Witness In The News

It's All a Blur: YouTube Offers It's Most Obscure Protection Yet

July 19, 2012 - IT Wire

Many citizen journalists take videos from protests and demonstrations to upload to YouTube. Depending on where they are, this act could put them in great risk. YouTube's new face-blurring tool allows activists to protect their identites and decrease this risk.
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Google Introduces Face-Blurring to Protect Protestors on YouTube

July 19, 2012 - The Guardian

Protestors now have the option to blur their faces to protect them from authorities if their videos are featured on YouTube.
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YouTube Protects Activists with New Face-Blurring Feature

July 19, 2012 - TG Daily

YouTube answers WITNESS' call for a face-blurring option to protect visual anonymity in video sharing. Sam Gregory explains the real need for this tool; "in places like Syria, activists on the ground note how often people are identified and tracked down because of the videos that they share online," he says.

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YouTube's New Face Blur Tool and What It Means for Activists Globally

July 19, 2012 - Global Voices Advocacy

Program Director, Sam Gregory, discusses the new YouTube face-blur feature and what it means for human rights activists.
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YouTube's Face-Blur Tool Aims to Protect Identity of Citizen Journalists, Uphold Human Rights Issues

July 19, 2012 - International Business Times

YouTube responds to call by WITNESS to protect identity of citizen journalists and launches the new face-blurring tool.
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YouTube Announces Easy Face-Blurring Tool to Protect Anonymity of Video Subjects

July 18, 2012 - The Altantic

The Atlantic interviews Sam Gregory as noting that the tool "will help people not just in mass setting but in more direct testimonial videos in which they are the only actors."
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Protecting Yourself and Others in YouTube Videos

July 18, 2012 - Google Public Policy Blog

Over the past several years, YouTube has been taking steps to become both an effective and safe platform for citizen reporting. Today, they announce the addition of a face blurring tool to their site, which will give users a new way to maintain visual anonymity in their videos.
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Face Blurring: When Footage Requires Anonymity

July 18, 2012 - YouTube Blog

YouTube takes notice of WITNESS' Cameras Everywhere Report finding -that "no video-sharing site or hardware manufacturer currently offers users the option to blur faces or protect identity"- in the announcement of its new face blurring tool.
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YouTube's New Face-Blurring Tool Designed to Protect Activists

July 18, 2012 - LA Times

LA Times gets Sam Gregory's input on YouTube's new face-blurring tool and how this "emerging technology" will make the site a safer space for video advocacy.
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YouTube Offers a Way to Blur Faces, Protecting Identities in Videos

July 18, 2012 - New York Times Media Decoder Blog

Sam Gregory explains how YouTube's new face-blurring tool will benefit activists who are documenting human rights abuses in repressive and dangerous environments, such as Myanmar, Iran, and Syria.

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