LexisNexis announced the winning design of the “Hack the Change” Hackathon challenge. More than 40 coders, developers and designers were brought together over 48 hours, tasked with prototyping solutions to connect lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) people with those documenting and fighting discrimination.
The winning concept, the brainchild of the team “Suitcase Hackers”, was the creation of a tool within the application “Snapchat”. Witnesses and victims of hate crime will be able to upload evidence as images, videos and documentation securely through the application. This information will be safely stored in the cloud to allow the evidence to be verified by lawyers and NGOs. To protect user anonymity and safety, the tool will appear as any other contact within the app, making it difficult for anyone searching through the user’s phone to detect.
The event was hosted by LexisNexis and The Human Dignity Trust, and supported by Amazon Web Services, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hogan Lovells and Osborne Clarke. Leading Sri Lankan activist Rosanna Flamer-Caldera was also present as an expert throughout the Hackathon and was one of the judges. The design will now be brought to life by the Human Dignity Trust.
Téa Braun, Legal Director of the Human Dignity Trust said: “We are very inspired by the amazing creativity and dedication on display at the ‘Hack the Change’ Hackathon. Technology can help immensely in finding new ways to document human rights violations faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Timely documentation of human rights violation is a major factor in fighting such violations, but there is a critical gap to be filled especially from areas that are insecure and inaccessible.
There is need for a tool that allows LGBT people, NGOs and allies to document and tell stories that might otherwise not have been told. We are excited at the prospect of a tool being developed to help fill this gap and to get relevant information to the attention of those who can help. Our sincere thanks go to all the creative minds that have helped to bring vision to what is possible.”
For further details see: LexisNexis, Hackathon in support of LGBT+ rights provides solutions to the problem of hate-crime data and evidence collection globally, 12 December 2016
Press coverage:
- Hackathon app “will help LGBT people report persecution safely”, Legal Futures
- Hackathon in support of LGBT+ rights provides solutions to the problem of hate-crime data and evidence collection globally, Lexis Nexis
- Winners of law firm-backed hackathon design Snapchat add-on that allows LGBT+ people to report hate crimes, Legal Cheek
- Lexis Hack the Change for LGBT winner announced, Legal IT Insider
- Legal innovators hack into hate-crimes with new tool, The Global Legal Post
See also:
LexisNexis, Big Challenges, Big Opportunities, Big Impact: LexisNexis Announces First Rule of Law Hackathon ‘Hack the Change’ in London to tackle LGBT* Rights Abuses Across the Globe, 3 November 2016