Watching graphic videos is a slow mental health killer. Now, after years of staring at endless types of horrors, I’ve been working on a browser extension that uses CNNs to detect people (&other objects) in fotos and videos, and blurs them out. If you would like to beta test it with me, let me know.

Past investigations show operational proximity between settlers and military forces during violence. In the 2023 Huwara attack, investigated by @gaborfriesen.bsky.social and me with CNN, IDF commander Yehuda Fuchs called it a “pogrom.” However, accountability was close to zero.

Israel’s military called the settler attack on this Palestinian town a ‘pogrom.’ Videos show soldiers did little to stop it | CNN

When hundreds of Israeli settlers rampaged through Huwara and surrounding Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank on February 26, leaving at least one Palestinian man dead and hundreds of others i...

edition.cnn.com

Israeli forces standing by and doing nothing during settler violence, where did I hear that before? Oh yeah. In the investigation that I did with @gaborfriesen.bsky.social, in collaboration with CNN, on the Huwara pogrom in early 2023.

Israel’s military called the settler attack on this Palestinian town a ‘pogrom.’ Videos show soldiers did little to stop it | CNN

When hundreds of Israeli settlers rampaged through Huwara and surrounding Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank on February 26, leaving at least one Palestinian man dead and hundreds of others i...

edition.cnn.com

Voice4Justice@voices4justice.bsky.social · 10mo ago

#SettlersTerrorists Israeli Settler Caught on Video Kicking Detained Palestinian as IDF Soldiers Stand Nearby www.haaretz.com/israel-news/... 🧵 By Matan Golan

The Matros Koshka is currently offloading wheat in Syria. Seemingly in Latakia, around 35.5223, 35.7692. Sentinel Imagery also indicates its presence in Latakia by showing a large vessel with a coloured (blue-ish) streak near the bridge of the ship.

Bosphorus Observer@yoruk.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Russian occupation administrations & companies in unlawfully Russian annexed areas of Ukraine have been systematically stealing grain & exporting it by bulkers engaging deceptive shipping practices: Matros Koshka transited Bosphorus en route from occupied Sevastopol to Alexandria carrying wheat.

Probably worth reading for the geolocators among y'all: medium.com/@gaborfriese...

How Propagandists Keep (Unknowingly) Sharing Their Location on Telegram.

When you post an image, social media normally removes all of its metadata. If you post a picture of your home, this means that a stalker…

medium.com

For my 2nd undergraduate thesis, I researched the feasibility of using Convolutional Neural Networks to automate the process of mapping military trenches. Thought this summary might interest some of you. medium.com/@gaborfriese...

Using AI to Detect Military Trenches on Satellite Imagery

This article provides a simplified and summarised view of my second undergraduate thesis. For access to the full thesis on this topic (14 pages) or underlying datasets, please reach out to me …

medium.com

Galen and our wider tech team have built many tools that are now regularly used by Bellingcat researchers and other newsrooms. One such tool is the Shadow Finder tool, built alongside @gaborfriesen.bsky.social , that @georainbolt.bsky.social tested out last year. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQIj...

how to find a location using only the shadow

YouTube video by RAINBOLT

youtube.com

Despite the fact that I haven't been making any new guides, some of which were written together with @gaborfriesen.bsky.social, in relation to applying OSINT techniques in the Middle East for a while, it always warms my heart when people from the region use these to learn these skills themselves.

Vehicle identification: If any journalists here ever struggle to identify (military) vehicles on (relatively) low-resolution sat imagery, please let me know. I'm testing a new identification method. Too busy to find cases right now, but if anyone already has a case, I'd love to help and see.

Just clicked a link in an NOS (dutch news) article expecting to go to X but actually ended up on Bluesky, nice surprise.

Another tool idea: OSINT Mental Health: An extension that uses CNNs to draw bounding boxes around humans in videos (models for this already exist), before automatically blocking out the areas in those bounding boxes. Reduces the amount of graphic content that researchers face in conflict videos.

Since 7 October 2023, CIR has verified over 1,300 incidents across Gaza, Lebanon & Israel, documenting destruction, casualties & violations using over 9,100 pieces of data. Explore our open-source map to uncover the trends and stories behind the numbers ⬇️

Israel-Gaza Conflict Map

The Israel-Gaza Conflict Map is a map of incidents documented by CIR covering the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Israel and Lebanon since 7 October 2023.

info-res.org

We tried to geolocate the 2012 video of Austin Tice. In the process, we realised that it was most likely created right next to a Syrian military base. medium.com/@gaborfriese... (a comprehensive write-up of our recent thread)

Geolocating The Disappearance of Austin Tice

This article is an expanded version of the original Bluesky thread

medium.com

Austin Tice kidnapping video valley geolocation. Local confirmation is needed. The video of Austin Tice in 2012 shows few details. But in the Bellingcat discord, we think we have identified the specific valley at 33.511, 36.007. Damascus-based journalists could help investigate this further (1/8).

Advanced Solar Geolocation Tutorial: For everyone who works with geolocation or chronolocation, I wrote a guide for new method to locate images based only on the time and *a part* of a shadow. In this scenario, object heights and full shadows are not necessary anymore. medium.com/@gaborfriese...

