This College ‘nerd’ Investigates The Ukraine War From The Digital Front Lines

In the year 2021, I first came across The Intel Crab.

An unidentified Twitter account posted videos of an Israeli attack in Gaza that targeted Associated Press headquarters. The footage that drew my attention was genuine and one-of-a-kind. When major news breaks, I instantly added the profile to a list of open-source intelligence (OSINT) accounts I follow.

Professional journalists from major newspapers and internet investigative reporters are among the OSINT analysts. They looked into the assassination of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and uncovered possible war crimes in Ukraine.

Think tank academics and anonymous amateurs who are competent at using Google Earth and other digital technologies to authenticate conflict film are among the most popular accounts.

The Intel Crab, which has over 250,000 followers and a reach in the tens of millions, was one of the latter until earlier this year. However, earlier this year, Justin Peden, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Alabama-Birmingham who had only recently altered his major to journalism, disclosed his true identity.

Peden explained, "I'm no longer nameless for one simple reason: I want to be held accountable for my work." "Both in a positive and bad sense."

I felt prompted to reach out after working with college students through the MediaWise Campus Correspondents program and having a particular interest in OSINT and geolocation. Peden described his verification process in an email interview, as well as the ethics of amateur investigative reporting and what the open-source intelligence community has to say about the status of the journalistic industry.

Let's begin with the most fundamental question: why is Intel Crab called that?

I'm not sure. Truthfully. I created the account under a fictitious Russian identity in order to track and engage with folks in Donbas. In retrospect, it was somewhat foolish, but around a year in, I realized I was sitting on an extremely valuable stack of thousands of people — some of them were even my age — who lived in an area that drew a lot of outside attention. In a way, I became a sort of aggregator of regional battle news.

Around this time, I came up with the term Intel Crab, and the rest is history. I guess crabs have a reputation for digging? Maybe that's what Justin, who was 15 or 16 at the time, was thinking. Who knows, but the moniker has stayed with me.

So, think back to the first video or image you came across online that piqued your interest. One that piqued your interest right away?

I've been doing this for a long time, notwithstanding my age. At the very least six years. A lot of my fascination was channeled into many hours on Google Earth before I started working with commercial satellite data or other fancy stuff like that. I recall being particularly enthralled by the remains of the Donetsk International Airport: a vast, sprawling building that was completely destroyed during the Donbass war. I'd zoom in on the airport and utilize the "back in time" tool to look at satellite photographs from before the crisis began.

Seeing such a drastic change to the airport in such a short period of time piqued my interest, and in many ways pushed me to Twitter, where I quickly became friends with hundreds of local Donbas people who called this warzone home.

How do you go about locating and authenticating — or discrediting — videos?

Some of this work is done by contractors. Over the years, I've built up a very significant community of people who assist me verify photographs and films that I'm not sure about, whether they're nerds like myself or experts who work in this field for a livelihood. When it's just me, I usually employ open-source methods to validate an image, such as reverse image searches and sometimes even file data. When I need to geolocate a supposed photograph to a specific location, I use mapping software like Google Maps Street View.

How frequently do you obtain videos straight from the source? What's the platform for it, by the way?

It doesn't happen very often. Because of the nature of the ongoing fighting in Ukraine, direct peer-to-peer communications are difficult, therefore I'm usually provided things directly from the area via Twitter direct messages or Telegram. I also use international social media sites such as VK to locate photographs and movies that others may never see.

What OSINT tools or methodologies do you prefer?

I began geolocating Russian airstrikes, artillery hits, and other sites of interest using free, open-source mapping platforms like Google Earth and Yandex Maps, as well as purchased commercial satellite data, shortly after the war began in February. Over the previous six months, I've gotten fairly proficient at this technique, which is known as geolocation. A simple photograph can reveal a lot about the location where it was taken. A simple cross-checks with maps or commercial satellite data is all it takes to confirm what could have been a simple hunch or guess.

A NOTE FROM POYNTER TEACHING

The way security specialists, journalists, and fact-checkers verify the information is changing thanks to open-source intelligence, or OSINT, and it has ramifications for your instruction. Join MediaWise's Alex Mahadevan and open source intelligence expert (and University of Alabama-Birmingham junior) Justin Peden at this year's Teachapalooza as they walk you through the tools and strategies utilized by the OSINT community and explain how you can use them in your classroom. This in-person and virtual conference is scheduled for June 10-12, and registration is still open.

What's the most memorable conversation you've had with a source or another OSINT member?

This one is a little off the beaten path, but I still think it's really cool. I had the incredible opportunity to chat with Miles O'Brien during a recent appearance with "PBS Newshour." Miles has done some incredible work over the years, but he is mostly responsible for Google Earth's eventual success, which surprised me. His usage of an early version of the program during CNN's coverage of the Iraq invasion in 2003 was critical to the project's later success. Because Google Earth is such an important part of my job, meeting the man (arguably) responsible was a dream come true.

What are your thoughts on OSINT's ethics? Do you have any personal standards when it comes to validating, geolocating, and sharing a video, for example?

This is a community's tragic drawback, and it's more relevant than ever as the fight continues: This is a decentralized hobby. There are no deadlines for publication. There will be no censorship. There is no responsibility. In many respects, it's like the Wild West, and it all comes down to the individual.

