Understanding verification and documentation
Exercise
Verify this YouTube video
You are a human rights researcher,
and need to verify a YouTube video
[https://youtu.be/clrICxJihWI] of excessive use
of force by police at a protest in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil that a colleague shared with you.
1. Y
ou download the video to
preserve it, because sensitive online
on Monday morning in heavy rain.
content gets often removed.
Historical weather data accessed through
2. U
sing the YouTube Data Viewer, you identify
the time of publication (though not the time
of the recording) which was 5:30pm (Brasilia
Time) time on April 14, 2014. A reverse image
search on thumbnails of the video, does not
WolframAlpha.com is consistent with what is
seen in the video (rainy and misty) thus making
the video and the alleged time of day seem
more credible.
6. Y
ou use slow-motion video playback
retrieve any earlier versions of the video
(on YouTube or VLC media player) to
online.
take a closer look at police uniforms
3. T
he creator helpfully listed their name
under the video, and you conclude by
looking at other social media platforms that
the uploader appears to be an activist in
Rio de Janeiro.
4. The video and description is rich in clues
about the location (Prefeitura do Rio).
To verify, you use the online map Wikimapia
to find Rio’s city hall (prefeitura) and use
satellite images found on Google Earth
to cross-reference visible landmarks (office
building, pedestrian bridge). Geo-referenced
photos from Panoramio (accessible through
Google Earth) also match up.
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5. T
he description says the protest happened
and insignias compared with those
depicted on official police websites
[https://www.facebook.com/gmrio.oficial].
You note down details, in case it can be useful
for future investigations of individuals involved.
7. F
inally, when you search for additional content
with your regular search engine, you are able to
find several other videos from the same date
and protest [https://youtu.be/sxyrP0yBBts],
corroborating the video.
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