Advanced Solar Geolocation Tutorial: Proof of Concept 1

Recently, I worked with Bellingcat to develop the Shadow Finder. Previously, people mostly combined the sun and a location to find the…

medium.com

A shot in the dark for those with a coding background who have free time (I'm jealous): Previously, Bellingcat and I published the shadow finder tool. However, further development is possible. The theory is there, just not the code. Therefore, I'll put forward this problem for anyone interested.

Considering the fact that I suddenly have 3000 new followers, maybe a short introduction is in order. Hey people, I’m Gabòr. Originally a geo-/chronolocation enthusiast with a focus on Israel/Palestine. I don’t post much these days, but when i do, you’ll mostly see my ideas for new OSINV methods.

> gets told to check bluesky (haven’t been online in a couple days because of the weekend so sure) > sees “30+ notifications” in the bottom right??? Good list though, highly recommend following the others on it if you’re not following them yet.

Bellingcat@bellingcat.com · 2y ago

With @eliothiggins.bsky.social joining Bluesky, we've made a little starter pack of previous and current Bellingcat staff and contributors so you can find all of us open source researchers lurking on here! go.bsky.app/HZSzS41

The shadow in an image can be the key to narrowing down your geolocation. Bellingcat’s new Shadow Finder Tool helps by automating the process- searching the globe for matching shadow angles to provide clues about where an image was taken. www.bellingcat.com/resources/20...

Chasing Shadows: Geolocate Images with Bellingcat's Shadow Finder Tool - bellingcat

Use this new tool to narrow down your search area from the entire globe to just a handful of countries and locations.

bellingcat.com

Geolocating an image using the shadows? The Bellingcat Shadow Finder Tool makes this possible! Bellingcat's Galen Reich and Bellingcat Discord member Gabor Friesen spoke to Rainbolt and explained the tool. Find the tool on the Bellingcat Github and give it a try!

how to find a location using only the shadow

tool here: https://colab.research.google.com/github/GalenReich/ShadowFinder/blob/main/ShadowFinderColab.ipynbty again to gabor and galen for being apart of t...

youtube.com

4 hostages rescued amid nearly 4 hours of airstrikes. Our Visual Forensics investigation reconstructs the Israeli hostage rescue raid in Nuseirat, Gaza in which a vehicle broke down, a commander was shot, a family was home raided, and so many Palestinians were killed. Watch here wapo.st/4di8P1F

How an Israeli hostage rescue that left scores of Palestinians dead unfolded

A review of videos of the June 8 raid in Nuseirat shows the Israeli military employed heavy airstrikes on a dense residential area for nearly four hours

wapo.st

Another Monday, another episode, for six years already! H/T: @bellingcat.com @gralhix.bsky.social @gaborfriesen.bsky.social sector035.nl/articles/202...

Week in OSINT 202423

Your weekly dose of OSINT news brings you some more UDM options, Sofia and Shadows, and we'll look at some creepypasta! This week I loo

sector035.nl

PSA: don’t view extreme violence unless absolutely required for a specific job task. If absolutely required, engage in harm reduction. Violence is like toxic waste: something to be avoided, contained, and remediated. 1/x

My and @gaborfriesen.bsky.social geolocation of the precise location of the explosion on Salah al-Din street was used by FT and Airwars, as well as munitions experts, to provide new evidence that points to IDF weapons as blasts hit multiple cars along main road south. www.ft.com/content/95c5...

Did Israel bomb a civilian evacuation route in Gaza?

Evidence points to IDF weapons as blasts hit multiple cars along main road south

ft.com

An analysis of available social media footage for the Washington Post together with Evan Hill, Joyce Lee, and Sarah Cahlan shows how Hamas took at least 106 hostages. Out of those 106 hostages, 64 were confirmed to have been transported to Gaza. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

Hamas took at least 64 captives into Gaza, visual evidence suggests

The hostages include nine children, according to an examination of hundreds of videos and images posted on social media since the fighting began.

washingtonpost.com

Geolocated (reportedly) Hamas fighters in Ashkelon, 07/10/2023 Source: t.me/milinfolive/... Coordinates: (31.6679755, 34.5707355) Proof: maps.app.goo.gl/7v3qSF8NgZJK...

Военный Осведомитель

Вооруженные боевики ХАМАС на улицах израильского Ашкелона, находящегося в 7 километрах от границы с Палестин...

t.me

While our efforts have garnered attention, including collaborations with esteemed international news outlets, the true measure of fulfillment lies in empowering the formidable team at @alhaq.bsky.social with the data that @gaborfriesen.bsky.social and I have been collecting endlessly in Palestine.

"I'm scared they'll burn us again": Israeli Settler Violence against the Palestinian town of Huwwara

Since 2022, attacks against Palestinians by Israeli colonial settlers residing illegally in the Occupied Palestinian territory, have increased and intensifie...

youtube.com

Geolocated Israeli soldiers moving into Jenin, 19/09/2023. Coordinates: 32.46293738898866, 35.288196598921125 Source: t.me/a7rarjeninn/32… Proof:

Geolocated Israeli soldiers shooting at Journalists near Jabalia, 17/09/2023. Coordinates: 31.5042565, 34.5219384 Source: t.me/jmediapal/68... Proof (h/t @chrisosieck.bsky.social for the screenshots)