Hendrik Oudelaar

5/5 (3)

In 2018, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data was created every day and 90% of all data was generated in the two years prior (1). This trend has only intensified (2). The immense pile of data brings serious risks but also offers opportunities in unexpected fields. Open-source investigations is one of those fields, where Bellingcat has the most influential voice.

First, what is an open-source investigation? An open-source investigation makes use of data that is accessible for almost anyone online. Examples are satellite images in Google Earth or reverse image searches in Yandex. Findings are openly shared with other ‘investigators’ so that every finding can be a piece of the bigger puzzle. This all sounds great but this can’t really uncover big stories right? Next section will show how Bellingcat impacted MH17, Uyghurs in China and child abuse.

Bellingcat has contributed immensely to the MH17 investigation. From the moment that this disaster happened, it has uncovered, arguably, the most important details such as the origin of the Buk missiles and the involvement of generals. The origin of the Buk missiles was derived from various user videos posted on YouTube and other social media and historical Google Earth imagery. Consequently, investigators were able to establish a time frame of the Buk missiles that showed that the Buk missiles were transported from Russia to Ukraine (3). In one of their investigations regarding the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China, it also used satellite imagery. Accessing the Xinjiang area is very difficult for journalists currently. Yet, by comparing current and historical satellite images, Bellingcat showed that various mosques had been demolished (some of which 800 years old) (4). These kind of satellite images are accessible for anyone with an internet connection. Finally, Bellingcat has assisted Interpol in finding child abusers. Interpol is in possession of 40 million child sexual abuse from all over the world, but it can be very hard to locate every image. Hence, some images are carefully shared with the public (e.g. only a building in the background of a picture is shared). ‘Investigators’ then start to collaborate online (Twitter) to identify certain details. Someone might recognise a kind of bricks that are only used in certain parts of Asia and someone else might use shadow directions to geolocate an image further. As of 23 January 2020, Europol has received more than 24,000 tips which have led to the identification of ten victims and the prosecution of two child abuse offenders (5).

The beauty of this form of investigating and reporting is that all evidence is presented openly so that the level of subjectivity is low. Maybe you don’t like the truth, but what you see is what you get. In the coming years, the impact of open-source investigating will only increase. There will be more data, more advanced software and better educated data investigators.

Recommended Bellingcat pages:
Tutorials: https://www.bellingcat.com/category/resources/how-tos/
MH17: https://www.bellingcat.com/tag/mh17/
China: https://www.bellingcat.com/tag/china/
#StopChildAbuse: https://www.bellingcat.com/tag/stopchildabuse/

Sources:
(1) https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/05/21/how-much-data-do-we-create-every-day-the-mind-blowing-stats-everyone-should-read/
(2) https://www.statista.com/statistics/871513/worldwide-data-created/
(3) https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/07/mh17-3rd-anniversary-report.pdf
(4) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/07/revealed-new-evidence-of-chinas-mission-to-raze-the-mosques-of-xinjiang
(5) https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/04/22/creating-impact-a-year-on-stop-child-abuse-trace-an-object/

5/5 (4)

Recently, the Apple App Store has come under scrutiny for its imposed ‘tax’ on all transactions in the App Store. The game Fortnite was removed from the App Store after Epic (its developer) launched its own in-game payment system that did not give Apple its 30 percent share. Moreover, European regulators have opened an antitrust investigation after Spotify filed a complaint. Are these developers just trying to decrease their costs or is Apple unfairly exploiting their monopolistic position?

From its inception on July 10, 2008, one day before the iPhone 3G was released, Apple imposed a 30 percent fee on all transactions in the App Store. Still, it was a historical moment for developers as it gave access to a huge market of potential users/buyers. To illustrate, within 3 days 10,000,000 downloads were recorded (1). Over the years, the App Store has enabled thousands of developers to make a living while users can download apps for all their needs. In the beginning, few developers complained but this has intensified over the years with some valid arguments.

First of all, if developers do not want to pay Apple’s fee why don’t they directly release apps to their users. Well, this is simply not possible for iOS users since this is blocked by Apple. On the contrary, Android users are allowed to install apps outside of the Android store. Secondly, why don’t high-profile developers ‘unionise’ and threaten to all leave the App Store. While this could work, it is also a major risk since there are currently approximately 1 billion iOS users (2;3) Hence, this would mean a substantial drop in revenue. Moreover, iPhone owners are loyal to Apple and not likely to switch to Android (4). Finally, why would the fee result in antitrust issues? Outside the App Store a Spotify subscription is $10 a month but, because of the App store tax, in the iOS app it charges $13. Apple introduced its own music service (Apple Music) which costs $10 on iOS. You see the problem?

It is clear that Apple is a monopolist in its own ecosystem which still has some advantages. Apple blocking installation of external apps has resulted in iPhones being largely malware-free. But does it justify the 30 percent tax? What is so fundamentally different from a App Store purchase compared to a credit card transaction? Credit card transaction fees are approximately 3 percent which looks like a fair amount in my eyes (5).

NOTE: a reduction from 30 to 3 percent would entail a $13.5 billion revenue decrease for Apple in 2019 alone while its net income was $55 billion (6;7).

(1) https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-one-million-iphones-sold-10-million-app-store-downloads-in-first-weekend/

(2) https://9to5mac.com/2020/01/28/apple-hits-1-5-billion-active-devices-with-80-of-recent-iphones-and-ipads-running-ios-13/

(3) https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/worldwide

(4) https://www.sellcell.com/blog/iphone-vs-android-cell-phone-brand-loyalty-survey-2019/

(5) https://squareup.com/us/en/townsquare/credit-card-processing-fees-and-rates

(6) https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/07/apple-app-store-had-estimated-gross-sales-of-50-billion-in-2019.html

(7) https://s2.q4cdn.com/470004039/files/doc_financials/2019/ar/_10-K-2019-(As-Filed).pdf

Bellingcat: open-source investigations

29

Please rate this

App(le) Store tax – a monopolist curse

16

Please rate this