Follow the Data: Corruption, Leaks & People vs. Power · Disruptive Fridays #14

In this special edition for the 4th CIJ Logan Symposium Collective Intelligence, Disruption Network Lab holds a panel discussion on how open-source intelligence tools and collective strategies reconfigure investigations. Moderated by Tatiana Bazzichelli, this talk brings together investigative television journalist Natalie Sedletska, software artisan and ethical hacker Denis “Jaromil” Roio, and data team lead at OCCRP Friedrich Lindenberg. This panel focuses on the one hand on methods of making leaks and large datasets accessible to a wider public, on the other hand on models to avoid the exploitation of sensitive data by authorities or organised crime.

Natalie Sedletska shares the experience of the YanukovychLeaks National Project, concerning the nearly 200 folders of documents found in the lake at the residence of former president of Ukraine, thrown to destroy them as people were escaping the luxury residence. The documents were rescued by volunteer divers and systematised, investigated and published by a group of journalists and activists to make them available to citizens around the world.

Denis “Jaromil” Roio speaks about the importance of social movements challenging city policy on money speculation and hidden illicit cash flows, finding ways to have agency through collectivising big data controlled by financial and institutional powers.

Friedrich Lindenberg presents some of the recent work OCCRP’s data team has done analysing a large-scale dataset related to the murder investigation of Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak. He’ll also summarise some lessons learned about the use of data in investigative reporting, and the limitations of transparency as a method and an ideal, contributing another perspective coming from the context of investigating organised crime and corruption.

Natalie Sedletska
Investigative Reporter & TV Host, UA
Natalie Sedletska is a Ukrainian investigative television journalist and editor who works in the anticorruption field. At present, Natalie works as the chief editor and host of the investigative program “Schemes” – a television project that she founded in 2014 with the support of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. “Schemes” project is broadcasted by the Ukrainian public TV on a weekly basis.

Denis “Jaromil” Roio
Digital Social Innovation Expert, Software Artisan & Ethical Hacker, IT
Denis Roio, better known by his hacker nickname Jaromil, is CTO of the DECODE EU flagship project on blockchain technologies and data ownership, involving pilots in cooperation with the municipalities of Barcelona and Amsterdam. Jaromil published his PhD on “Algorithmic Sovereignty” (AlgoSov.org) and received the Vilém Flusser Award at transmediale (Berlin, 2009) while leading for six years the R&D department of the Netherlands Media Art Institute (Montevideo/TBA). He has been a fellow of the “40 under 40” European Young Leaders programme since 2012 and was listed in the “Purpose Economy” list of the top 100 social entrepreneurs in the EU in 2014.

Friedrich Lindenberg
Data Team Lead, OCCRP, Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, DE
Friedrich Lindenberg leads the data team at OCCRP. He is responsible for the development of OCCRP Aleph and supports ongoing investigations where data analysis is needed. In 2014/2015, Friedrich was a Knight International journalism fellow with the International Center for Journalists, working with the African Network of Centers for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR), and in 2013 he was a Knight-Mozilla Open News fellow at Spiegel Online in Hamburg. Prior to that, Friedrich was an open data activist, and worked to promote the release of government information about public finance, lobbying, procurement and law making across the world.

Tatiana Bazzichelli
Founder and Programme Director, Disruption Network Lab, IT/DE
Tatiana Bazzichelli is founder and programme director at Disruption Network Lab, an organisation in Berlin examining the intersection of politics, technology, and society, and exposing the misconduct and wrongdoing of the powerful (disruptionlab.org). Her focus of work is hacktivism, network culture, art and whistleblowing. In 2011-2014 she was programme curator at transmediale art & digital culture festival, where she developed the year-round initiative reSource transmedial culture Berlin, and curated several conference events, workshops and installations. She is member of the Transparency International Anti-Corruption Award Committee 2020. In 2019 she has been appointed jury member for the Hauptstadtkulturfonds (Capital Cultural Fund) by the German federal government and Berlin, and in 2020 jury member for the Kulturlichter prize, a new award for digital cultural education by the German federal government.

Photo Courtesy of the organisation