"Heartbeat" is a proof of concept. The goal is to develop a system that provides people who are in danger of oppression due to political views with the possibility to be "tracked" in daily life. This tracking makes sure that the person is seemingly still active in his own private environment (and not locked away) by observing twitter and blogs and requiring periodical confirmation. As soon the tracking cannot spot the person anymore (no heartbeats have been received) the system starts informing family members, defined contacts, Amnesty International, etc. immediately to report a missing person.
Additionally the system makes it posssible for the person to trigger a call for help sent to all listed contacts by mentioning a secret codeword in an observed channel.
In countries all over the world, governments invoke national security or the need to counter terrorism to justify holding people without contact with their families and without basic safeguards such as fair trial or access to an independent lawyer or doctor. Under International Law, this is known as unlawful detention. Isolation from the outside world facilitates torture and can in itself constitute a form of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Relatives may be left not knowing whether their loved ones are alive or dead. Those on the ground who want to help frequently face harassment and threats from the authorities.
International law prohibits arbitrary arrest or detention. Detainees need to be told why they have been held, be able to challenge the lawfulness of their detention with the assistance of an independent lawyer, have their families informed of their whereabouts and to communicate and receive visits from them; they should receive a prompt and fair trial if they are not released.
We have a working android app, a working REST API which can be used to extend the system with more sensors, a working monitoring service which waits for incoming heartbeats and a (mostly) working web interface for data visualization.
All of the above
by.... participating! Download the code from github, improve it and send us a pull request!
Comments
Hi Sebastian, I just want to
Hi Sebastian, I just want to extend my thanks to you for choosing to run with this initiative and for kick-starting development of a prototype. It'd be great to touch base with you at some point over the next week or so to discuss the best way to keep momentum going on the development of the app. Maybe we can organise a Skype call at some point.