Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 13, 2016

I just finished reading Kentaro Toyama’s new book, Geek Heresy, tackling the cult of technology as a cure-all for society’s ills. He’s a geek (former Microsoft Research guy) who is making the case that technology doesn’t make the kind of social impact it claims to deliver. There’s often more value to me in reading iconoclastic books than feel-good affirmations of popular icons!

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 1, 2016

Silicon Valley has a problem. In our quest to build better products and better meet the needs of the world for information, we built the most amazing system for effortless government surveillance as a byproduct. It is now incumbent on Silicon Valley to remedy this situation. Forcing tech companies to weaken their products through compelling the creation of backdoors would be a massive step backwards.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 17, 2015

Access to information and knowledge is a basic human right and a necessary first step towards personal, economic, and social development. Yet around the world, over 100 million individuals are denied this basic right. They include people who are blind, visually impaired, have dyslexia, or have a physical disability that prevents them from reading regular printed books.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 13, 2015

I just finished reading the National Education Technology Plan , and I can recommend it to anyone interested in the future of technology in American education. These kinds of plans can be impenetrable, but I found this one quite readable and understandable. It is full of examples of interesting ed tech from for-profits and nonprofits, as well as local, state and federal government agencies.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 11, 2015

“Your secure software is open source: doesn’t that make it less secure?” This is a recurring question that we get at Benetech about Martus —our free, strongly encrypted tool for secure collection and management of sensitive information, built and provided by the Benetech Human Rights Program. It’s an important question for us and for all of our peers developing secure software in today’s post-Snowden environment of fear and worry about surveillance.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 8, 2015

Guest post by Betsy Beaumon, President, Benetech We are seeking visionary leaders to join Benetech in applying technology to advance the rights of disadvantaged people around the world. Technology is playing an ever larger role in increasing respect for human rights and delivering better services, and we have two rare opportunities to lead world-class tech-for-good programs.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 5, 2015

Every once in a while, the Beneblog features something of personal importance to me. I'm very excited (and proud) about an exciting concert coming up soon in Palo Alto. My daughter, Kate Fruchterman , will be returning briefly to the area the evening of June 17th to give a concert. Kate will be heading to Europe this fall to sing professionally in Italy for the Turin Opera Company, as the winner of one of three Opera Foundation Scholarships.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 4, 2015

Tomorrow is an exciting day for our Bookshare online library for students with dyslexia or visual impairments. We have incredibly generous matching grants from two of our dedicated tech entrepreneur supporters, Bernie Newcomb and Lata Krishnan. Tomorrow, Tuesday May 5, 2015, is Silicon Valley Gives day, where donors from around the world will find their contributions to organizations based here matched by local donors.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 24, 2015

My favorite conference of the year is the Skoll World Forum in Oxford. That’s still the case even after attending the Forum for eleven straight years as of last week! Why, after all these years, do I love going back? First and foremost, it’s the people. This is my posse, the global social entrepreneur community, as well as the people who appreciate and support them.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

'Social enterprise. Technology. Contemplation. I just spent several stimulating days in Boulder, Colorado, thanks to an invitation from my longtime friend and social sector leader, Chuck Lief. Chuck is the president of Naropa University , but we first met when he was leading the Greyston Foundation, a pioneering social enterprise known for originally making brownies for Ben ‘n Jerry’s ice cream while employing formerly incarcerated individuals as the primary workforce.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 5, 2015

'What is it like for a nonprofit to have a successful, lasting partnership with a private philanthropic foundation? And what are some of the social benefits and impact that may result from such a relationship? At Benetech, we’re fortunate to have had long-time support from funders who have been willing to bet on us. One foundation that has been a committed supporter of our work is the Lavelle Fund for the Blind.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 16, 2014

'My personal goal is to channel the aspirations of the technology community to do more social good. More and more of my time is spent around both raising money and raising awareness of how much more could be done with technology to increase social impact. In this update, I’m delighted to be able to share Benetech’s latest efforts to do both. First, I’ll cover our biggest fundraising effort of the year: individual philanthropy is crucial to us; it’s the portion that makes 10X impact possible!

