Following George Holliday’s Sony Handycam recording of police brutality against Rodney King in 1991 and Peter Gabriel’s observation of abuse while traveling with Amnesty International, the Reebok Foundation and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights cofounded WITNESS together with Gabriel in 1992. It contends that ordinary people using video to expose human rights violations can influence policy and create change. It works with local communities, employing a side-by-side collaborative partnership model. Groups have documented war crimes, changed discriminatory laws, secured justice for survivors of gender-based violence, and protected indigenous lands against extractive industries. In partnership with activists, technology companies, civil rights lawyers, communities, and non-governmental organizations, WITNESS works to maximize the potential of encryption, Facebook, facial blurring, iPhones, live streaming, metadata, online platforms, YouTube, and verification to defend human rights.  It created the first global video-as-evidence guide for standards of legal proof to expose and prosecute perpetrators.