For close to a year now we’ve been building “The Bandwidth Bank” – a platform to collect and distribute unused bandwidth and put it to work for social and humanitarian causes. We’ve taken the idea to the World Economic Forum, to the United Nations and now we’re starting to get some serious traction.
We have been engaged by NATO who provides over 200 megabits of bandwidth to some 22 universities in Afghanistan, including Kabul University, Bamyan University, and Nangarhar University. They are thrilled with the idea of The Bandwidth Bank. Dr. Walter Kaffenberger, program director for NATO’s internet projects, said to us: “we have so much expensive unused bandwidth during off hours, it would be great to use it to help others.”
On the weekends and in evenings that bandwidth sits idle.
We put out an appeal to organizations in Afghanistan to learn if this unused bandwidth would be useful. In the past 24 hours, five organizations in three cities have requested to be involved in any future bandwidth-sharing pilot project. That bandwidth could be bringing access to a women’s only Internet cafe, a youth-run local radio station, a media training NGO, and a local relief organization who would use the extra bandwidth to conduct web-based research, Skype interviews, and aggregate news found online and to share with the local community… More bandwidth would it make it easier for all of these organizations to do their job effectively.
NATO has invited us to Afghanistan to join in on discussions with the universities and the Afghan government to get buy in for the concept. We’ve selected our Afghanistan consultant, Una Moore, to go. She’s awesome.
Una has spent two years in Afghanistan – she’s implemented solar-powered study rooms, mobile computer labs, and connected women’s dorms at Bamiyan University. She has coordinated GIS and open source mapping trainings for local NGOs in Kabul and Bamiyan. She is a rockstar, and she’s willing to sleep in a container on a military base to save money.
This is an amazing opportunity to change the way NATO distributes bandwidth not only in Afghanistan, but across the globe. Una is the right person for the job, but we have one problem – it’s a $2,500 trip, which we can’t afford, and NATO is not willing to cover travel expenses. Una has promised to keep the world updated with amazing blog posts and photos, we’re just missing one little thing…
It’s been quite awhile since we’ve checked in. Only with the holiday lull am I able to take a breath and reflect on all that’s happened in the last few months. Here’s an update!
A Human Right and the United Nations are officially teaming up!
In early December a delegate from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) visited the (new) San Francisco headquarters of A Human Right to explore avenues of collaboration. UN-OCHA’s is responsible for the coordination of relief efforts during international disasters like the recent tsunami in Japan.
The outcome of our meeting was spectacular: A Human Right is helping bolster relief efforts through our latest initiative that we’ve been working on for the last year. We can’t go into much detail about what it is that we’re planning but simply put: we’re taking idle internet, cellular, and fixed wired bandwidth and putting it to work for social and humanitarian causes. We’ll be announcing details soon after we finish up our pilot program. Disaster relief is as well as business development, education, telemedicine, and technology exploration are our core areas of focus.
We are thrilled by our new relationship with the United Nations it’s an honor to be collaborating with them on a multitude of ideas that we will be sharing with you soon!
First Ever A Human Right Friendraiser
To honor the visit of representatives from the United Nations (who flew all the way in from Geneva) we put together a beautiful ‘friendraiser’ and dinner in San Francisco. This friendraiser was designed to bring together some great minds in the Bay area and put them to task thinking about how they could help bring our vision to life. Incredible people from all over the globe flew in to join in on a candid dialog about the next steps A Human Right is taking to address the connectivity issues the world faces and how we can solve them. It was an exhilarating and productive evening.
A big thank you to: Larry Schaadt owner of the Regale Winery for donating the wine, Taylor for opening her home to our guests, Dane from Salt and Honey Catering for donating his time to cook a delicious meal for us, and Guru Khalsa co-founder of Campfire Creative for documenting the evening.
In June A Human Right packed its bags and left Boston for Silicon Valley. We were welcomed with open arms thanks to the lovely people at Rally.org who offered us a place to call home in downtown San Francisco.
Rally.org is a fundraising platform that “turns fans into fundraisers”. They launched a beta of their product in June and have an incredible group of investors including Reid Hoffman and Ron Conway.
