*ONLINE* Ethical Matters: Bellingcat – The Citizen Intelligence Agency

How did a group of self-taught internet sleuths end up solving the biggest crimes of our time? Bellingcat is what the world needs right now – an intelligence agency by the people, for the people.

Higgins** This is an ONLINE only event. Conway Hall is a charity and we politely ask you to add a donation of at least £5 when registering. **

After the Russian suspects in the Salisbury poisoning appeared on television, it took just under two weeks for the real identity of one of them to be revealed. This huge investigative coup wasn't pulled off by an intelligence organisation or a traditional news outlet. Instead it was made by Bellingcat, the open-source investigative unit that is redefining the way we think about news, politics and the digital future.

Bellingcat, the home-grown investigative unit, is redefining the way we think about news, politics and the digital future. Here, their founder – a high-school dropout on a kitchen laptop – tells the story of how they created a whole new category of information-gathering, galvanising citizen journalists across the globe to expose war crimes and pick apart disinformation, using just their computers.

From the downing of Malaysia Flight 17 over the Ukraine to the sourcing of weapons in the Syrian Civil War and the identification of the Salisbury poisoners, in his book We Are Bellingcat, Eliot Higgins digs deep into some of Bellingcat's most successful investigations. It explores the most cutting-edge tools for analysing data, from virtual-reality software that can build photorealistic 3D models of a crime scene, to apps that can identify exactly what time of day a photograph was taken.

In our age of uncertain truths, Bellingcat is what the world needs right now – an intelligence agency by the people, for the people.

Eliot Higgins is the founder of Bellingcat and the Brown Moses Blog. Eliot focuses on the weapons used in the conflict in Syria, and open source investigation tools and techniques. His book We Are Bellingcat: An Intelligence Agency for the People is available from Bloomsbury Books.

LINKS FOR FURTHER INFO:

Website:  https://www.bellingcat.com/book/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bellingcat / https://www.facebook.com/BloomsburyPublishing

Twitter: @Eliot / @BloomsburyBooks

** This talk will be held online using the Zoom application (available for PC, Mac, iOS and Android). A link to join the talk will be sent to ticketholders on the day of the event. **
 

Others Details

Category: Attractions | Talks & Lectures Time: 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Speakers: Eliot Higgins