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Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations

Topic: Digital Security, Information Collection and Documentation, Information Verification and Analysis, Information Visualization and Design Tool: Handbooks, Manuals and Other Publications

The Berkeley Protocol is a teaching tool and reference guide for open source investigators. It provides guidelines on international standards for conducting online research into alleged violations and guidance on methodologies and procedures for gathering, analyzing, and preserving digital information in a professional, legal, and ethical manner.

The Berkeley Protocol does not focus on specific technologies, platforms, software, or tools for conducting effective open source investigations, but rather on the underlying principles and methodologies that can be consistently applied, even as the technology itself changes. These principles outline minimum legal and ethical standards for conducting such investigations. By following the guidance in the Berkeley Protocol, investigators will help to ensure the quality of their work, while minimizing the physical, psychosocial and digital risks to themselves and others.

The Protocol is co-published by the United Nations, on behalf of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.