They’ve turned the bottom floor of their office into an incubation platform for rockstar non-profits. Terris Güell founder of Studio Güell helped us design our space and donated hundreds of dollars of unused furniture. We are very grateful for his help in getting settled in.
You can visit us, send love letters, or presents to:
A Human Right
1st Floor
144 2nd Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
A Human Right Canada Launches
We are proud to announce that A Human Right has officially started operations in Canada. Colin Doylend, the director of A Human Right Canada and his team have been working closely with the over 600 governments representing some 700,000 people that make up Canada’s indigenous, or First Nations, community. We are trying out a number of models intended to sustainably bridge the divide and provide opportunities for First Nations people. Currently unemployment rates for these groups are greater than 50% and high school graduation rates are below 30%.
The lessons we learn in bringing access to these remote territories will provide us with valuable knowledge which can be applied to other countries. Our vision is to open a branch of A Human Right in every country and we are making major headway thanks to a focused team.
Growing the Advisory Team
In our travels we have managed to pick up some truly incredible people who are lending a hand and guiding us. We are very proud to welcome the following individuals to our advisory team:
David Drucker — Co-Founder, Echostar; Founder, WildBlue Daniel Faber — Former president, Canadian Space Society
Chérif Ghaly — United Nations OCHA Chair, Working Group on Emergency Telecoms & Chief, technical coordination and partnerships Jan King — VP, Qualcomm; VP of Space Technology for STL; Director, Orbital Sciences Patrick Lanthier — Co-Founder/Chairman, Emergency Communications Leadership & Innovation Center (eCLIC) at Carnegie Mellon University-Silicon Valley Tiffany Shlain — Founder of the Webby Awards & Film Maker
Refreshed Branding
We never got around to finalizing our look, but with the help of our excellent graphics designer Sara VanSlyke we are getting a facelift. Meet our new logo:
Soon our website will also be getting an overhaul. We have spent a great deal of time putting together comprehensive slide decks and materials for the wide array of audiences that we interact with. Soon we will be wrapping all that we have learned into an inspiring and a more informative website.
Coming in 2012
Next year is going to be a big one for A Human Right. We will be launching our next initiative which is built around partnerships with leading telecommunication companies, aid organizations, governments, and communities. We’ve been laying the framework and our recent agreement with the United Nations is a tremendous confirmation that we are on the right path.
With the launch of our next initiative we also plan to bring in a few new members to the team to grow our ambassador program and identify leaders who can drive their own connectivity movement in their own country. We will be putting on some awesome new fundraising campaigns in 2012 (attempting to raise half a million dollars) that should grab a lot of attention as well. We have a clear path, and we are in the process of testing out our theories and operationalizing a big vision. We are confident and very excited about what we will be able to accomplish in 2012.
We hope you have a beautiful New Year’s celebration, thanks for joining us in connecting everyone.
Terrestar and its high performance satellite Terrestar 1 has been sold for 1.375 Billion dollars to Dish Network. We endeavored to purchase the satellite through our crowd funded initiative “Buy This Satellite”. Thanks to your support and the audaciousness of the idea A Human Right.org was able to attract global media attention to the connectivity issue. While we did not purchase our bird, the campaign was a tremendous success. This proved to be exceptionally relevant as connectivity has been a huge issue this year due to the many disasters and the civil unrest that has occurred.
The almost $67,000 in funds raised to purchase the satellite is being put to work on a second iteration of the initiative, which takes a slightly different approach to solving the same problem.
With new offices in San Francisco and Vancouver Canada and growing team of volunteers and ambassadors, we’re expanding our operation and continuing to take on the connectivity challenge. Thanks to everyone for all of their help, feel free to drop us a line if you’d like to get involved.
The mission of A HUMAN RIGHT.org and organizations like us has been given tacit approval. A report released on June 3, 2011 by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations declared Internet access a human right. It is our pleasure to learn that the objectives of the United Nations and A HUMAN RIGHT.org are uniquely aligned.
