Changing the game: Eliot Higgins has exposed the location of missile launchers and IS fighters using simple geolocation techniques. Source: Supplied
AS THE world mourned and confusion reigned after the downing of MH17 over Ukraine, Eliot Higgins went to work.
Armed with his laptop and a list of social media accounts, the 35-year-old citizen journalist combed Facebook and Twitter for sightings of the Buk missile launcher — believed to be responsible for shooting down the jet in July 2014.
Using a combination of ‘open source’ techniques including social media and satellite images, he tracked the movement of the missile launcher in a convoy from Russia into Ukraine, producing “undeniable evidence” it was unloaded in the area three hours before the plane crashed, killing the 298 people on board.
It’s more than most governments and media organisations had managed at the time and is not bad for a former gamer at home on a laptop. But it’s investigations like this that have become the modus operandi for Mr Higgins, now regarded as one of the world’s foremost citizen journalists, with millions of followers from Presidents to major media organisations.
The Buk missile system thought to be responsible for bringing down MH17. Source: Supplied
Mr Higgins used social media and satellite images to track progress of the Buk missile launcher across the Ukraine. Picture: Screengrab Bellingcat. Source: Supplied
“It’s also a lot more of an entertaining way to spend an evening than TV or sudoku, it’s nice to go to bed feeling you’ve achieved something with your spare time,” Mr Higgins told news.com.au. The former gamer and administrative worker, who lives in the UK town of Leicester, and has a self-described “obsessive” personality said he’s motivated to expose atrocities around the world by interest in the subject and the old-fashioned challenge of seeing what is possible.
“I then find myself in a position where I’m one of the few people who has figured something out, then I feel almost obliged to keep digging, because I know there’s not many other people out there who will,” he said.
It’s an ethos that has seen him expose the use of chemical weapons in Syria and pinpoint the location of US journalist James Foley’s execution. He’s also geolocatedTunisian jihadists and investigated the use of chemical weapons have been used in Donetsk along with if mobile networks were blocked in Hong Kong amid the height of the Occupy Central movement in moves that often challenge the official line of events.
A picture taken on July 19 at the crash site. Picture: AFP PHOTO/DOMINIQUE FAGET Source: AFP
Mr Higgins said as someone who “used the internet a lot” he was initially motivated by the amount of content online that is “generally ignored” by the mainstream media.
“A big part of that was down to not being able to verify videos, so I started to think how that could be done, and taught myself to use satellite map imagery to verify the locations where videos were filmed. From there I started a blog in early 2012, really for myself than any attempt to make it big in anyway, and it grew from there.”
The Brown Moses blog began while Mr Higgins was on holiday in Istanbul with his wife and young daughter as a way of documenting the mass of information being uploaded onto social media on the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime in Syria. His detailed analysis of hundreds of YouTube videos and images saw him quickly sited as a weapons expert by media organisations hungry for news from the region.
But while the work gained him a profile, it didn’t pay the bills. Mr Higgins was about to accept a job that would mean an end to his blogging until a follower suggested he try crowd-funding. A Kickstarter project received more than $96,000 in donations in order to run his own website.
The result is Bellingcat, billed as “by and for citizen investigative journalists” which contains a mix of news, case studies, interviews and how to’s run by a number of contributors. Using simple language and step-by-step instructions Mr Higgins take users through how to geolocate videos and find information using satellite images and social networks.
Mr Higgins’ website shows how Islamic State videos with scant information, like this one showing US journalist James Foley, can be located using satellite images. Picture: AP Photo, File. Source: AP
Basic landmarks like roads can give vital clues as to where the videos are shot. Picture: Screengrab Bellingcat. Source:Supplied
He plans to write an academic textbook and lecture on open source techniques. Source: Supplied
Eliot Higgins has had offers from private intelligence and media companies. Source: Supplied
“I’ve had some offers from media organisations, couple from private intelligence companies, but I prefer to stay independent, especially as the field is developing rapidly, and there’s lots of interest from all sorts of areas,” he said, adding that the level of international reaction continues to surprise him.
“It’s rather like because this happened kind of accidentally I never really expected any sort of reaction, so when that reaction happens I’ve no preconceived notions about what it should be, so I just go with the flow and make the most of the situations that arise,” he said.
For now, the plan is for Bellingcat to create a “global network of open source investigators working in a variety of fields” in order to investigate global events. Mr Higgins said he is also planning to develop tools for other people to investigate and verify events more effectively from anywhere in the world.
He will also start work on an academic textbook teaching people about how to use open source information and start lecturing on the subject.
“As for Bellingcat, we’ve more work on Ukraine planned, including more on MH17, and a look at other aspects of the conflict.”
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