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Power isn't a "technology" as such but it is possibly the fundamental property determining who does what in this world. All the TED attendees are people with substantial personal power, and they are in a unique position to appreciate the power relations at play in the world today.

The most interesting thing I heard from Obama's campaign was the "Google for Government" initiative, which allows the public to use search technology to track how tax dollars are spent. Offering this kind of transparency through technology is a great example of cutting-edge use of a not-so-cutting-edge technology, and if implemented well, substantially changes the power relations at play in the US.

I haven't got any ideas of other people doing similar work but if we are serious about steering the planet on it's optimal course we have to give exposure to people who want to use technology to break down long-held power structures. An example is the WITNESS initiative that places camcorders into the hands of people under oppression. TED gave this a platform back in 2006 here.

Most of the evidence from the 60s and 70s comes from eye-witness accounts, as well as letters. Mao himself did not deny that atrocities were being committed, and said that it was for the good of the Tibetan people. They were being purged and transformed into communists. This is how he did it:

Monks and nuns were forcibly married and/or raped. Many monks were imprisoned; some were castrated and killed; a few abbots were killed by having their ears drilled with a brace and bit and molten lead poured into their brains, or by having their eyes scooped out with spoons and their brains scooped out through the eye sockets. Popular piety was suppressed. Pilgrimage, prostration, prayer flags on one's house, or speaking "OM Mani Padme Hum" -- all brought death. Perhaps a million tibetans, out of six million, were killed or exiled. Tens of thousands of widows were rape-married to Chinese soldiers.

If you really are interested in learning about what Chinese censorship is covering up, then I can recommend a book by a chinese woman called "Wild Swans". This book is not about Tibet, but rather about life for a Han Chinese woman. Chinese government atrocities are not limited to Tibet - they are widespread and ongoing.

Perhaps you think I've had my thinking adjusted by anti-communist propaganda? It's just that the Chinese are the ones who practice widespread censorship and historical revisionism. We do not have thought police where I live. I can think and say what I want about my government - and the government must account for its actions at election time. Chinese people who live here recognize that. Those that I've spoken to do not want to go back to China, precisely because of thought police.

Here's a link to a video of Chinese soldiers murdering Tibetans fleeing the regime. If China was doing the Tibetans such a grand favour, then why do soldiers have to kill people to encourage them not to flee their own homes?

Come off it. The Chinese army certainly raped Tibetan civilians in '59. Just like every other occupying force in the history of warfare. That is what happens when a government dehumanizes the enemy so their soldiers don't realize that they are killing their fellow man and go stark raving mad during combat.

It happened with the U.S. in Viet Nam and in Iraq.

It happened with the British in Dol Dol.

It happened with the Japaneses in China

I could keep going but it's just more of the same. If you still don't believe the Chinese army is capable of blatant human rights violations because these articles are just words, how about a video? WARNING THE PRECEDING LINK IS HARD TO WATCH!

http://witness.org/

It's tailored more to finding local stories that impact you and report on them as an amateur, but has also been lent in the same way the ACLU is working now.

I am a big fan of the police, but dirty cops make me sick to my stomach. If they have nothing to hide, they shouldn't worry about the cameras.

This kind of "watching the watchers" project has been the work of the WITNESS project for several years.

I think http://www.witness.org/ is worth mentioning. They have articles and guides like Effective Strategies for Video Advocacy, "Tips & Techniques" Training Video and Manual and so forth that might help you get some ideas.

I think http://www.witness.org/ is worth mentioning. They have articles and guides like Effective Strategies for Video Advocacy, "Tips & Techniques" Training Video and Manual and so forth that might help you get some ideas.

I think http://www.witness.org/ is worth mentioning. They have articles and guides like Effective Strategies for Video Advocacy, "Tips & Techniques" Training Video and Manual and so forth that might help you get some ideas.