For one simple reason, I'm no longer anonymous. I want to be held responsible for my work in both good and bad ways. Any blunder I make is my own, and in such a fast-paced setting, these blunders can have far-reaching consequences. I've ceased geolocating stuff in Russian-controlled territory. It's absolutely excessive. I once geolocated a video from occupied Kherson, only to erase it a few minutes later. I discovered I had outed the location of someone who was aggressively spreading anti-Russian rhetoric on Twitter without even thinking about it.

This was a watershed point in my Twitter career, and I've since shifted my attention away from breaking news and onto initiatives with a more macro perspective. To summarize, just because you have the capability to geolocate something does not imply you should. This notion is intimately related to the community's ethics as a whole, and it's unfortunate that not everyone understands it. You can only lead by example and hope that others will follow.

What should the media know about the OSINT community while reporting on it?

Journalists, in my opinion, have a difficult time covering the community because they typically expect it to be organized and centralized. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked if we had a website or wiki where we can all hang out. While there are many tools and forums available, the open-source nature of the pastime means that many of us work alone. Particularly those of us who do it solely for the sake of curiosity or advocacy. One person's techniques are diametrically opposed to those of another in society. While we may share similar interests, the methods and instruments we use to arrive at our conclusions are far from standard. Their motivations are as well.

As I was finishing this Q&A, Twitter established guidelines for dealing with misinformation concerning the Ukrainian conflict on the platform. What are your feelings about the news?

On paper, I think it's a fantastic idea. However, automating the guidelines outlined in the most recent policy change is concerning, and I can assume that a significant amount of OSINT work, although being entirely analytical in nature, will be rejected. It's a bit of a wait-and-see situation, but it appears to be our best shot at countering some of the Russian disinformation that has been published and propagated on the platform since the war began. We'll have to wait and see.

Every day, you are bombarded with films and images; what proportion would you say are misleading or outright false? What are your thoughts on the subject of misinformation on social media platforms?

Easily half of what I see on my feed is either sensationalized to the point of absurdity or just incorrect. There's no way to sugarcoat it. Not only is a growing portion of my and others' work to create new discoveries, but also to refute existing junk before it acquires traction. It's a difficult task, but one that's necessary while the conflict rages on both the ground and online.

I believe that social media, particularly Twitter, is not doing enough to combat this issue. Because so much of their algorithm supports short bursts of engagement, false movies and photos can spread far before anybody can stop them. Even then, it's usually too late. Fake content about the Ukraine War has been uploaded hundreds of times, ranging from old films to screenshots from video games. And I believe that speaks for itself.

What does the emergence of OSINT imply about the news business, in your opinion?

Many of the OSINT techniques that others and I utilize on a weekly basis have been around for decades in the investigative journalism field. Commercial satellite data can be accessed. a film that has been geolocated None of this is intrinsically novel, but until recently, this data was gathered solely to back up already made claims or speculations.

However, we've now seen complete stories told from the comfort of an office chair. As a result of how strong these tools have become, the media business is heavily reliant on them. Consider the hugely popular VOX, which has a huge influence on what I do. So much of their work is based on stories that started with a simple commercial satellite discovery or photographs found in government archives. They generate gorgeous, illustrative map flyovers with editing software, and they've gotten so proficient at it that they almost seem like drone photos. It's awe-inspiring to behold, and even more so when you consider that what they've discovered is something that anyone with a keyboard and internet access could do.

In the OSINT community, who do you look up to? What about in the sphere of traditional journalism?

Eliot Higgins is without a doubt one of my favorite OSINT analysts. His work with Bellingcat has revolutionized digital inquiry, and he is nearly solely responsible for restoring credibility to the OSINT community, including me. In terms of conventional journalists I like, I'd have to say Simon Ostrovsky and his brilliant work with Vice News covering the Donbas rebellion in 2014. He's one of the few people I can think of that covered the violence in a fascinating and thought-provoking manner without coming across as plastic or alarmist. His entire Vice series is available on YouTube, and I'd be lying if I claimed I don't still watch it.

An investigative journalist, without a doubt. So much of my excitement and interest on Twitter stems from a place of pure, unadulterated curiosity, and I've wanted to do something with that desire since I was five years old. It's fun to be "the crab guy" on Twitter, but at the end of the day, I'm still sitting at a desk. I'd want to get out there and interact with so many of the folks I've admired from behind a computer screen for nearly six years. It's safe to say that a visit to Ukraine has been long overdue.

What recommendations do you have for aspiring OSINT journalists in college?

I should definitely pay attention to my own advice a little more. I've been a health care management major for the past two years. None of that has ever piqued my interest, but the prospect of doing what I enjoy while still being compensated sounded like a cruel dream at best. It wasn't until the last four months — months unlike any I've ever experienced — that I knew it was time to switch majors. I'm now a communications major with a journalism emphasis, and while having my cake and eating it sounds ridiculous, I truly believe I've made a fantastic decision that Justin will be proud of in the future.

So, my recommendation is to go for it. Recognize that no matter how much you attempt to hide or divert your passion into something unrelated, it will always find its way to the surface. Take advantage of any opportunity to put your enthusiasm to work and begin investigating topics and problems that pique your interest right now. Not any time soon. Your audience is the internet, and I'm a firm believer in hard effort paying off.

OSINT is a disorganized and disorganized web of websites, tools, and strategies. It's not something that anyone can master overnight. However, by utilizing the resources available to you, the possibilities and depth of what you might discover are virtually endless.