Computer Systems Laboratory Colloquium

4:15PM, Wednesday, December 01, 2004
NEC Auditorium, Gates Computer Science Building B03
http://ee380.stanford.edu

Martus
Human Rights Technology

Jim Fruchterman
Martus, Benetech
About the talk:

The human rights field is an information processing industry, but doesn't offer enough profits to attract software companies to develop for the unique needs of human rights groups. Benetech bridges this gap by building open source software solutions for human rights groups, using a product manager approach to design and implementation.

This talk will explore the needs of the human rights field from grassroots activists to truth commissions and genocide prosecutions. Technology can advance the cause of global human rights by building the right information tools to enhance advocacy, document and monitor rights violations, and support the seeking of justice.

About the speaker:

Jim Fruchterman has been a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and executive since 1981, when he dropped out of his EE Ph.D. program at Stanford. He was a founder of Calera Recognition Systems and RAF Technology, both leading firms in the optical character recognition field.

Jim holds a B.S. and M.S. from Caltech in Engineering and Applied Physics. For the last fifteen years, he has also headed Benetech, Silicon Valley's deliberately nonprofit high tech company specializing in technology for socially beneficial applications.

Contact information:

Jim Fruchterman, President & CEO
Benetech
480 California Ave, Suite 201
Palo Alto, CA 94306 USA
(650) 475-5440 x-106
Fax: (650) 475-1066
president@benetech.org