North Koreans rarely see movies, television or news reports not backed by the government. A group of hackers hope to open the free flow of information into the country, even if by covert means.
The Human Rights Foundation, along with the Thiel Foundation, held a two-day "hackathon" called Hack North Korea in San Francisco on Aug. 2 and 3 to brainstorm new ideas to help bring information to the isolated country.
"North Korea is often referred to as the 'darkest corner of the earth,'" said Sarah Wasserman, chief operating officer of the Human Rights Foundation, at the event opening. "The lack of transparency and block on information flow places limitations on the human mind."
The ideas ranged from low-tech, like using giant slingshots to fling media over the Chinese border, to the more high-tech, like the winning idea of using "small, flat, easily hidden aerials that could intercept South Korean TV programs," North Korea Tech reports.
Former Google employee Matthew Lee and his two 17-year-old teammates Madison and Justice Suh (home-schooled, Korean-American siblings from Virginia) won the competition with a two-part idea. Team Skylight, as they were called, wanted to make real-time information available to North Korean citizens.
The first part of their idea used micro-radio devices the size of credit cards, based on existing Raspberry Pi technology, that would pick up signals from South Korea and come pre-loaded with videos and data. The second involved creating small, flat satellite receivers that could pick up broadcasts from South Korean TV's Skylife, which provides over 200 channels.
Both ideas involved some type of smuggling, a dangerous endeavor that comes with the risk of death in North Korea, but would provide millions access to an outside world most have never known.
"The team's new iPad-sized satellite receivers would be easily concealable, and televisions could be directly plugged into their device with existing coax or USB connections, allowing North Koreans to watch up-to-the-minute news, TV shows, and other culture and programming from the outside world," said Alex Gladstein of the Human Rights Foundation.
The Team Skylight members won two round-trip air tickets to Seoul to present and work with defector groups on their idea. The Human Rights Foundation will remain involved in helping the team achieve their goal.
