crimes Documentation

June 1, 2022

Published both on HRC's Blog and on Responsibledata.io, this piece co-authored by HRC's Alexa Koenig, Videre est Credere's Jacqueline Geis, and JustPeace Labs' Jennifer Easterday presents urgent considerations for those currently collecting, investigating & analyzing open source information in Ukraine & beyond...

HRC's Alexa Koenig speaks about OSINT in war crimes investigations on 60 Minutes

May 16, 2022

Alexa Koenig in a 60 Minutes interview with Scott Pelley

HRC's Alexa Koenig spoke with Scott Pelley on the May 15th episode of 60 Minutes about OSINT investigations into potential war...

Alexa Koenig speaks with Coda Story on social media archiving of digital evidence

May 24, 2022
Coda Story "I think there is recognition that these platforms are being used as tools by people who are trying to terrorize populations," HRC's Alexa Koenig said in a Coda Story interview for the...

Lindsay Freeman's work on cyberwarfare in WIRED

May 12, 2022
The Case for War Crimes Charges Against Russia’s Sandworm Hackers, published in WIRED, features Lindsay Freeman, director of Technology, Law, and Policy at the Human Rights Center in a discussion of her team's research and their submission to the International Criminal Court to consider Russia's Sandworm cyberattacks against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine as war crimes....

HRC and Journalism Students Collaborate on Reveal Investigation

February 23, 2022

Grace Oldham of Reveal News, Berkeley Law student Emma MacPhee, journalism student Eliza Partika, and Gisela Perez de Acha of the Human Rights Center and Investigative Reporting Program celebrate the release of “A Strike at the Heart of Roe.”

Digital Lockers: Archiving Social Media Evidence of Atrocity Crimes

Alexa Koenig, Shakiba Mashayekhi, Diana Chavez-Varela, Lindsay Freeman, Kayla Brown, Zuzanna Buszman, Rachael Cornejo, Amalya Dubrovsky,
Sofia Jordan, Sang-Min Kim, Lucy Meyer, Pearlé Nwaezeigwe, Sri Ramesh, Maitreyi Sistla, Eric Sype, Ji Su Yoo.
2021

Digital Lockers report coverDownload: Digital Lockers: Archiving Social Media Evidence of Atrocity Crimes

Given the use of social media by people living in areas of armed conflict or severe repression, social media platforms have become accidental and...