(This post was written and endorsed by the undersigned members of the Cryptography, Security, and Privacy (CrySP) lab at the University of Waterloo. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other CrySP members or the university.)
Written: 2019-04-15
We stand in solidarity and support of Ola Bini, privacy developer and advocate, who was arrested in Quito, Ecuador at 3:20 p.m. local time on April 11, 2019 [1]. Ola is currently being held without bail in pre-trial detention for up to 90 days [2].
Ola Bini is a longtime contributor to open-source privacy enhancing technologies. He has collaborated with CrySP researchers on the development and implementation of OTRv4, a protocol for secure and private online communication. Working with developers like Ola helps privacy-related research at CrySP reach everyday users; such collaboration is important to our work.
We ask for immediate release and fair treatment of Ola Bini by the Ecuadorian government and for international oversight of Ola's case. We also ask for others working in security and privacy to join us in solidarity and support of Ola's release at this time.
[1] https://autonomia.digital/cad/2019/04/12/ola-bini-arrest.html
[2] https://www.apnews.com/327d2dcbe0f24a2eba839502fbd783cb
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