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 10, 2014

'“Frank” (who anonymously shared his story with us) has always been an avid reader, but the progression of his neuromuscular disease to his arms made reading difficult. Eventually he had to ask others to turn pages for him. It became a burden to his family and caregivers to constantly drop what they were doing to turn a page, so he began seeking out ebooks.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 30, 2014

'After an intensive search period, I’m delighted to share that Benetech recently appointed seasoned executive Mark Roberts as our Vice President of Engineering. Mark is former Senior Vice President of Engineering, Consumer Products, and Operations at TiVo Inc. He’s leading the development, testing, and deployment of Benetech’s tools and services across all its program areas.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

'At Benetech, we always ask ourselves how our existing successful programs can reach more people who need our services and how we can apply technology in new ways to enrich and improve more lives. I’m thrilled to share with you some of the recent amazing impact of Bookshare , a Benetech Global Literacy initiative and the largest accessible online library of copyrighted content for people with print disabilities.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 1, 2014

'I''m looking forward to teaching a Master Class at San Francisco''s Presidio Graduate School on September 18th. Current Presidio MBA student and Benetech team member Julie Noblitt wrote a generous blog post about the master class last week. Julie is not our only connection to Presidio: alum Kristina Pappas runs International Bookshare for Benetech.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 11, 2014

'The world is undergoing a data revolution, and the social sector is no exception. Mobile devices are breaking down the barriers to direct connections to staff, volunteers, clients, partners, communities, and the general public. Social enterprises are collecting more and more data: data about social problems; data about intervention outcomes; data for collective impact; data for learning; data for dashboards to better operate their enterprises; data for funders; and the list goes on.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 28, 2014

'The Benetech team has just bid goodbye to VP of Engineering Gerardo Capiel, who is moving on to his next adventure. A passionate technology-for-good advocate, Gerardo has made major contributions to Benetech’s social mission since he joined us over four years ago. As we are getting ready to welcome a new VP of Engineering, I’d like to acknowledge and thank Gerardo for his many contributions and their lasting impact on the lives of the people we serve.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 15, 2014

'One year ago, on June 28, 2013, at a diplomatic conference in Marrakesh, Morocco, the World Intellectual Property Organization ( WIPO ) agreed on a historic international copyright exception for people with print disabilities. Hailed as “the Miracle in Marrakesh,” the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled paves the way to expanding access to books for people with print disabilities and provides the neces

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 23, 2014

'10X: ten times the impact. That’s what’s been on my mind lately. How can our existing successful programs reach ten times more people? How can we use technology in a new way to improve people’s lives that is an order of magnitude better? Can we help stimulate the creation of far more technology-for-good ventures? The Benetech team has already accomplished great things for our users, but there is so much more we can do.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 28, 2014

'I just returned from a spectacular week at this year’s TED conference in Vancouver, Canada. TED gives me the chance to brainstorm with loads of people who gather to discuss ways to change the world through technology and design. Beyond debating the stimulating topics of major talks—such as Edward Snowden’s appearance by telepresence robot and t he response to it by Rick Ledgett , the Deputy Director of the NSA—I spent much of my time speaking about my favorite topic: technology for social good.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 13, 2014

'Co-authored with Enrique Piracés, Benetech VP, Human Rights. Consider this: when you visit your doctor about a medical issue in the United States, you can be reasonably confident that it won''t shortly be on the front page of the local newspaper. Privacy protections that ensure your doctor treats your information securely were mandated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

'One of the reasons I started the Beneblog more than ten years ago (!) was to keep the Benetech team in the loop. As someone who travels roughly half the time, it’s important to provide some insight into what’s going on, especially since these meetings often influence where Benetech goes with our efforts. So, this is an in-depth report on the two days I just spent at the end of last week in Geneva.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

'I’m thrilled to announce that Benetech has filled two key positions: Nadine Apelian Dobbs as Communications Director and Elaine Wallace as General Counsel. I think they will both make big contributions to building Benetech’s ability to deliver greater impact in the technology-for-good field. For more than a decade, Nadine has worked at the intersection of policy and media in major markets including New York, Chicago and Washington, DC.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 17, 2014

