Guardian Innovator of the Year

This isn’t just about the future of the Internet, this is the future of humanity, the story we’re all taking a part in creating. This is about making sure that the first open, global communication network in human history continues to be used by people, not against the people, not against the rights every person on this planet deserves.

Austin Heap is executive director of the Censorship Research Centre in San Francisco, a non-profit organisation which provides anti-censorship education, outreach, and technology free of charge to those who need it most. He is an entrepreneur, technologist and activist who works to develop Internet-based technologies that facilitate the rapid transfer of knowledge between people, groups, and organisations.

Heap is the creator of Haystack, a piece of software which was a key technology used by Iranians to disseminate information outside the country in the protests that followed the disputed election result in June 2009. Heap developed Haystack to open up social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, giving voices on the streets a platform, and people in the west a window into a closed-down state.

(Here’s the original announcement.)

awards guardian haystack London Posted under Iran, Life, Politics, Technology by Austin