The report detailed the Internet as “one of the most powerful instruments of the 21st century for increasing transparency in the conduct of the powerful, access to information, and for facilitating active citizen participation in building democratic societies.” Given the great power of the Internet, it stands to reason that that there will be those who attempt to corrupt it. Countries that conspire to control the digital dialog will always be at a deficit to the needs of their people and now they have been put on notice: ”there should be as little restriction as possible to the flow of information via the Internet, except in few, exceptional, and limited circumstances prescribed by international human rights law.” The UN stressed, “the full guarantee of the right to freedom of expression must be the norm, and any limitation considered as an exception, and that this principle should never be reversed.”
The UN report outlined how several member states have already recognized Internet access as a right: “The parliament of Estonia passed legislation in 2000 declaring Internet access a basic human right. The constitutional council of France effectively declared Internet access a fundamental right in 2009, and the constitutional court of Costa Rica reached a similar decision in 2010. Going a step further, Finland passed a decree in 2009 stating that every Internet connection needs to have a speed of at least one Megabit per second (broadband level).”
Access to the Internet was described as a tool that “facilitated economic development” and hammered home the simple truth that ensuring Internet access protects other human rights, “Unlike any other medium, the Internet enables individuals to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds instantaneously and inexpensively across national borders. By vastly expanding the capacity of individuals to enjoy their right to freedom of opinion and expression, which is an “enabler” of other human rights, the Internet boosts economic, social and political development, and contributes to the progress of humankind as a whole.”
The report emphasized the importance of a continued effort to bridge the digital divide urging that “ensuring universal access to the Internet should be a priority for all States” in order to “make the Internet widely available, accessible and affordable to all segments of population.”
A HUMAN RIGHT.org has had the privilege of discussing these ideas with the UN in the past. We salute that the UN has chosen to protect the rights of current and future netizens across the globe. This is a tremendous success for all.
The last few months have been a tremendous time of growth for ahumanright.org. I personally have had the privilege to travel all over the world to speak and collaborate with individuals, companies, and organizations as to how access to information can improve the lives of others. My energy, and the energy of the team, has been focused on building momentum behind our core mission. We’ve been busy as of late, allow me to share with you where we’ve been and where we are going.
In November I was invited to give a TEDx talk in Athens Greece. It was a tremendous experience where the ideas we’ve been shaping were greeted with a great deal of enthusiasm. While there we launched the Buy This Satellite campaign– a crowd-funded social endeavor to buy a satellite in order to bring Internet access to developing countries.
I was soon receiving invitations to speak at all sorts of events and share the vision of AHUMANRIGHT.ORG. The Satellite 2011 conference in Washington DC was one of those events and posed the biggest opportunity to make lasting connections in the industry. That was a bit of a challenge as I was by far the youngest speaker by what seemed about 20 years, I also was the only person not wearing a suit. During a panel discussion with leading CEO’s of the industry they had an open mic Q and A session. Seizing the opportunity I (shakily) posed this question for the panel: “Some have characterized the industry as only going after the low hanging fruits- corporate and military contracts which can afford the high price of satellite access. Will there be an expanded focus on the “long tail” of the developing world- the general consumer? Who will take on that challenge?” The response was incredibly genuine as the CEO’s outlined the huge challenges they face in how they have addressed and how they are continuing to address those challenges.
After the panel finished I handed them all “I Bought a Satellite” t-shirts (they actually had!), got their cards, and thanked them for their response. Some day soon I’d like to work closely with them to address the digital divide on a global scale, I think we can do it.
We launched the Ambassador program, now 22 members and growing. The ambassadors are a grassroots movement of individuals spreading the vision of Internet access for all in their local countries.
We connected with the “One Laptop Per Child” foundation and visited their headquarters in Boston MA. They have deployed millions of laptops for children all over the world– we’d like to facilitate getting those laptops online to increase their impact.
I went to Panama and met with leaders who use the Internet to create democratic momentum and spearheaded an initiative to bring Internet access to hospitals in Northern Africa, specifically places suffering from civil unrest.
This has been the most interesting part of our work, as we are still learning the political ramifications of bringing Internet access to places that suffer from a lack of transparency. In some instances it is very much illegal to even discuss the introduction of information services with people on the ground. We continue to keep most of this work under wraps to protect the security of those involved.
Status of the Buy This Satellite Campaign
The Buy This Satellite campaign has been a tremendous success. None of us imagined the amount of support we would receive from the press and the public.