'The next time you set your digital device of choice to record your favorite show so you can watch it whenever you want, take a moment to be thankful that you’re protected from lawsuits from the entertainment industry. For on January 17, 1984, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that consumers could tape their favorite TV shows and watch them later without the copyright holder’s consent.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 30, 2013

'Dear Friends of Benetech, As we wrap up another busy year, full of milestones and exciting accomplishments , we’d like to take a moment to simply say thank you. Whether you''ve volunteered your time, made a financial contribution, attended one of our events, or helped to spread the word about the work we’re doing – thank you! We couldn’t do it without your support.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 17, 2013

'I’m delighted to share with you today a wonderful success story from our Volunteer Program. UC Santa Cruz students who participated in our volunteer pilot project— proofreading textbooks for our Bookshare collection—have done a fantastic job proofreading over a short period of time three entire textbooks! This means more than 2,300 pages of text and an amazing gift for the 250,000+ Bookshare student members we serve.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

'This blog originally appeared on the Huffington Post In December 1981 soldiers of the Salvadoran Army’s Atlacatl Battalion entered the village of El Mozote, where they murdered hundreds of men, women and children. Although reports of the massacre appeared in the United States, Salvadoran army and government leaders denied them and, all too soon, El Mozote was forgotten.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 19, 2013

'“Mobilizing for Impact.” That was the theme of the ninth Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting that President Bill Clinton, Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton recently convened in New York City last month. At CGI Annual Meetings, leaders from across sectors do more than just developing new ideas or getting inspired: they come together to take real action to address pressing global challenges.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

'The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor and Statistics estimated earlier this year that about 3 million veterans, or 14 percent of the total veteran population, had a service-connected disability. For veterans with visual impairments, traumatic brain injuries or other disabilities, reading standard print is difficult, if not impossible. For them, Bookshare —Benetech’s Global Literacy initiative and the world’s largest accessible digital library for people with print disabilities—opens up

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 19, 2013

'Majora Carter is on a quest to save the world one community at a time. That’s because she believes that no one should have to leave his or her neighborhood to live in a better one. Granted, this is an audacious goal, but Majora’s unique approach to urban renewal has already led to successful revitalization initiatives in her native South Bronx, N.Y., and she’s well underway bringing positive change to many more communities.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

'No, we’re not being sued (and we want to keep it that way). However, the time has come when we need a really smart attorney to join Benetech and help us navigate the intersection of technology and social good. Benetech has some of the juiciest and most exciting range of legal challenges I can imagine: the great majority of our legal work concerns intellectual property and human rights.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 26, 2013

'On August 1, 2013, I testified before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet on the subject “ Innovation in America: The Role of Technology.” In my prepared statement, I explained why well-balanced intellectual property laws inspire technology innovation and social good, and described how our Bookshare initiative models the good that copyright exceptions can create.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 22, 2013

'This post originally appeared on the new Benetech''s Blog. Secure tools to document human rights violations, such as those developed by Benetech’s Human Rights Program, have become critically important in efforts to pursue reform and seek justice—and in keeping human rights defenders safe. When widely deployed, these tools have the potential to make lasting impact by empowering people to fight abuse and advance democracy.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 19, 2013

'We''ve just launched Benetech''s new website. This is my Welcome post that originally appeared on the new Benetech Blog. On behalf of the Benetech team, including our Board of Directors, I’m delighted to welcome you to our new website and formally introduce our newest program area: Benetech Labs ! At Benetech, our goal is to create positive social change through technology.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 22, 2013

'Why Circumvention for the Purposes of Access is Crucial A Bookshare Briefing Paper Prepared for the Diplomatic Conference for Visually Impaired Persons The distributors of digital content often use technological protection measures (TPMs) to discourage the making of unauthorized copies. Unfortunately, these TPMs create collateral damage in the form of disabling or hindering activities that are generally permitted.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 28, 2013

'To the Diplomatic Conference in Plenary on June 27, 2013 On the Adoption of the Treaty of Marrakech This is an excellent Treaty. The Benetech team is delighted by its adoption today. We have the technology, we have the content, and now we have the legal framework to make it possible for every person with a print disability on the planet to get access to the books they need for education, employment and social inclusion!

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