Posted on: Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Program secures sensitive documents

By Ian Stewart
Associated Press

PALO ALTO, Calif. — During the conflict in Kosovo, a human rights researcher was passing through a checkpoint when government soldiers discovered the phone numbers of numerous rebel commanders in his notebook.

The incident may have endangered Kosovo Liberation Army sources.

That's why the researcher, Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch, wishes that at the time he'd had a new software tool developed expressly for people like him who collect ultrasensitive information.

Called Martus — Greek for "witness" — the software promises to make it much easier for wired witnesses to get information out of dangerous situations before it — or they — disappear.

"The best weapon against innocence being murdered is more information, more quickly, more accurately to the right people who can make a difference," said Jim Fruchterman, president and chief executive of Palo Alto-based Benetech Initiative, the nonprofit that created Martus.

With Martus, human rights workers in the field can interview vulnerable populations then swiftly and anonymously send out reports, thereby reducing the ever-present fear of discovery and reprisal.

It works by encrypting sensitive data — both on researchers' computers and as that data is transmitted to secure server computers in safer faraway locations.

Benetech's mission is to employ cutting-edge technology for social causes, and Martus is open-source software, meaning organizations that use it, such as Human Rights Watch, get access to the underlying code so they can adapt it to their needs.

Because it's a free download, anyone could build a Martus-based application — outlaws as well as do-gooders. But each set of users' data would be secured from outsiders by password protection.

Martus has just been introduced in Manila to the Philippine National Commission on Human Rights and the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates among others, with support from the U.S. State Department and the Asia Foundation — a private nonprofit that fosters democratic initiatives.

After a decade or so of civil unrest and terrorism, people in the Philippines have suffered from some of the worst human rights violations in Asia, by both Filipino soldiers and Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, according to Human Rights Watch Asia.

Some human rights advocates believe Martus — which will be rolled out next in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Russia and Guatemala — may be just what's needed to counter anti-democratic regimes.