Mile
Zero

I remember reading on Ars Technica that there are Youtube variations popping up all over the place now. There are a couple for porn, of course, but there's also GodTube (for fundamentalists) and RuTube (for Russians). I'd like to propose another, if it hasn't already been done: there needs to be a free streaming-video host for activists and small non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in developing countries.

From my perspective at the Bank, video streaming's going to increasingly be a big deal. It's getting faster and cheaper to shoot video nowadays, especially if you stay digital instead of going back and forth to tape. And if you don't need to edit, uploading to Youtube or Google Video is a one-step process. Once the video is there, it can be embedded anywhere you want, and the only payment required is a small amount of branding.

Even an organization like WBI has a very limited streaming capacity. We max out at about 300 low-bandwidth users. In Brussels, we blew through that almost immediately. And we're the World Bank: smaller organizations almost certainly can't afford to be hosting video for very many people. For those NGOs and civil society actors, something like Google Video or Youtube is a godsend. There's a tremendous potential for raising money and awareness through online video, but it also gives a tremendous amount of power to the services that host this material. And while Google has promised to "do no evil," for NGOs that are aware of how the company caved in China, that may not be terribly reassuring.

The Internet Archive may be one solution. But it doesn't allow embedding Flash, and it's not completely immune to political pressure, as when it bowed to the Church of Scientology. So we probably need something else. Sure, it's possible for an organization to purchase web space or rent from a provider, but why restrict activism only to those who have credit cards and reliable Internet access? Why force them to reinvent the wheel?

My favorite social movement in recent memory, the Otpor youth movement against Milosevic in Serbia, accomplished a lot of its work through grassroots activism and smart media stunts. It turns out that they also channeled large amounts of funds from Western donors who were captivated by their oddball non-violent resistance. Both the activism and the fundraising might be made much easier in other countries with a trustworthy Internet vehicle: an NGOTube.

Update: Colleagues note that some groups are already working on this--WITNESS, which documents human rights abuses, will be launching the Hub sometime this year.