International Media Solutions is pleased to announce on such a historic day, the formation of an international strategic partnership between our firm (www.international-media.net), a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) certified Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) based in Washington, DC and the Patriot Programmer Movement led by Olek Suchodolski based in Vilnius. Together we will be establishing an open Media Innovation Incubator within the Information Warfare Center (IWC) based in Vilnius, Lithuania to combat propaganda and informational warfare with real-time content creation that results in honest and fact-based reporting. At the center of the incubator is the revolutionary MoJo Kit® (www.mojokit.info); a high-definition, broadcast quality, multimedia mobile reporting tool for non-journalists and journalists. MoJo Kits® are currently deployed in Egypt, Guatemala, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, and the United States. The latest version would be an information warfare device produced in Lithuania based entirely off of open-source technology and software. The device will allow the user to compose, produce, edit, and distribute HD multimedia content (print, audio, photo, and video), securely, in real-time without ever having to transfer sensitive data between devices. No other public device in the world currently has this capability.
Together International Media Solutions and Patriot Programmers will be seeking financial support through grants similar to the Digital Defenders Partnership (DDP), which was established in late 2012 to provide rapid response to threats to Internet freedom. The Partnership aims at keeping the Internet open and free from emerging threats, specifically in Internet repressive and transitional environments. It also wants to increase and better coordinate emergency support for the Internet’s critical users, such as bloggers, cyber activists, journalists and human rights defenders, whenever and wherever they are under threat. As an initial investment, the governments of the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Estonia, Republic of Latvia, Czech Republic and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) have dedicated financial support. The Partnership is managed by Hivos, an international NGO based in the Netherlands.
Together we call on journalists, academia, business leaders and public policy makers of the international community to join this initiative to ensure a free and open press remains in Europe today and in the future.