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1. Background
PANIC BUTTON is a mobile phone application for Android that alerts a user’s pre-selected contacts via SMS and Twitter that they are in an emergency. This tool has been designed by Amnesty International for human rights defenders and other individuals at risk to help them to uphold human rights in the face of unlawful detention.
- App is disguised to avoid discovery
- Personalised alert messages are sent via SMS every 5 minutes
- Set-up tutorial supports user risk assessment process
- Guardian feature allows user to customize phone check in & reactive alert ahead of time
- Current location is automatically added to alerts
- Phone message logs are erased — leaves no trace on your phone
- Limited emergency contacts for security
- Option to post alert to Twitter via SMS
Amnesty has led the project to date and is committed to further development, distribution and support for the project. An open-source model is vital to the long-term viability and success of the product. We are eager to work more closely with human rights and technology partners to improve and build on the app with the longer-term aim of creating a global alert system that can be tailored to diverse geographical contexts.
Amnesty do not wish to act as ‘brand owners’ of the project. We would like this to be a tool that can be broadly owned and used by the human rights community. Our focus is to facilitate “peer -> peer” community response. **NB: **It is important that users of the Panic Button application understand that Amnesty will not receive the alert each time the app is triggered and is not in a position to immediately respond outside our normal channels.
We are currently planning three regional pilots of the app with human rights defenders networks. We are working towards a first global beta release early in 2014.
- How to turn a mobile phone into an alert system for activists, Amnesty Livewire Blog
- Inside the development of Amnesty’s new Panic Button App, Amnesty USA Human Rights Now Blog
- Amnesty International Mobile alert system for activists, Google Global Impact Challenge [VIDEO]
- A lifeline for activists, Amnesty Livewire Blog
- How can technology help people working to uphold human rights in the face of unlawful detention?