As Internet catalyzed revolutions spread throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa we watched as a simple idea to connect others transformed into an honest discussion about the power of the Internet. Internet access made public the plight of our fellow man. People organized, fundraised, and rallied online in support of those on the ground who gave (and are still giving) their lives for freedom.
When Egypt shut off Internet access for the entire country the whole world was startled that such a thing was even possible. The Buy This Satellite campaign become a rallying point as a potential solution to the problem. TIME Magazine, Al Jazeera, and other news organizations illustrated how our initiative could serve the communication needs of protestors on the ground. During that time we received thousands of requests to volunteer, ambassador applications, and donations. Our story was shared all over the globe on major news outlets. From the BBC, to Norwegian Radio, to the front page of Reddit.com. (TL:DR?)
We raised over $60,000 and the world has been cheering us on. Mind blowing.
Terrestar-1 is still up for grabs but the possibility of an acquisition seems slim. In recent valuation filings the satellite system was said to be worth close to 1 billion dollars due to the recent sale of a similar satellite. This is far from the typical “ten cents on the dollar” satellite sales which we had been modeling the idea on. It has been reported that Terrestar is moving to liquidate it’s assets but it is yet to be seen if Terrestar will actually find a buyer for that price. We are still standing by if any investor would like to step up and build a social business around this incredibly useful piece of space hardware. The Buy This Satellite initiative isn’t over until the future of Terrestar-1 is bought and paid for!
What’s Coming Next
1. WE’RE MOVING IN JUNE! A social-startup incubator has generously offered us a new home in San Francisco. We’ll be working in close proximity to a whole flock of social entrepreneurs with equally ambitious initiatives. Details coming soon.
2. The next initiative. We’re assembling all of the parts of a complex initiative that, if goes as planned, should be unprecedented in scale and impact. We have been building relationships with a number of telecommunications companies, charities, and startup social ventures to create what we hope will become a movement.
3. AHUMANRIGHT Canada!
3. Expansion of the Ambassador Program. We’re still learning how to organize and mobilize people on the ground effectively. Once we have a good handle on the logistical side of things we’ll be putting together a number of local campaigns that everyone can get involved with.
4. New website, new logo, and more effective ways to communicate with you.
Personally I am thankful for the support of all the amazing volunteers who have stepped up to support us, for the in kind sponsorships and all of our amazing donors, for the people in the press who have shared our story across the planet, and most importantly to the team who is making this possible.
The future of the planet is ours to shape, lets ensure everyone has a voice.
Smug is something I am not right now. I wish that the means to take advantage of this patently unique situation would appear. You have understood: Terrestar-1 could fundamentally improve the lives of millions of people. You have donated, you have volunteered, you have advocated. You are incredible.
I wish today wasn’t april fools and our humorous acquisition of a satellite was true. I wish that I could join you in your joy, knowing that we have achieved something monumental in the pursuit of the betterment of mankind. We haven’t yet, but we will, because we must.
Several weeks ago I was invited to speak at the Satellite 2011 conference in Washington DC. I sat on a small panel and spoke to a room of enthusiastic morning-people. I tried my best to articulate how satellites, and communications in general, can (and are) directly benefitting peoples lives. I talked about Japan, and the thousands who were already listed on the Google Person Finder. I explained Ushahidi and how disaster mapping was so beneficial, so vital to saving and protecting lives. The effect on the telecommunications infrastructure in Japan post earthquake was described rather simply: ”it didn’t even blink.” It stayed on, resilient, connecting people in their hour of need. Brilliant.
I juxtaposed the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that shook Haiti and how the telecommunications were almost entirely severed. How procuring satellite comms was a nightmare, how groups like Invenio, frantically setting up microwave links atop toppled buildings, were the heros that saved many lives in that dire situation. Those links allowed NGO’s to coordinate, allowed them to ask for supplies. Internet access was the vital tool that helped them do their job.
I described the torturous moments for friends and family abroad as Egypt pulled the plug on it’s citizens. How the Internet, almost in unison, posed the question: “They can do that? Unplug an entire country?” How Tunisia used the Internet to control it’s population by tracking Facebook logins, how Libya is still holding its citizens hostage under a black veil of zero connectivity. During every revolution, governments worked feverishly to silence their people. Violating their freedom of speech, alienating their right to connect, to be informed, to be aware.
