A video goes viral. Its poster claims it portrays Chinese citizens being sent off to Covid-19 quarantine camps. But how much can be verified? Open source evidence suggests the footage is real. It matches public announcements by authorities and is likely showing the case of, what the government calls, “centralized isolation”. — As a consequence of a renewed outbreak of Covid-19, Tianjin, a city in the north of China, locked down its city center. Residents of the central Heping (和平区) district were reportedly told they can't leave home or their neighborhoods.

The Russian occupation deliberately kidnapped civilians, journalists and politicians in order to break down the Ukrainian resistance in the occupied territories. — Adam Vojtenko (name changed) from the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, who will soon be 60, was on his way to the hospital because of his heart condition. He got on a bus, which was stopped a little later by Russian military and police forces. Vojtenko is pulled out. Friends who…

A wave of disinformation emerged since Russia invaded Ukraine, especially from the Russian side. We examined the most common patterns of how disinformation and propaganda is created and spread. This is a guide for journalists and anyone who hates to be taken for a fool… — Editors note: This is by no means a comprehensive framework of all the disinformation that emerged over the past month. But, in this two-part post we cover many of the most common techniques deployed. We describe in detail how to take them apart with open-source intelligence (#OSINT).

Methods for Investigating where Russian troops accumulated along Ukraine border — COUPSURE, a Twitter account working on the verification of the Russian troops` movement on the Ukrainian and Belarusian border, kindly chatted to me about open source tools. Supporting his approach in using Open Street Maps (OSM) data, I share a few thoughts on where I see the value for open source journalism. Instead of discussing all the myriad methodologies and tools to investigate the Russia's intent, we will just concentrate on one source of data: Open Street Maps.

An open-data investigation shows how an international carbon credit tree-planting scheme dashes the hopes of local communities in southern Uganda — The area around Rwoho forest in the south of Uganda is a lush reserve, spanning more than 9,000 ha, or around 12,600 soccer fields. …

Forensic open-data analysis shows how predatory journal giant OMICS churns out hundreds of online journals, potentially fooling hundreds of thousands of serious academics. — After receiving an email from a colleague overseas about a science publication, Jamie Burr was startled. Burr, an exercise physiologist in Canada was asked by a colleague if he wrote a specific paper that stated his name as the author. The problem: He didn’t.

An open-data investigation into Facebook reveals how wood traders use the platform unchecked to traffick large quantities of logs from Africa to Vietnam, some violating national export rules or breaching treaties for endangered wildlife. Despite pledges to curb illegal wildlife trade, Facebook’s blind spot is a boon for timber traffickers and a curse for the environment. — For the Vietnamese Facebook user Trần Mạnh the past year meant big business. He worked tireless, often nights, to sell wood. He described in one post in late March when he laments: “Another night, not sleepy. Around, still one thing $$$$$”.

Journalists use open-source intelligence, data and tools to research and report on illegal mining and deforestation. Here is how they do it. — This guide describes several basic techniques for monitoring and measuring destruction and pollution from illegal mining and how to examine corporate involvement and victims. Global supply chains and human rights violations show that illegal mining isn’t only a problem for the developing world. Risks span across the entire global supply…

Openly accessible data and intelligence (#OSINT), mostly from the web, may increasingly empower concerned and affected citizens to demask small-scale criminals hooked on Covid-19 related crimes, including dog theft and fly-tipping. — Covid-19 lockdown periods have been a boon for crime rates. In some realms of the criminal spectrum, crime decline considerably. In the UK, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found a 32 per cent reduction in total crime excluding fraud and computer misuse during April and May, last year.