WEBVTT -- English 00:00:01.405 --> 00:00:04.358 My name is Barrett Brown. I'm a journalist and activist. 00:00:05.065 --> 00:00:11.673 At this point in history, anyone who wants to participate in the important work of defending and expanding free and open societies 00:00:11.945 --> 00:00:14.349 has a couple of basic options before them. 00:00:14.666 --> 00:00:21.175 The most traditional one is to get involved with one of the NGOs, nonprofits, or other institutions 00:00:21.204 --> 00:00:24.189 that have been doing a lot of this important work for quite a while. 00:00:24.429 --> 00:00:31.224 The more novel way forward is to join up with one of the online movements that have coalesced around the Internet. 00:00:31.464 --> 00:00:35.179 and take this kind of work in a different, perhaps more practical, direction. 00:00:36.524 --> 00:00:40.442 We've seen some extraordinary successes come out of this latter approach, as new as it is, 00:00:40.762 --> 00:00:44.234 and I've had the opportunity to see some of them from the inside. 00:00:44.975 --> 00:00:47.688 Things ranging from the Democratic Revolution of Tunisia 00:00:48.158 --> 00:00:52.332 to successful campaigns to combat legislation like SOPA. 00:00:52.566 --> 00:00:57.883 If the revolutions and reform programs of the past ten years have been so successful 00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:01.911 using makeshift approaches like social networks, IRC - 00:01:02.494 --> 00:01:06.418 things that were intended for uses other than activist and civic work - 00:01:06.775 --> 00:01:10.500 Imagine what could be done with the proper tools at hand. 00:01:11.055 --> 00:01:15.224 This basic idea has been in the air for years now. 00:01:15.385 --> 00:01:17.563 But we can't wait any longer to bring it into fruition. 00:01:17.644 --> 00:01:19.644 Here’s how it works. 00:01:19.724 --> 00:01:26.278 On the Pursuance platform, anyone can create or apply to join customized, evolvable entities called pursuances. 00:01:26.385 --> 00:01:32.546 Each pursuance has a primary purpose and a hierarchy of tasks that functions as a road map to achieving its ends. 00:01:32.694 --> 00:01:38.209 Members of a pursuance can communicate through group chats, private messages, and voice and video calls; 00:01:38.484 --> 00:01:40.484 they can collaborate on documents; 00:01:40.525 --> 00:01:42.525 they can access and add to shared file repositories; 00:01:43.305 --> 00:01:47.140 and they can use open-source research tools, such as the annotation platform Hypothesis, 00:01:47.378 --> 00:01:49.378 which will be integrated directly into our own software. 00:01:49.504 --> 00:01:55.911 Granular permissions settings and incorporation of end-to-end encryption mean that a pursuance can be as open or closed as it needs to be. 00:01:56.454 --> 00:01:59.790 It can be visible to everyone on the platform or completely private; 00:02:00.378 --> 00:02:03.188 it can be accessible to anyone who cares to join, or invite-only; 00:02:03.337 --> 00:02:08.393 new members can see the full details of a pursuance immediately upon joining, or only a subset of tasks. 00:02:08.905 --> 00:02:12.399 and the privacy of your data won’t have to depend on who’s hosting your server. 00:02:12.944 --> 00:02:19.254 Most importantly, individual pursuances can grow via self-organized networks and engage with the wider Pursuance ecosystem, 00:02:19.294 --> 00:02:22.128 forming alliances and working together on issues of mutual interest. 00:02:22.495 --> 00:02:28.647 And if a task requires a special set of skills, you can search the entire server to find the best person for the job. 00:02:28.794 --> 00:02:33.838 This is a comprehensive way forward, and one that can be expected to expand very rapidly. 00:02:34.634 --> 00:02:41.493 Even at this early date, nearly 2,000 individuals and organizations have already signed up to participate in the Pursuance System when it goes live. 00:02:42.072 --> 00:02:48.930 We've also been joined in this effort by a number of figures across the worlds of journalism and activism and radical politics. 00:02:49.331 --> 00:02:51.453 Hi, this is Alex Winter 00:02:51.454 --> 00:02:53.454 I'm John Kiriakou 00:02:53.455 --> 00:03:00.278 I'm Duck Bardus, and I serve on the Executive Committee of a medical aid nonprofit called Frontline Wellness United. 00:03:00.342 --> 00:03:05.308 This is a platform created by activists, for activists. 00:03:05.627 --> 00:03:12.993 To bring a team together, to create complex projects, to track millions of tasks, 00:03:12.995 --> 00:03:18.008 to collaborate with other teams in far-flung locales all around the world... It's not easy. 00:03:18.064 --> 00:03:20.064 Giving counseling to a whistleblower 00:03:20.066 --> 00:03:25.620 or providing medics to Kenyan protestors has a whole host of challenges for us 00:03:25.977 --> 00:03:31.584 and we turn to the Pursuance Project to help us keep providers and their patients as safe as possible. 00:03:31.615 --> 00:03:35.338 This is a very important project at a very precarious time 00:03:35.365 --> 00:03:40.793 The world needs this collection of secure tools to help activists get things done. 00:03:40.794 --> 00:03:44.590 Many of us have to join, and that's the only way it's going to work. 00:03:44.625 --> 00:03:48.953 And we have to join by using it and by supporting it and sharing it with others. 00:03:48.971 --> 00:03:54.598 That's why we need your help. Pursuance itself just has to be built! 00:03:54.655 --> 00:03:57.319 I'm in! I hope you will be too. 00:03:57.375 --> 00:04:01.901 I have a great deal of faith in this project, and they could really use everyone's support. 00:04:01.901 --> 00:04:05.360 So please, dig deep and give! Thank you. 00:04:06.405 --> 00:04:13.070 If you're interested in doing good things better, consider participating. Consider donating.