As I packed up my laptop and said my thank you’s to the panel a man approached me. With his hand outstretched he said, ”I have 52 schools all over Africa. If you get your satellite, there are thousands of children who would benefit from it. Please consider us.” I said to him, “If we get our satellite, I would be honored if you would allow us to serve you.”
To that man, to the survivors, to the heros who are already serving those in their hour of need: someday soon the reality that we played out in jest, will be a reality played out in truth.
Thank each and every one of you for your continued support. Join us as we continue to work to Buy A Satellite.
We’ve kicked off our Ambassador program by bringing in some incredibly motivated people from around the world who want to spread awareness to connect the 5 billion people who are disconnected and do some fundraising to continue our efforts to buy a satellite.
Livia Achchar, our ambassador in Brazil, cooked up an excellent plan:
The Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro is one of the biggest in the world. Last year we had 4.8 million “folioes” (or carnival goers). I live in Ipanema Beach, were lots of “blocos” – that’s the street bands and moving parties – pass by in front of my house. So every year, me and my friends buy some beer and when the party comes our way we just go downstairs and sell it!
This year we found out about this spectacular campaign in the internet and decided to help proving that financial obstacles can’t beat a crazy idea when lots of people believe in it. So we printed a huge poster and set off to sell some digital inclusive beer!”
We even made a stamp with the satellite for sale image and everyone that contributed to the cause got stamped and ran around all day with the satellite in their skin. They were walking ads!”
We found ourselves talking to several groups of really interested and supportive people (consider that convincing drunk people that this campaign isn’t a kind of joke is not that easy). They were coming back to buy beer only from us!”
We didn’t make a lot money but we have in our memories the positive reactions of the ones that stopped in the middle of their party time to listen to us, to discuss about digital inclusion and to make this crazy idea stronger by believing in it.
Congratulations to the creators of this campaign! We strongly believe in it and we hope that our effort can encourage the multiplication of fundraising initiatives worldwide!
Livia Achcar Mourão and Felipe de Carvalho
Brazil
Interested in becoming an ambassador? We invite you to apply here.
We tip our hats to the BBC’s global radio service that brings news to over 188 million people in 32 different languages across the planet. For many the news service is the only means of accessing information. Unfortunately the BBC is in the process of undergoing significant cut backs: dropping 5 languages an an estimated 30 million listeners.
Dan Damon, host of “World Update” invited founder of ahumanright.org to talk about why we believe access to information is a basic human right and how we plan to continue what the BBC started many years ago. We were delighted to chat with him:
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We’ve been approached by a number of satellite owners who have offered the use of their satellites to provide Internet access as a basic human right. We’re still negotiating the details of that, so we have to be a bit coy, but that got us thinking…
What if the owner of every communications satellite pledged to give a portion of their unused bandwidth to ahumanright.org? The world is covered several times over by different communications satellites that are not living up to their full potential– very few satellites are running at full capacity.
Imagine if there was a network available to all people in any situation. It could be the education network providing tele-teaching to students in rural villages. It could be the disaster relief network ensuring that first-responders can coordinate relief. It could be the remote-medicine network ensuring that people everywhere can get a checkup. It could be the network that helps people to help themselves- news, weather, and data at your fingertips. Let’s build a network and change the world.
If you know someone, or know someone who knows someone that could facilitate this endeavor please get in touch. This is quite possible.
And what about the modems to access these satellites? We’re currently in Boston drumming up support at MIT-home of some of the most capable engineers in the world. What for? To build a $100 satellite modem.
Today we’re announcing the launch of our “Ambassador Program” — a world wide collective of individuals who will represent ahumanright.org in their local community. We’re looking for top notch people who can create movement locally for impact globally.
If you would like to learn more and/or apply click the link below.
If you’re not interested in taking on the role of ambassador but you’d still like to get involved share with us some of your details here and we’ll be in touch. Over 200 people have expressed an interest in joining the team, thank you for your consideration.
In other news: we’re revamping our website. If you’re a graphics designer who wants to help please get in touch.
