Heather Marsh
Heather Marsh is a philosopher, programmer and human rights activist. She is the author of the Binding Chaos series, a study of methods of mass collaboration. Internet and journalism. Since 2015 Marsh has been working to initiate a global data commons project with a universal database and trust network to allow global collaboration on research and information without control by a specific platform. This is a continuation of her earlier viral project called the Global Square. She has covered investigations of leaked material and individual human rights cases as well as breaking news of global events. In one  unpublished interview with Guantanamo defence attorney Dennis Edney, the two discuss blackmail attempts of witnesses by the FBI and the possibility that Omar Khadr's plea deal was signed without legal counsel. The interview was subsequently leaked to Cryptome. The interview discusses the delaying of publication until after Edney returns from Guantanamo; when he returned from Guantanamo he was fired from the case and forbidden to speak of it. Human rights. Marsh has advocated for both transparency for actions and organizations that affect the public and privacy for individuals. She is against control and ownership of knowledge by copyrights and  patents but writes "Privacy and ownership of personal stories are closely related to human dignity" and credit (although not ownership) for ideas and intellectual labour is essential in an approval economy. She has been active in freedom of information, anti-poverty, justice related cases and all forms of 'human dignity' as well as advocating for individual rights ahead of all systems of governance. She has been associated with Guantanamo activism, primarily for Canadian POW Omar Khadr, and Anonymous activity, particularly human rights issues. She has reported and campaigned extensively against human trafficking and violations committed by global resource corporations. She  has written investigative reports and interviews on Canadian juvenile Omar Khadr, one of the youngest prisoners of Guantanamo Bay. She was the national spokesperson for the Free Omar Khadr group in Canada, writing, speaking, advocating for Omar's release. She brought global awareness to topics such as the Rohingya genocide in Burma and ritual killings in Gabon. She began a research project to map connections between the people behind resource corporations, militias, spies and prisons in response to a fracking protest in New Brunswick. This became opCanary which seeks to form alliances between local groups fighting the same multinational resource  corporations. She started the OpDeathEaters campaign to inform the public of high level complicity in the human trafficking industry with a goal of independent inquiries to investigate and a change in public discourse around these crimes. Her opGabon and opDeatheaters campaigns were the subject of a book, "Crime, Justice and Social Media" by Australian criminologist Michael Salter which asked "How is social media changing contemporary understandings of crime and injustice, and what contribution can it make to justice-seeking?" and featured extensive interviews with her.