Peter Gabriel on the Potential Power of Video Evidence

Peter Gabriel has published an oped in WIRED magazine. In it, our co-founder argues that video technology will play an important role in modernizing judicial systems so they are better equipped to incorporate video as evidence. He writes,

Law, like language, has to reflect the needs of the times. Justice systems in the United States and around the world urgently need to consider comprehensive appraisal of video as a potentially reliable form of evidence. Technology and the individuals using it can help make this happen…

The introduction of verified videos could be as critical as the introduction of forensics in criminal investigations and trials.

Peter suggests that ideas like WITNESS’ “proof mode“, which enhances the verifiability of digital video footage and allows better tagging options so that it might be more easily discovered and cataloged, could go a long way to help citizen video be used as evidence. He concludes:

From Syria to Staten Island citizens are exposing the truth with video. These citizen witnesses are bringing victims’ stories directly to our screens, revealing names and images that we might otherwise have never known…

Putting cameras in phones has put them directly into the hands of billions of people around the world, empowering billions of potential witnesses.

To ignore their experiences—and their evidence—is to ignore the foundation of real justice, the truth.

Read the entire article here. To learn more about WITNESS’ work on video as evidence, follow the series on our blog from the forthcoming Video as Evidence Field Guide.